Christians must be "transparent" and socialize, urge Hindu scholars in inter–religious meet in Madhya Pradesh

Several Hindu scholars, participating in an inter–religious meeting organized by the Catholic Church in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, have urged the Christian community and the church to be more "transparent" and join mainstream to fight false propaganda.

Admitting that Christians do "wonderful works," Saroj Kumar Jain, a university professor in Indore, however, said that they are "not very transparent."

"I think they lack self–confidence," said Jain, who is an adherent of Jainism, a religion founded in India in the sixth century B.C.

According to Mukund Kulkarni, a member of the Hindu nationalist group, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Christians "hardly" attend public programs and they remain closed within their community.

R.D. Prasad, another Hindu scholar, explained that Christians continued to face attacks and false propaganda because of their submissive nature.

According to Fr. Anand Muttungal, spokesperson for the Catholic Church in Madhya Pradesh, the November 25 meeting attempted to find out what people of other religious belief thought of Christians, in the wake of accusations of forcible conversion being levelled against the missionaries.

Appreciating the social welfare service carried out by the churches and Christian organizations, Jain said that the conversion charges arise because others do not know "exactly" what Christians do, other than manage schools and health–care centers.

Advising Christians to use the media to highlight their activities, Jain said that since ignorance about the Christian community is more apparent in northern India, they should start a Hindi–language newspaper. Hindi, the national language, is the main language in northern India, he said.

Christians "never come to public meetings to defend themselves properly even when accused of conversion and other activities," he noted, adding that Indians consider silence a sign of acceptance.

Jain said he does not object to low–caste and tribal people becoming Christians. Hinduism, he added, never cared for those people anyway. If some of them prefer to join Christianity, there is "nothing bad if they get their dignity," he added.

According to Kulkarni, he is against the RSS stance that change of religion would lead to change of nationality. "There is no suspicion about Christians' patriotism," he said.

However, the Church should encourage its people to get involved in more social and cultural activities, which would counter false allegations and misunderstandings, he added. He described the allegation of forceful conversion as "nothing but political propaganda."

According to Prasad, only if Christians take the initiative to defend themselves would anyone else defend them. He suggested that Christians protest violence against them, but through nonviolent methods.

Agreeing with the scholars, Jesuit Archbishop Pascal Topno of Bhopal has expressed the need for more lay participation in public programs.

The archbishop, who heads the Catholic Church in the state, agreed that Christians should do more to oppose false campaigns against the Church but noted that Christians believe in doing service rather than seeking publicity.