Conversion focus of inter-faith talks

An inter-faith interaction between Hindu and Catholic religious leaders, held at Mumbai’s Shanmukhananda Hall on Friday, appears to have focused a lot of time on the issue of conversions and the killings at Kandhamal in Orissa last year.

While the Hindu side was represented, among others, by the Sankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, Jayendra Saraswati, and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the Christian side was represented by Mumbai Archbishop Cardinal Oswald Gracias, and Cardinal Jean Louis P Tauran, the Pope’s representative from the Vatican.

According to sources, the Vatican representative wanted to know why Christians were facing violence when India was supposed to be a tolerant country. The Sankaracharya reportedly sought an assurance that conversion activities would be stopped, and referred to the assurances sought by Jewish rabbis last month from the Pope.
The Vatican did not comment on the aspect of stopping conversions, but pointed out that there were many Protestant groups doing conversions, and the Catholic Church had no control over that.

The Sankaracharya, who spoke softly in Hindi, said the meeting can be considered useful if the points agreed are faithfully followed. “Unless the church reassures Hindus that it will not conduct itself in a manner that wounds Hindu sensibilities and follows up on those assurances, such inter-faith meetings, no matter how frequently held, will be futile and not serve any meaningful cause,” he added.  

“Although conversion is a personal choice, I want to endorse that there will be no forced conversions. It has no meaning, and is considered invalid. The Catholic Church is totally against forced conversions. The Vatican documents are clear about that,” said Cardinal Gracias.

At an impromptu news briefing after the dialogue, it was announced that the two religious groups would work together, where possible, in charity and social work.
The Sankaracharya noted that “very large amounts of money come into this country for churches and Christian groups, ostensibly for charity work. These funds should be used only for social causes like health and education. Similarly, Hindu temples and Hindus will share their resources,” he said.

The Sankaracharya said he wanted India to be a spiritual country. “We should take moral lessons from each religion and educate our children.” To which Cardinal Gracias responded: “Our country is spiritual and we must continue to deepen the spirituality of our people. Moral lessons should be included in the school syllabus, to help make better human beings,” said Cardinal Gracias.

Among the other Hindu leaders who attended the dialogue were Swami Chidananda Saraswati of Uttaranchal, Swami Vishveshwarananda Giri Maharaj of Mumbai, Swami Nikhileshwarananda of Vadodara, the Prajapita of Brahmakumaris from Rajasthan, and Chaturvedi Swami of Chennai.

The Catholic side was represented, apart from Cardinal Gracias and Cardinal Tauran, by Archbishop Quintana of the Vatican Nunciature in Delhi, Cardinal Topno of Ranchi, Archbishop Gali Bali of Guntur, Archbishop Felix Machado of Nashik, and Bishop Thomas Dabre of Pune.

Cardinal Tauran had this to say: “India is a cradle of many religions. What impresses me is that Indians are open minded and tolerant with positive values. We know this inter-faith meeting will have a positive outcome. It gives an orientation and a beginning of something.”

The Sankaracharya also said that there should be no interference from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in the internal affairs of the country, including the attacks on Christians in Kandhamal and Gujarat.

“We see the USCIRF as an intrusive mechanism of a foreign government to interfere in the internal affairs of this country. The USCIRF, which has been permitted to hold meetings with our people to ascertain religious freedom in our country, must no longer be permitted to enter this country on this intrusive mission. We will not allow external interference in our internal affairs,” the Sankaracharya asserted.