- Sep 24, 2022
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First, in case you don't know, Christianity arrived in India long before the English missionaries arrived in India. It began the Apostle Thomas creating his part of the church there in the first century. I actually met a Catholic priest from India who was a descendant of the church which still exists today.I think it's pertinent to ask the question, What sort of representation of Christianity did we give to these "pre-warp" civilisations?
Christianity didn't take hold in India despite the missionary work of the British Empire. The reason it didn't can only be seen through the eyes of the typical Indian. They were being taught about Jesus the servant God but by very wealthy missionaries who had Indian servants to attend to them. They couldn't get their heads around the contradiction and so threw the baby out with the bathwater. It was also very much Gandhi's experience of Christians when he was studying in England and started going to church in, I think, Plymouth, and which led to his famous statement
"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
I'm only saying this because your question about whether it's right to spread Christianity to other cultures depends in part on whether Christianity is being properly represented or not.
Second, I heard the Gandhi quote many years ago, and I admit I was impressed. However, after learning more about Gandhi, I came to question the value of this comment. He was correct to accuse the Christians of engaging in unchristian behavior, but the failure to avoid such behavior doesn't affect what true Christian morality is. Moreover, despite the fact that some, not all, of the behavior of the English was unchristian, as Christians, the English still had a duty to not engage in unchristian behavior.
Gandhi, on the other hand, also engaged in behavior that repugnant to authentic Christian morality. However, the difference between Gandhi and the English is that Gandhi's repugnant behavior was supported by the morality of his authentic Hinduism. I don't know if you are familiar with the Dalits of India. You might know them as the Untouchables. They are a group of people in India that Hinduism teaches are part of the lowest status of society, and this is because Hinduism teaches that their present incarnation is a punishment by God for sins in a previous life. As a result of this Hindu teaching, they are victims of severe and unjust discrimination. For example, they must limit themselves to the worst jobs.
As Dalit activist, Annihilate Caste, once explained, "If you are an untouchable, say, forced to clean the public toilets, you are breaking “Gods Will” if you rebel against this status, something that will be enforced on your children after you and their children after them. Accept your varna, be a good servant to the high castes and you will be reborn someday as one of them, or so goes Hinduism. The Dalits have a strong hate for Gandhi because when he was leader, he defended this Hindu teaching that brought so much suffering to the Dalits. Although Gandhi famously fought for the rights of the Hindus, he was directly responsible for ensuring that this horrible Caste system continued to be practiced. So, while the part of Gandhi's statement that criticized the English for being "so unlike Christ," can be justified by the facts, I don't believe first part of Gandhi's statement. Although he claimed to like Christ, his behavior was contrary to authentic Christian morality. The fact is that Hinduism kept him from behaving like Christ.
Sadly, there are other repugnant beliefs that Gandhi held. I am not going to list them here, but I will say that if you are interested the information isn't too hard to find.
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