An Indian pastor's response to rising violence against Muslims
Protesters at India Gate in Delhi on Dec. 16, 2019. Photo by Avinash Giri.
(OPINION) The idea of India is precious to Christians. It’s an idea of religious freedom, ideological diversity and intellectual curiosity. This is the India I grew up in; but it’s not the India we are living in now.
During my school years, I went to a Christian school where my classmates and teachers came from a wide range of religious backgrounds and my closest friends were Muslims, Hindus, atheists, agnostics or hedonists. My Christianity was unformed, immature and sometimes overzealous. Their skepticism was blunt, sarcastic, freely critical and sometimes scathing. I warned them of the coming judgment. They labelled me “Jesus ke bhakti” or Jesus lover. It was all childish, irreverent, careless and immature; but it was never a threat to our friendship. This is the beauty of the idea of India.
My faith in Christ matured in my college years, but I was a literature student in Delhi University and it was a hotbed of skepticism. Many of my professors were openly and often irreverently questioning of the Bible and the Christian faith. They were not religious; they were atheists. As a student and young Christian, I was shaken but it did not make me think less of them. It made me think more deeply about my own faith. It sharpened my critical thinking skills as any good college education ought to do. Their skepticism was necessary for my faith. This is the benefit of the idea of India.
While I was in college, a professor who was not a Christian helped me organize and host a seminar on campus to discuss the reliability of the Bible. It was attended by students and teachers of the philosophy and arts departments of a number of colleges in Delhi University. The speaker was free to make his case. The listeners were free to agree or disagree with it. All of us were free to participate in an exchange of ideas, but more importantly in the blessing of the idea of India.
Under the power of a new imagination, this idea of India is changing.
It’s one where Muslims are hated for being Muslims, students are seen as threats, violent police officers are seen as heroes, protesters are seen as traitors, weeping students are seen as “actors", and politicians are seen as Messiahs. The idea of India was singularly unique from the idea of Pakistan, in that we would not allow ourselves to be limited to one faith or identified by one religion. But the idea of India is now being recast as a nation of one-worldview by those who hate the idea of Pakistan. The irony is staggering.
As a Christian I want to assure you, I don't dream of a “Christian” nation. I dream of a just nation. I want to live in the India I grew up in; where it’s common for Christians, Muslims, Hindus, atheists and hedonists to be friends; where it’s safe for everyone to ask questions; where it’s permitted for everyone to hold their convictions peacefully; where it’s unacceptable for anyone to be coercive, manipulative or violent towards anyone.
Any Christian who uses coercive, manipulative, forcible measures to convert someone into the Christian faith has neither understood the love of Christ nor do they really honor Him. But any Indian who uses coercive, manipulative, forcible measures to erode the ideological diversity enshrined in our constitution has neither understood the idea of India, nor do they really honor it.
As a Christian, I want to stand in support of the students in Jamia Millia Islamia and the vulnerable Muslims of this nation who are being robbed of the idea of India that was imagined with enough room for them, as well as for us.
As a Christian, I want to stand in support of their rights to protest, to work, to live, to thrive, to flourish in this great country of ours because the Christian way isn't some of us—over, above, without, separate or against—all of them. The Christian way is some of us for all of us because there’s some of us in all of us. An assault on the freedom of some of us is an assault on the freedom of all of us. It’s an assault on the idea of India.
Akshay Rajkumar is an author, publisher and pastor of a church in South Delhi. He studied literature in Delhi University and theology in Singapore Bible College. He has lived in Delhi since 1983.