The Baptist Tract: One Year After
By Arun Venugopal 
http://us.rediff.com/  - November 6th 2000 

The document is easy on the eye, stylish in fact, with vivid images and well-laid out text. Spend a moment studying the actual content, however, and you can’t help but feel that you’ve stepped into a 19th-century ethnographic nightmare.  

"More than 900 million people are lost in the hopeless darkness of Hinduism," it begins, "worshiping 330 million gods and goddesses created by the imagination of men and women searching for a source of truth and strength." It goes on to make other curious assertions, not only about Hinduism but about specific cities in India: "Mumbai is a city of spiritual darkness" whose inhabitants are "slaves bound by fear and tradition to false gods and goddesses" while "Satan has retained his hold on Calcutta through Kali and other gods and goddesses of Hinduism.     

Printed and distributed one year ago, the Southern Baptist Conventions Hindu Prayer Guide, called Diwali: Festival of Lights, was released to coincide with the festival season. 

 A year after the infamous book roiled Hindus, many community leaders wonder about the impact of their protests. Though there were three demonstrations by Hindus against the Southern Baptists, the largest of American Protestant denominations with 15.8 million members, many community leaders are surprised there weren’t more demonstrations in other cities. 

Amit Misra, a Houston attorney and one of the first to organize the protest senses "a heightened awareness" in the community to disparaging statements about Hinduism. But he clearly expected much more. "The vast majority of our community just don’t care about anything," he said.

His feelings are echoed by many others. “We seemed to have been satisfied with getting the attention of the White House and a statement that denounced religious bigotry,” said a Chicago businessman who asked for anonymity. “Jewish people would have held a million demons had something like this prayer book was directed at them.” The Chicago businessman said he had tried to hold a demonstration but did not get enough support from the community. 

The prayer guide which reportedly reached over a million of Southern Baptists and is still in circulation has passages regarding the cult-like activities of millions of Hindus, the guide offers numerous prayers for its Baptist audience, one of which states "Ask God to show Hindus that their worship of and prayers to the gods ultimately are futile."  

Misra was listening to the BBC on his way to work when he first heard about the prayer guide. Having heard enough stories about the evangelistic ways of his fellow Texans, he was at first simply amused by the report.

As a member of the Hindu Swayam Sevak, however, he realized that the prayer guide merited a strong response. "It seemed a little incongruous, living here, not to do something about it," he said.    

Soon, Misra was calling upon other active Hindus, who were only too willing to participate in the cause.

Next Sunday, with members of the media at hand, a large crowd of protesters marched outside the Second Baptist Church, a massive institution whose congregation numbers in the thousands.  

"It was a very peaceful demonstration," recalled Beth Kulkarni, president of the Houston-area chapter of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, "with men, women and children from various backgrounds, calling attention to the fact that these were false statements."  

Close on the heels of the Houston demonstration and another one held outside the CNN building in Atlanta, was a protest organized in downtown Boston, outside the Beacon Hill Baptist Church.

The organization, known as Nehari, or New England Hindus Against Religious Intolerance, was formed in rapid response to the prayer guide.

For Chandrakant Panse, one of the organizers, the central issue was not evangelism so much as the wording of the guide, which he thinks has implications beyond religion. “Other people can pray for us all they want," he said. "But when they say that we live in darkness, it’s a way to start a process of discrimination." 

During the protest, David Draper, pastor of Beacon Hill church, was surprisingly apologetic about the guide. "I am embarrassed by the guide," he was reported as saying in a Boston Globe article. "Several statements about the Hindu faith are offensive and insensitive."  

For Panse, the pastors statements were far from satisfying. "In spite of all that he said he was going to distribute the pamphlet in his church after all," he said.  

As a follow-up to their march, the Houston protesters decided to take their cause to higher authorities. They quickly circulated a petition of complaint, which was signed by over a thousand people. The petition was forwarded to President Clinton, as well as Vice-President Gore and Governor Bush. A similar effort in Boston helped elicit a response from the White House. 

"The spokesperson for the President, Joe Lockhart, made an appeal for tolerance of all religions," said Panse, adding "The Southern Baptist Convention then attacked the President. They attacked his morality and his religious footing." 

In spite of widespread condemnation from the national media - as well as from Jewish and Muslim groups whose faiths were attacked in separate prayer guides - the Southern Baptist Convention has been unrepentant.

In recent weeks it’s controversial decisions have led to two serious blows: the decision by the Baptist General Convention of Texas to reduce its ties with the national body and that of former President Jimmy Carter to sever his membership with the Church.

Both have cited increased alienation from what they perceive as an overly conservative ideology.  For Misra, the aftermath of the protests last year was relatively uneventful. There was no effort to hold a dialogue. "They never approached us and we never approached them," he said.     

But despite the misgivings of Misra and many like him, the protests have resulted in something tangible.  "Nehari is very much alive," said Chandrakant Panse.  The group now acts as a watchdog, conducting "casual meetings" at which they discuss the ongoing rhetoric and actions of the Southern Baptists and related hardline groups. 

Currently, members of Nehari wait in anticipation for a city-to-city tour that the Southern Baptist Convention is undertaking in the summer of 2001, climaxing in their annual convention, in New Orleans.   

Copyright © 2001 - All Rights Reserved.

a r t i c l e s    o n    c o n v e r s i o n