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

However, Indian sociologists like R. Thapar argue that ‘Religious intolerance is
not alien to Hinduism.’ 46 Although the intensity of such intolerance has been on
the rise Christianity has faced religious intolerance from its very inception in
India. S. Kim points out a number of examples, like ‘the Hindu personal laws,
withdrawal of concessions for Scheduled Castes and Tribes, “freedom of religion”
legislation, and above all, physical attacks on Christian communities by the Sangh
Parivar,’ to show the limitations of Hindu tolerance regarding the matter of
conversion of Hindus to other religions. He further comments that Nehru and
other national leaders were well aware of the boundaries of Hindu toleration, and
that is why they set up the ‘political scheme of secular India to safeguard the
interests’ of people of various religious faiths. 47 Frykenberg observes that despite
the ‘decline and disappearance of Western missionaries,’ after independence, the
growing ‘radical movements and cross-cultural transformations’ caused the rise of
vociferous fundamentalism in India. 48
Moreover, there are others, like Peter Van der Veer, who see the trans-national
ties of Hindu migrants in the growth of religious tension in India. Van der Veer
discusses the trans-national characteristics of religious nationalism in his work on
Religious Nationalism. Studying the case of Ayodhya, he argues that ‘the
involvement of Hindus who live outside of India has proved crucial.’ 49 He
presents many examples to illustrate the trans-national nature even in national
46 R. Thapar. ‘Syndicated Hinduism,’ in Hinduism Reconsidered, ed. G.D. Sontheimer and H.
Kulke (New Delhi, India: Manohar, 1997), 76.
47 For more details of the discussion, see Kim, In Search of Identity, 187-88.
48 Frykenberg, Christians and Missionaries, 47.
49 Peter van der Veer, Religious Nationalism: Hindus and Muslims in India (Berkeley, LA:
University of California, 1994), xii.
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