Brown's Daily Word 9-15-08

Good Morning,
As we survey world and national news from the weekend we are reminded once again that suffering is an intrinsic part of the human condition. The train wreck in California, the massive highway accident that resulted from an effort to swerve around a dog, and the flooding and "war-zone" destruction of Hurricane Ivan imprint this fact upon our minds yet again. I also received news that those who burned my Mom's house came back to finish the job, and left only rubble.
This world is no stranger to suffering. The last one hundred years, which have seen greater technological and medical advances than people living in previous centuries could ever have imagined, have witnessed suffering, pain, and despair on a nearly inconceivable scale. Disease and sickness, earthquakes and other natural disasters, war and genocide, poverty and death -- a stranger to Earth might be forgiven for concluding that suffering was the defining element of our world.
Suffering in its many varieties continues to this day, scaled to fit our everyday lives. A primary element of the human condition is that we struggle daily against a world full of pain and hurts that seem to serve no purpose beyond inflicting misery. Some people struggle to feed and shelter their families. Others fight to understand the loss of a loved one, to find the strength to keep standing beneath the weight of a terrible illness, to lift their eyes to heaven and demand an answer to the question: "Why, God, why?"
I don't know what you're suffering, though it may be one of these horrors. Perhaps it's much more personal, and it may be more mundane. We each live unique lives with unique hurts, sharing in common an experience of a world that just doesn't seem to work like it should. Each of us suffers personally, in ways that no other person can understand. In a way, we are all members of the brotherhood of the suffering.
Is there hope? Is there an answer to be found? There is always hope, although we may not see it yet. In the meantime, this most important fact remains that we do not suffer alone. This is God's promise, "... we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us" (Romans 8:17-8). "For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows" (2 Corinthians 1:5).
Fortunately, amid the dark clouds that may overshadow us, the Lord allows us to have "peeks" of sunshine. He creates within us "joy unspeakable and full of glory". We praise Him for all of the "little" things that brighten our paths. We praise the Lord for orchestrating our lives and working all things together for our good and the good of the Kingdom. We praise Him for arranging for Laureen's new apartment near Lourdes. She has begun moving in a few of her belongings, and plans to start living there on October 1. We praise Him for life, health, and joy. Janice celebrated her birthday over the weekend, and I will be celebrating mine this week.
In Christ,
Brown
“We must learn to regard people less in light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.”Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer quote
Communal rage: New face of violence15 Sep 2008, 0204 hrs IST, Gautam Siddharth,TNN
Print
EMail
Discuss New
Bookmark/Share
Save
Write to Editor
NEW DELHI: The communal violence and retaliation by security forces claiming two more lives in Kandhmal in Orissa on Saturday, and Bajrang Dal-led attacks on Christians in Davanagere and Chikmagalur in Karnataka, no longer appear to be isolated incidents. Conversion related violence is on the rise and tantamount to opening up of yet another front apart from the ones that jolt us out of our revery now and then: Islamist terrorism and Maoist extremism. The attacks on Christians are being sought to be justified on the ground that people are being forcibly converted from Hinduism or tribalism to Christianity. But on closer scrutiny, it appears the issue isn’t merely of conversion. In Kandhmal, for instance, it's the increasing prosperity of the Dalit Panas after they converted to Christianity that seems to have become a trigger for violence against them. In times of blind hatred, there is no independent verification of the charge levelled by the majority Kandha tribals against the Dalit Panas: that they claim Hinduism as their religion in certificates for job benefits as SCs but practice Christianity for a jump in their social profile. Orissa has the highest percentage of Hindu population of all the states, almost 95%. While Hindu numbers have decreased marginally over the last three decades, there has been a corresponding increase in Christian population. This possibly points at the cause — but not the justification — for the attacks against Orissa’s Christians. In West Bengal’s Nadia district, the last reported instance of violence against Christians was on Christmas 2002, when a priest and 14 others were injured after a group of about 50 armed men attacked the church during the special midnight