a contextual missiology of the spirit - eTheses Repository ...

slogans, leaders, especially indigenous ones, are keen to encourage the people to
be patriotic and to work for the building of the nation. Apart from this,
Pentecostals sing songs with words like ‘I Love India, You love India, We love
India,’ and they try to do so in public meetings. 22
4.1.5. Minority Crisis
There are many who see that minority status in the Indian democracy is in crisis
today. 23 Massey states that the problems of minorities are not expressed very
clearly, and even the minorities themselves do not articulate their problems. He
explains his own experience to support this. Massey served as a Member of NCM,
for three years beginning from 1996, and he confessed that he wanted to study the
minorities from their written documents. However, he found little written material
from the perspective of religious minorities, which has resulted in the publication
of Minorities in a Democracy: The Indian Experience. 24 In this, Massey tries to
explain the place of minorities in a democratic nation like India, and the problems
they are facing. He also makes some recommendations.
Christians consider the Minority problem is a serious issue. Although the Indian
Constitution in principle provides for freedom and rights to minorities, Christians
in India have always struggled as a minority. It seems that the genesis of the
‘minority problem of Christians’ originated right from the time of independence.
Teresa Albuquerque’s analysis of the decision of the Advisory Committee on
22
These practices are deliberate attempts by Pentecostals to show their loyalty and patriotism to
the nation.
23
For example, see Massey, Minorities in a Democracy; Durrany, State Measures. They both
discuss the plight of religious minorities
24
Massey, Minorities in a Democracy, 13.
176