Hinduism

A gentleman, Pita brought this news item to our notice at a social networking site. The item was posted under the heading “Slokas on the Mount” in India View.

The article says that the Vatican has sanction the ‘inculturation’ of churches meaning the indigenisation of churches through “assimilating local culture and symbols in construction, layout, interior design, …”. This should not have come as a surprise but it did.

It should not have come as a surprise because Christianity itself took roots in an indigenisation process. All major festivals of Christianity coincide with the pagan festivals that were being celebrated by the early Roman society. It did surprise me because after that initial step of ‘inculturation’ Christianity for the last 2000 years has taken a rigid stand in even making minor adjustments to its set beliefs.

The article states that the process will be implemented in the 168 Catholic dioceses in India, and is already under way in 45 churches. One of the obstacles in the spread of Christianity has been its identification as a part of “Western” culture and therefore alien to Oriental indigenous cultures. Hence this move of the Christian Church is welcome. Many Indian Christians have a sense of belonging neither here nor there, and hopefully future generations of Indian Christians will not face this dilemma. The ‘inculturation’ also involves performing aarti in churches and this should go a long way in bridging the artificially created current religious divides.

The article quotes Nitya Chaitanya Guru as saying, “It is not totally baseless if Hindu leaders fear that ‘Indianisation of Christianity’ is meant to bring about ‘Christianisation of India’. I could not disagree with Nitya Chaitanya Guru more. Not only is this statement totally unfounded but it is meant to increase the existing religious divides.