DAWN Fridayfax 1995 #47

News from India, Nigeria, UK

India: massive barrier to Dalit conversions is shaking

One of the greatest hindrances to Dalits (a repressed caste) becoming Christians may fall this winter. According to Rev. Alexis Diamond Raj (Madurai), General Secretary of the United Christian Council, Dalits make up around 25% of India's population of 920 million. For the Dalits, becoming a Christian was a step into financial ruin. India is constitutionally a secular state, but for the last 45 years, the government has ensured that Christian Dalits do not have the rights and privileges (grants, loans, jobs etc.) afforded to Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists from their caste. By becoming Christians, according to cynical comments made by the partly extreme Hindu party BJP and the violent Hindu fundamentalist movement RSS, by converting to Christianity, Dalits became members of a caste-free society.

On Saturday, 18th November, 1995, over 100,000 Christians took part in protest marches in Madras and other cities to demonstrate solidarity with the 15 million existing Dalit Christians, thus emphasising their decades-old demand that Christian Dalits be entered in the "Scheduled Caste List". The Indian media reported in depth about the event. Rev. Diamond Raj says that the government plans a draft bill for the parliament's winter session.

On 31st August 1995, Prime Minister Narasimha Rao promised that, "A bill would be enacted this winter". The draft bill was demanded by several members of parliament in an all-party debate on 6th December in New Delhi. Except for the BJP and RSS, all of India's important political parties accept the bill.

Source: Sadhu Chellappa, Rev. Diamond Raj, Wolfgang Simson

Dreams and Visions: Mullahs convert in Nigeria

Staff of the mission organisation "Open Doors" report that Moslems are often led to Jesus through dreams and visions. An as yet unpublished dissertation by a Middle-Eastern theologian which has been made available to us shows that supernatural experiences such as dreams, visions, healings and exorcisms play a decisive role for a large percentage (much more than 50%) of Moslems who convert to Christianity.

According to "Open Doors", Moslems' high regard for dreams is rooted in one of Mohammed's sayings: "When the time is near, a Moslem's dream can almost never lie. Who speaks most truthfully has the most accurate dreams."

Ruth Veldkamp, and American missionary in Nigeria, reported the following: "Kawuri, a new convert, was tortured by his tribe because of his new-found faith, and was close to death. Lying on his death-bed in his small hut, he prayed aloud that God would forgive his torturers. Unbeknown to him, his torturers were present and heard his prayer. The following night, the two Mullahs had visions. One saw Jesus, who showed him three of his greatest and most secret sins. The following day, both Mullahs repented and went with their 80 followers to a church. I was very encouraged by this news and started, with 100 other people, to pray for specific Islamic leaders. Four months later, many Mullahs and Koran teachers had dreams or visions. One man saw a Koran text telling him that the truth was to be found in the Bible. After having several visions, he became a zealous evangelist. Since then, many of Nigeria's Mullahs have become Christians."

Source: Open Doors

England: "At last: Faith in Marriage!"

That and other similarly enthusiastic headlines introduced reports in the English media about the Archbishop of Canterbury's statement about the importance of marriage. The reports spoke of Archbishop Carey's "dramatic address to the General Synod of the Church of England on 30th November 1995 supporting the institution of marriage and the family as the cornerstone of every healthy society. Carey's speech was the burning answer to a church report recommending that cohabitation should be regarded as almost equal to marriage, and that the phrase 'living in sin' should be dropped."

According to Carey, the Biblical ideal of the family is a man and woman in a permanent union of love. "A married man and woman and their children should be the basic building block for family life. Marriage is public and formal; cohabitation is private, of limited duration, pretends to exist in a vacuum and is hence anti-social.

"In marriage, promises are made before witnesses; the general society has a part and expresses its special interest in a stable and happy family life. Whoever lives together outside marriage because they believe that their relationship is basically private and has nothing to do with society deceives themselves... In addition, if you study the figures, every child of a successful marriage," he continued, "is an immense social security saving."

Source: The Daily Telegraph/Daily Mirror 1.12.1995 (freely translated back into English from a German translation of the reports!)

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