தமிழக கிறிஸ்தவம் மதவெறி, அடிப்படைவாதத்தில் தோய்ந்தது: ஆய்வாளர் தாமஸ்

தென்னிந்தியாவில் குறிப்பாக தமிழகத்தில் ஊடகங்களை பெருமளவில் பயன்படுத்தி மதமாற்ற அரசியல்/ஆக்கிரமிப்பு திட்டங்களை கிறிஸ்தவர்கள் செயல்படுத்துகின்றனர் என்று தனது ஆய்வு நூலில் ஆராய்ச்சியாளர் ப்ரதீப் நைனன் தாமஸ் குறிப்பிட்டுள்ளார்.

தமிழகத்தின் பெரும்பாலான கிறிஸ்தவர்கள் சுதந்திர எண்ணம் கொண்டவர்களாக அல்ல, மாறாக வெறியர்களாகவும், அடிப்படைவாதிகளாகவுமே உள்ளனர் என்றும் அவர் தன் நூலில் கூறுகிறார்.

தமிழக கிறிஸ்தவ அமைப்புகள் நடத்திய "அதி தீவிர மதமாற்ற" நிகழ்ச்சியில் ப.சிதம்பரம், கருணாநிதி போன்ற அரசியல் தலைவர்கள் தலைவர்கள் கலந்து கொண்டது பற்றிய கடும் கண்டனத்தையும் அவர் தெரிவிக்கிறார்.

நூல் விமரிசனம் :

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/looking-at-christianitys-handshake-with-media-in-india-book-review_10074366.html

Christianity's handshake with media in India
By Papri Sri Raman
July 22, 2008

Book: "Strong Religion, Zealous Media"; Author: Pradip Ninan Thomas;
Publisher: Sage Publications; Pages: 207

The book is a result of a two-year study done in Chennai by Pradip
Ninan Thomas, an associate professor at the School of Journalism and
Communication at the University of Queensland, and naturally an
academic point of view. "(It was) inspired by a comment about
conversions and riots in Gujarat by the historian William Dalrymple in
an article several years ago," Thomas told IANS. "It suddenly opened
my eyes to the fundamentalism that is getting entrenched in
Christianity across the world, in Brazil, (South) Korea, Africa and
also in India."

One of the reasons why Thomas took up the study of modern-day
Christian fundamentalism in Tamil Nadu is because as many as 62
million people in the southern state follow the religion. "Chennai is
today considered the fastest-growing hub of Christianity in South
Asia," he says. His study is preceded by Lionel Caplan's 1987 work
"Fundament alism as a Counter-Culture: Protestants in Urban South
India" and Susan Bayly's 1994 study in southern Tamil Nadu and Kerala,
"Christians and Competing Fundamentalism in South Indian Society".

Thomas has left himself open to criticism that he is playing directly
into the hands of rising Hindu and Islamic fundamentalism by choosing
to investigate how neo-Christian camps in India use the media and its
audio-visual power to hypnotise their constituencies with "good news",
miracles and blessings.

Thomas writes that "Christian fundamentalists", like Islamic
fundamentalists, "belong to a global umma and harbour real and perhaps
imagined…longings directed towards making all of god's people
Christian".

Thomas says he himself is a practicing Christian, but that it is time
"mainstream churches" begin looking at "Christianity in India and
begin going to the media more" to halt what he calls "Karaoke"
Christianity. His concern is delivered in his critique of the
media-supported Joshua project, the Christian Broadcasting Network and
the evangelism of GOD TV, the 700 Club, Num TV of the Chennai-based
organisation Jesus Calls, the Rede Record TV Network belonging to
Brazil's Pentecostal movement and such other mass followed sects. He
fears that more and more the "worship experience on a Sunday" is being
overtaken by rallies like those organised by Benny Hinn Inc (in the
US). "Politics of mis-recognition certainly applies to Christian
broadcasting in India," Thomas notes.

The book takes a close look at India's Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal
movements, their use of radio, television, merging church space with
multi-media.

Thomas says his is a "wake-up call" to the traditional church in India
to recognise the danger of fundamentalist incursions into a faith that
is largely seen as beneficial and peaceful, surviving for several
thousand years in a multicultural, multi-religious space, which this
subcontinent has provided.

Warning against "evangelic spectacles" and various "brands of
exclusive Christianity", Thomas gives the example of "militantly
pro-conversion events" like the "Every Tribe, Every Tongue" convention
in 2006, attended by political bigwigs like P. Chidambaram and from
the self-proclaimed atheist Dravidian party the DMK and 20,000 others
who had gathered in Chennai from all across tribal India.

The event was supported by the International Living Mission; the
stated objective of this group is: "In India itself there are more
than 500,000 villages who have never heard about Jesus. There is
neither a church nor has any missionary been in these parts. Our
responsibility as the chosen one of20god is to make an opportunity for
these people so that they too can hear the word of god." Such events
generate "new meaning for religion and politics, simultaneously mixing
the religious with business and finance, creating spectacular events
and media personalities", Thomas points out.

"Liberal Christians…along with many others in India certainly have
serious misgivings about" this kind of aggressive proselytisation,
Thomas says.

"The traditional church is, however, reluctant to admit it and take
action against this, especially in the face of rising Hindu and
Islamic fundamentalism."

The traditional church "keeps quiet" because it "feels the need to
maintain unity" among Christians of all denomination, Thomas says,
advocating that traditional religion, including traditional
Christianity, should search for a media model like Canada's "Vision
TV" to reach out to India's pluralist multitude.