Photocrat

Yup. This is the counter-part to the 400+ post thread that keeps on ticking on the other forum (Existence of God).

[It's here -- http://www.infidels.org/electronic/f...c&f=4&t=001968 ]
Basically, that hole is the caste system. Y'know, the whole problem with the Dalits having no de facto rights.
But really, it is not so much my intent to make an arguement (though we could certainly make some) but more to post an interesting bit of news:
http://www.gfa.org/revival/story.html

Read it for yourself. Sounds a tad sensational, to me, but even were it half true I would be pleased, to say the least :]

oriecat

I don't really understand why you would be pleased about this. If the article said that the people felt a pull from God, or some sort of spiritual awakening that brought them to believe that Christ might be the answer, etc, then I could understand. But the article basically said they're tired of being oppressed in their faith, so they want to try another one. Seems to me you would end up with a lot of "believers" because it was convenient for them and not because they actually believe. How is that a good thing?


(I only read the first page of the article, fyi. So maybe I am missing something from the rest of the article.)

Layman

How is that a good thing? From the Christian perspective these people seem to have realized that their current religion is unsatisfactory. They are willying to try another one. The Christians are probably confident that once they are fully exposed to Christianity, that they will embrace it as their own.

emotional

Sounds like the stories of many women converts from Islam to Christianity in history (I read about it at secularislam.org) to improve their position.

The attraction of Christianity lies in its being almost free of a system of observance works (see my articles on religions of theonomy). It's the ultimate religion for lazy people.

Toto

A number of the former untouchables have already converted to Islam for that reason. It sounds like the group is shopping around for the best deal, and I wish them luck. Christian missionaries these days are noted for buying converts. I just hope the Dalit negatiate a good price.

hinduwoman

300 million! That sounds like wishfulfillment. Because believe me, if that many wanted to convert the newspapers would have been full of it.

By the way, even if many want to convert, I hope the missionaries do not feel very disappointed if the Dalits try to turn it into a bargaining tool with uppercaste Hindus. In the past few years many villages threatened they are going to go over, but stayed back when the rights they wanted were granted to them.

Photocrat

True. I really do wonder if that many would actually convert; but I can hope.

Of course, I also wonder if the upper caste Hindus would actually give them more than lip service, even if they did grant them those rights. As I recall, caste discrimination is already illegal.

hinduwoman

If hindu organizations can exert sufficient pressure then the uppercastes will.

Also, the Dalits have seen that being a christian is no guarantee of equal treatment. The highcastes who had converted to Christianity still treat them like dirt, refuse to eat with them and they even have separate churches and graveyards. The christian church accept casteism because it was the only way they could get rich and powerful hindus to convert --- after all the soul is more important than material comforts, right?

hinduwoman

To me, the more fascinating question is why more untouchables did not convert.
During Islamic rule, they did to some extent. But the vast majority did not. Again during British rule, the vast majority did not. Yet in both cases, there was nothing the uppercastes could have done, since it was the religion of the rulers that they would have embraced.

Simply goes to show, that faith is not a matter of rationality.

Photocrat

If the Dalits convert, the churches may start to rethink that... I think that was part of the point of encouraging that conversion. Overall, I would expect them to begin to force the issue and gain their rights; but I would expect that this will be a protracted struggle in your society, not unlike how the USA has reformed after slavery... We're not perfect, yet, but we're trying.