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

When people embrace the Christian faith, it is called conversion and is regarded
as a threat to social order. However, when people are forced or enticed to become
Hindus, it is referred to as suddhi or ghar vapasi.
Another approach by Hindu militants to check conversion has been written Hindu
criticism of Islamic and Christian exclusive truth claims, dogmas, and their
conversion activities. 128 Kim notes the work of both Ram Swarup and Sita Ram
Goel, and concludes that ‘through their extensive research and reading of Muslim
and Christian material, they provided important sources for Hindus in their
opposition to Islam and Christianity in general and conversion in particular.’ 129 In
his work Arun Shourie, the former cabinet minister of India under the BJP rule,
also criticised Christian missionary activities in India. 130 According to L.
Stanislaus, the summary of most literature and documents that oppose Christianity
is that missionaries are involved in ‘mass conversions by incentives, deceit,
allurement’ and ‘coercion.’ 131
The most terrifying approach is the use of physical violence to oppose conversion.
Both the converted and the converter are attacked, and in many cases, Christians
are assaulted without any clear evidence of conversion. Hundreds of cheaply
available books, booklets, pamphlets, documents, and CDs containing material
128 For more details on such Hindu literature, see Kim, In Search of Identity, 140-42; L. Stanislaus,
‘A Christian Response to Hindutva,’ in Nationalism and Hindutva, 198-99.
129 Kim, In Search of Identity, 141.
130 For example, see Arun Shourie, Missionaries in India: Continuities, Changes and Dilemmas
(New Delhi: Rupa, 2004). Using examples from the writings of Swami Vivekananda and Gandhi,
Shourie, analyses the work of Christian missionaries in India. He argues that whether
evangelization or social work, Christian mission has conversion as its major purpose, and so the
result will be denationalization.
131 Stanislaus, ‘Christian Response to Hindutva,’ 198-99.
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