mass. They threatened about 1,000 worshippers with dire consequence if they didn’t immediately disperse. Says George Pattery, head of Jesuits of Kolkata, "Sitting in West Bengal, we can’t imagine the struggle that missionaries are going through in Orissa. They are being targeted because they have been able to bring a change in the lives of the poorest of the poor. However, as always we will continue with our work." In Karnataka, where a couple of days before the Davanagere prayer hall was torched, the local administration locked up two churches in the town. Two students of Bible college too were attacked. Says former Bangalore city police chief and BJP MP H T Sangliana, who voted with the UPA on the July 22 trust vote, "The impression among people is that the attacks on Christians have increased since the BJP government came to power in the state. The freedom of religion has been violated." He refutes the charge of conversion against the missionaries and says, "No one has produced any evidence." In Chhattisgarh, a relatively unknown group of fundamentalists, Dharma Sena, has been periodically attacking Christian congregations and prayer meetings. On Christmas eve in 2007, Pastor James and 10 other Christians were beaten up by "Dharma Sena" lumpens. Then, only last week, four Catholic nuns were forced to get off a train at Durg railway station along with four infants by Dharma Sena activists who claimed the children were Hindu and were being taken for religious conversion. It later came to light that the babies were willingly handed over to the nuns of Missionaries of Charity by unwed mothers. Religious conversion is a social issue needing address by community leaders through dialogue. Its degeneration into violence is a reflection on the shrinking liberal space where all differences are sought to be sorted out through physical intimidation and, worse, liquidation.
Monday, September 15, 2008

Mangalore attack: Sangh Parivar has successfully done it!
Source: www.mangalorean.com (Do Visit their site for some excellent articles)
By Team Mangalorean, Mangalore
MANGALORE, September 15, 2008: This coastal city which had led a harmonious life since 1495 till 1997, its secular credential now stands questionable. And it appears that changing political system has had so much to contribute. If one can recall BBC's Correspondent Mark Tully's commentary on the day Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated that sums up the condition of India. He had said on that fateful day "With Rajiv Gandhi gone the face of India is going to change -the political floor is now open for the communal parties and forces to walk all over the face of the country".
To quote late Prime minister of England Winston Churchill who was the prime minister when India attained independence "These scoundrels will tear apart the country and disintegrate it in fifty years." Both Tully and Churchill were not ordinary people they were known to be the authorities on Indian socio-political conditions. The prophecies are now coming true as our politicians have started disintegrating the country for their own political gains.
In the recent times since the BJP's presence in the Parliament and the state assemblies has become more prominent the communal riots have become a common feature. At any part of time at any given time three major communities namely Hindus, Christians and Muslims are at loggerheads and the common factor appears to be the Sangh Parivar and their political arm BJP.
Monday Morning at Vamanjoor Church
Mangalore appears to be barometer of communal hatred. The 1998 communal riots in Surathkal was undoubtedly the worst situation when 17 people died. This was the time when the BJP had come to prominence in the state assembly and that was the first time when inflammatory speeches against other communities were openly made. The Surathkal police records show that was the first time families were attacked by both communities.
After that incident in 2006 October the city went into a week long dawn to dusk curfew for the first time in the history. In the intermittent period between 1998 and 2006 several incidents at much smaller and medium scales were taking place regularly and according to the police there were 36 incidents that had communal colour.
"Black Sunday"
But what happened on the "Black Sunday" on 14th September 2008 was a totally new chain of incidents. It is no less than the series of Bomb blasts that terrorists planted in Delhi a few days back. The series of well co-ordinated attacks on the minority community shrines and prayer halls were nothing less than exploding communal bombs. The Bajrang Dal is exactly trying to do that in their own ways.
It was a step towards making Karnataka a Gujarat the first one will be to tame the minorities deprive them of their social security and cow them down. This had happened in Gujarat when the majority community was pressurized to politically, socially and economically rusticated.
