It’s
conversion time in Valley
Slowly
and discreetly, Christian evangelists make inroads into Muslim heartland of
Kashmir
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=21530
Srinagar,
April 5: Amid booming guns and endless violence, Kashmir is witnessing a
discreet spurt in conversion — from Islam to Christianity. Christian groups
are putting the number of neo-converts at over 10,000 and a Sunday Express
investigation confirms that conversions have been taking place regularly across
the Valley.
At least
a dozen Christian missions and churches based in the US, Germany, the
Netherlands and Switzerland have sent evengelists to the Valley and are pumping
in money through intermediaries based in New Delhi.
In the
Valley where death and trauma are a way of life, the missionaries are getting
immediate attention because they reach out to the poor, needy and those affected
by violence. Also, they bring in a lot of money.
Though
conversions have not encountered any resistance from Muslim organisations, it
has led to tensions between Kashmir’s native Christians — a miniscule
community of 650 — and the enthusiastic evangelists.
The
native Christians are increasingly getting vocal against the outsiders.
‘‘This type of conversions aren’t good for local Christians who had shared
a cordial relationship with Muslims here for centuries. The conversions they are
doing are Bibilically wrong. There are umpteen cases in which one person has
been baptised thrice within a few months. These so-called evangelists have set
up businesses in the garb of Church and social work,’’ says Pastor Leslie
Richards, a native protestant living in Braen, Srinagar. ‘‘The converts here
do it for monetary reasons and the people who convert them too do it for the
same reasons,’’ he adds.
Christianity
Today, a magazine, puts the
number of Kashmiri Muslims who recently converted to Christianity at thousands.
An article, Harassed Kashmiri Christians Reach out to Discreet Muslims, posted
on their website Christianitytoday.com reasons:
‘‘Wearied by violence, thousands are interested in the Prince of Peace. They
have faith in Jesus but don’t come out. Their number goes into thousands in
the rural areas.’’ The estimates pieced together by the evangelists here say
the number of converts to Christianity touch 12,000 in the Valley.
The
founder of Agape Mission, Pastor Neethi Rajan, a Hindu
convert from Chennai, says, ‘‘God spoke to me clearly and asked
me to go to Kashmir.’’ Determined to spread the Gospel among Kashmiris,
Rajan says as long as people are not exploited, spreading the message of Christ
isn’t wrong. ‘‘Thousands of people have accepted Jesus as their saviour
and many more are showing interest across Kashmir. There’s nothing wrong in
preaching the Gospel,’’ says Rajan.
Asked
about the source of funds, Rajan says friends help him out. Insiders, however,
say he is linked to Assemblies of God, a US-based mission.
Though
many organisations say they are interested in social work and not conversions,
an investigation across the Valley confirmed conversions. Among the churches and
missions that have set up bases are US-based German Town Baptist Church,
US-based Frontiers, a mission with an avowed aim to reproduce churches among
unreached Muslim people (www.frontiers.org) and Assemblies of God. They have
funded around a dozen churches and missions in Kashmir.
Two
German-based missions, Call of Hope and Overseas Social Service, have a base
with over 60 evangelists. Another mission, The Campus Crusade for Christ, with
bases in the West has a strong network of evangelists among the students in the
Valley.
The
Switzerland-based mission, The Good Way, has a base in rural Kashmir. Two Indian
missions, National Missionary Intelligencer and Cooperative Outreach of India,
too fund evangelists here. The focus of evangelical work is mostly in rural
Kashmir and areas bordering Srinagar.
Cooperative
Outreach of India (COI), a Delhi-based NGO that works among the lepers and
downtrodden in Srinagar, makes no bones about the source of funding. Insiders
say COI receives funds from the German Town Baptist Church, one of the
wealthiest Protestant churches in Tennesse, US, Frontiers, another US mission
and Call of Hope, a mission based in Germany.
The
director of the COI, Remesh Landge — who was recently in the Valley to give
away sewing machine to lepers — admits that they receive money from Churches
overseas. ‘‘We do get some foreign funding from churches and missions
overseas. But we don’t use them to convert people. We work to try and help the
poor and needy here.’’
He blames
the Roman Catholic church for discrediting the image of Christians who work
among the poor. ‘‘Our churches and missions don’t have that much of money.
Roman Catholics have huge money. It’s they who created controversy in other
parts of the country by converting tribals which ended in the sad killing of
Graham Staines.’’ adds Landge.
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