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Editor's note: A Hindu “missionary” is deeply disturbed
by the rise of Christianity in China. In the wake of the
failure of Marxism, he wants Indian Hindus to cash in on
the opportunity and convert the Chinese to Hinduism.
Instead of concentrating on converting the West, he
wants Hindu missionaries to subvert China. In this
article that appeared in Indian Express, R. Vaidyanathan
writes to motivate Indians to “destabilise” and
“dominate” China through the “soft power” of Hinduism.
He urges the use of Hindu tools of cultural subversion
and religious conversion, namely, art, music, culture,
ayurveda, yoga and dance to “capture the hearts” of
China’s middle classes!
If Indian Hindus can thus plot to convert the Chinese,
why are they protesting against Christian missions and
the spread of the gospel? The double standards of
militant Hinduism is evident here. Vaidyanathan uses
military and triumphalistic terms (“conquer”, “invade”)
to describe his strategy. Excerpts from his article:
SOFT POWER {READ ‘HINDU SPIRITUAL POWER’} TO ‘CONQUER
AND DOMINATE’
R Vaidyanathan
Religion is no longer derided in China. The keynote
speech by Communist Party general secretary Hu Jintao to
the 17th party congress in October 2007, devoted a
paragraph to religion. He stressed that religious people
including priests, monks and lay believers played a
positive role in the social and economic development of
China. Hence religion is no more the opiate of the
masses.
The state-controlled Xinhua stresses freedom of belief.
It says religion could play an important role in
realising a ‘harmonious society’, which is the new
political role of the party. That is the main issue we
in India should note. A study by two professors of China
Normal University based on more than 4,500 people in
2007 concludes that more than 300 million people, namely
31 per cent are religious, and more than 60 per cent of
those are in the 16-40 age group. The number of
followers of Christianity has increased to 12 per cent
from less than eight per cent in the Nineties.
This last fact is interesting since a huge underground
church has developed in China and Zhao Xiao, a former
communist party official and convert to Christianity,
thinks there are up to 130 million Christians in China.
This figure is much higher than the official figure of
21 million — 16 million Protestants and five million
Catholics. If the former figure is true, then there are
more Christians in China than Communist Party members,
74 million at the last count.
The major change in China is not related to growth rates
or the Three Gorges dam, shopping malls and Olympic
stadia. That is a typical Western way of viewing China.
The main change is in religious affiliation, and the
assertive-ness of Islamic followers and development of a
large-scale underground church. The middle classes have
given up rice (perceived to be for the illiterate poor)
and are embracing Christianity as it also helps job
mobility, particu-larly in global companies where the
heads could belong to the same church. ...
Economic growth bereft of spiritual underpinnings in the
context of the death of Marxism will be a great
challenge for China. India as an elder brother should
facilitate an orderly transformation based on our common
shared ancient wisdom. Let us remember that China too is
a multi-cultural and multi-religious society but
interested in our shared past. In the words of Hu Shih,
a former ambassador of China to the USA (1938-1942)
“India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20
centuries without having to send a single soldier across
her borders.” We should be using our soft power to
‘conquer and dominate’ China.
We need to print million copies of the Ramayana and
Mahabharata and start some 50 Bharatiya Vidya Bhavans in
China. This is the only way to destabilise our younger
brother, by de-legitimising communism. Actually China
needs this more than USA even though all our soft power
is currently on show in the USA.
We should recognise China’s weak point and the need of
its masses in the absence of communism. Many Chinese
even today believe that their next birth should be in
India to reach salvation. Culture and religion are not
taboos any more.
There are other issues. Officially China recognises or
permits only five religions, Buddhism, Islam, Taoism,
Protestantism and Catholicism. Hence we should take
steps to include Hinduism as well. The point is that our
soft power in culture is interwoven intimately with
religion. You cannot separate it however much you try
it. Carnatic music without Bhakthi is neither music nor
art. The strategy should be to encircle China with
music, dance, art, yoga. ayurveda, spiritual texts, etc,
and capture the hearts of the middle-classes as we have
done for centuries....
But this is an opportunity too good to pass up,
especially as there is every likelihood that the next
two superpowers will be from Asia. In the process we
would be destabilising the current dispensation and the
remnants of communism. Are we ready to undertake such an
‘invasion’?
Last
Word: There is no point turning green with envy as you
watch the Chinese church grow. The growth of Christians
in China is not the result of some strategic planning
done by the Chinese church or any other church
elsewhere. It is the result of God’s planning. The risen
Lord Jesus, who is at present holding the reigns of the
universe, is behind the worldwide growth of the church.
The founder and leader of the Christian faith, Jesus
Christ, said: “I will build my church; the gates of hell
will not prevail against it.”
The Chinese church grew in the midst of persecution. It
was not western music or Hollywood movies or English
medicine or any of the so-called “Christian cultural
invasion” or subversion that converted millions of
Chinese to Christ. Many of them had a living encounter
with the Risen Lord.
India too will turn to Christ. The more we are
persecuted, the more we will grow. I am sure Mr.
Vaidyanthan and his like-minded friends will not pay
such a heavy price for their expansionist plans. Or is
he ready to smuggle some of his religious wares to China
fully knowing that he might end up in a Chinese labour
camp or torture cell?
In the mean time, we will continue to encourage
Christians in India and other countries to stay away
from the tools of your trade, namely, Carnatic music,
Yoga, Ayurveda and dance!
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