It is significant to note that the peace loving Christians have now been added to the list of Bajrang Dal for their nefarious designs for the political gains. Christians had never came to a street fight but this time they had no other way but to protest in some way. All the peaceful protests have been met by violent actions from the administration like caning them and arresting them and tear gassing them. These measures should have been taken by the police on the rioters.
The rioting, stone pelting, tyre burning and road blocks continued unabatedly on Sunday and the situation appeared to be calmer on Monday morning. But with the public transport system coming to a halt the normal life will not be possible for the Mangaloreans even on Monday. Schools and Colleges, banks, business establishments and markets may not function with their full girth on Monday also.
According to the bus operators they will not resume the operations till fully safety of their vehicles and crew are ensured by the police.
Monday morning was not normal
Even as the city wore a deserted look the people were trying to normalize the life in the city. The Milk delivery was normal, few vegetable shops, bakeries and few medical shops were open, but behind this veil of normalcy there was tension.
Christian devotees had begun to gather in their respective Churches and the Church bells were ringing unabatedly and according to leaders of the community, they are afraid even today as they feel threatened and terribly insecure. Churches were the institutions that offered tremendous solace and strength but the motives behind the attacks on Churches had made them conscious of their safety in the city.
The people gathered at Bendur, Bijai, Valencia, Milagres, Ashoknagar, Nagori etc in front of the church entrances. There were also a number of people praying inside the church.
Most of the public transport has been reduced to a minimum. The few buses which were on the roads in the morning were stopped by the crowd. The police have been deployed at all the churches.
At Bendur church, the parish priest Fr. Noronha spoke along with Sr. Agnesia, Fr. Vincent and Leslie Rego. They stressed that it was time for the Christians to fight for their rights and to make their voice heard not just at the State level but right up to the Central Government level from where strict action was expected.
At Valencia church a large crowd had gathered as well. The parish priest, Fr. Bonaventure Nazareth and Arun Raj Rodrigues spoke demanding the arrest of the activists who had already taken responsibility for the atrocities committed yesterday. They also called for a complete ban of the Bajrang Dal in the State.
The Churches of South India which has its head in Bangalore has sent its top people to Mangalore and its Bishop Francis Jackson who is also the leader of the JD(S) in the state has appealed to the people not to take any drastic action.
The Bajrang Dal activists however have indicated that the attacks will continue till such a time the CSI churches especially the New Life sect stops forcible religious conversions.
Monday Morning at Bendur Church
More attacks
The latest list of attacks on late Sunday was the Padua chapel was attacked at 9.15 pm as some youth on motorcycles threw stones and banged the gates. They targeted the glass parts of buildings.
In another attack on Sunday evening miscreants desecrated a statue located in front of Carmelites' house in Katkere, near Koteshwar in Udupi district according to the police. The attacks appear to be coming in waves and in well co-ordinated modus operandi.
The Christian communities in Chikmagalur mainly in Basavanahally, Rathnagirinagara, Azadnagar have confirmed that there was intense tension in the city for the last two days and they have felt that youths were being mobilized for some nefarious activities.
A Christian organization in Tumkur district have also reported an attack on a church in Tiptur but the police have no information on that.
The Bajrang Dal state convenor Mahendra Kumar had clarified on Sunday only the New Life sect prayer halls were attacked but on Sunday the Padua chapel has been targeted for attack comes as a shock to the Catholic church. The Vishwa Hindu Parishat however was quick to react and said the attack on Padua church was a mistake. This chapel is located in the premises of Padua pre-university college at Nanthoor. According to the Kadri police have given protection to the chapel says Superintendent of Police Satheesh Kumar.
The Adoration Monastery behind the Milagres Church has been given adequate security also.
To end this analysis it is pertinent to quote Karl Marx who has said " Religion is the opium of the people" Die Religion ... ist das Opium des Volkes"(in German) in his Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right.
It looks like Bajrang Dal activists have taken an overdose of the religious opium to unleash such barbarism on world culture.
Posted by Christian Persecution India at 1:18 AM