From swarajya magazine
Last month, Joseph Powathil, Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, opposed the CAA on the ground that it was an effort by the government to drive a wedge between Christians and Muslims. Last week, the Archbishop of Goa, Filipe Neri Ferrao,
called on the government to “immediately and unconditionally revoke the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)” and stop stamping on the “right to dissent”. He said the laws were “divisive and discriminatory” and will damage the country’s multi-cultural democracy. Apparently, he thinks that the church’s own agenda of pitting upper caste Hindus against Dalits, and the “one true god” against worshippers of “false gods” is somehow not divisive.
This marks an about-turn for the church, for in December 2019, soon after the CAA was passed by Parliament, George Kurian, Vice-Chairman of the National Minorities Commission, welcomed the CAA. He pointed out that “those who are vociferously advocating minority rights in India are silent on the persecution of minorities in Pakistan.” Kurian said the commission had received several messages from many Christian denominations welcoming the act. “They tell me”, he is quoted as saying, “justice has finally been done to Christians who are victims of draconian blasphemy laws, religious conversions and abductions.”
The church in India has clearly had a rethink, if one were to go by the anti-CAA statements of the two archbishops.
They have probably calculated that despite their interest in protecting the Christian minorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh, the real market for conversion is in India, and this requires the church to play the victim card in India and oppose most things that the Narendra Modi government does.
The church has taken this stance even though it knows that in Kerala Christians are also being targeted by Islamist groups. The same Syro-Malabar Church earlier alleged that Christian girls were being targeted and killed by jihadists through ‘love jihad’.
The church probably believes that its long-term conversion agenda will be hampered if it is seen as supportive of CAA, since this will then open another front with the Islamists when it would prefer to target the Modi government over its alleged Hindutva agenda.
The church’s conversion agenda works best in a climate where it can claim victimisation by Hindutva forces when raising funds abroad. This needs it to forge a tactical alliance with Islamists in India, even though its long-term rival in the marketplace for conversions is Islam.
Blasphemy of Aasia Bibi: How Pakistan’s Christians went from cheerleaders of Partition to its victims | IndiaFacts http://bit.ly/2UBBJEr via @IndiaFactsOrg
India has been a welcoming home to all but during 1947 Christians of Punjab supported partition on religious basis. Christian vote led Lahore into Pakistan and caused genocide of Hindus & Sikhs. Ideally Christians of Punjabs should have been excluded from CAA.
Filipe Neri Ferrão, Goa Archbishop: The very fact that CAA uses religion, goes against secular fabric of country. It goes against spirit&heritage of our land which, since times immemorial, has been a welcoming home to all, founded on the belief that whole world is one big family.
and filipe neri ferrão, this question is directly for you: was your religion and belief system founded on the premise that whole world is one big family. Since your guys never believed in this concept, why are you so intent on pushing a false narrative now, one that is not sanctioned in your book.
were the crusades then, a mere hike in the desert, sort of a jolly and extended picnic, so to say.
If the goan inquisition did not use religion in the worst possible way, pray do tell, what else did the goan inquisition use as the excuse to murder hapless goan Hindu Indians
When do you guys plan to apologise for the Goan Inquisition and the heartless persecution of Goan Hindus?