Christian leaders urge reconciliation on Kandhamal Day

The smouldering embers in Kandhamal might have died down, but the hurt and pain thousands endured is still unhandy and voluminous to heal.

One year after the most brutal and horrific pogroms against Christians in Kandhamal, Church leaders call for the reconciliation of hearts and the rooting out of revenge and hatred.

Says an Evangelical leader, "Christian struggle against the oppression in Kandhamal must be guided by a vision of reconciliation between the oppressed and the oppressors, otherwise it will end in "injustice-with-role-reversal."

"For reconciliation to take place the inscription of hatred must be carefully erased and the threads of violence gently removed. This is one important lesson of Jesus' proclamation of the reign of God," explains Rev. Dr. Richard Howell, general secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI).

Kandhamal district had experienced widespread violence after the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Laxmananda Saraswati and four of his aides at his ashram Aug 23.

More than 50,000 Christians were forced to flee and several hundred churches and homes were razed down by hardline Hindu extremists avenging the murder of Saraswati.

Rev. Howell urges Christians to retrospect the message of Christ and be welled in "God's unconditional love and human repentance."

"If victims do not repent today they can become perpetrators tomorrow who, in their self-deceit, will seek to pardon their misdeeds on account of their own victimization?" Rev. Howell warns.

It was a similar message of peace and reconciliation, the head of an ecumenical forum of the Protestant and Orthodox churches, shared.

"It is very beautiful when we forgive and repent. There is so much hurt and pain. Revenge is not the answer of this violence," Bishop DK Sahu, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), tells Christian Today.

"From the beginning of violence till now what has sustained people is their endurance in Christ. It is the message of love, peace and freedom – the tenets of Christianity – that has grounded people," he adds.

Truly, after all this mayhem people still have not lost their faith. "Even in the darkest hour of violence in Orissa a year ago, the people refused to abandon their faith, and that is where they conquered fear," says John Dayal of All India Christian Council.

He construes reconciliation. "Most of us have been working for reconciliation and peace. Not reconciliation as a compromise, or as a sign of defeat; not reconciliation as surrender; but reconciliation born out of forgiveness and underpinned by justice ensured by the state."

Termed as a "national shame" by the Prime Minister of India, the 2008 violence has crippled the Christian community, which now seeks refuge from religious persecution and growing impunity.

Leading human rights groups, both national and international, including a US state-sponsored Commission has condemned the violence and called for the strengthening of rule of law.