WILL HINDUISM OVERTAKE CHRISTIANITY?

by Dr. K N Bastola

PART I

Civilizations have generally been molded by religions. Before, people were not in touch with one another as today, because of lack of communication, and lack of means of transport, creating, what can be called pocket civilizations. When a civilization becomes refined to a certain extent, added with lack of communication, as well as lack of interest in trying to understand other civilization, it makes people believe that their civilization is the best in the world. During the British Raj, since it was the winner, British Empire along with its appendage Christianity had a major impact in the world. The ruling class at that time believed that their civilization was the best and let the world believe so as well.

Modern civilization

There have been tremendous changes since the British Empire collapsed. The modern civilization has created its own identity, following the principle of change in every sphere of human life. Concepts have been modified or totally changed. Say for example, the concept of multicultural society in the west. This is a recent development; compare this with the previous concept of, one had to be white to be accepted as British, and it is well known fact that blacks in the USA were not thought to be of much use, except menial jobs. Almost every culture has changed or is in the process of change, giving way to an entity called modern culture. Since the inherent nature of this modern culture is change, the culture present today may not be there at the end of this century. The change is brought about especially by the tremendous amount of development in science and technology as well as the education of women. Cultures are always protected, and resist change at all cost, but because of its obvious advantages over the traditional ways, modern technology, has been accepted by all cultures, causing them to change. Dogmatic religions are having a tough time with the education of women. Thus, science and technology as well as education of women, has had and will have, unbelievable influence in our lives, giving us a new culture, new words like surfing the Net, browsing, search engine etc.; and there are more, new words, to come.

Internet has made almost every branch of knowledge available. Not only that, it has made it easier for people to find what they are looking for. It is said that because of the Internet, some patients know better than their doctors, about some diseases. In the previous days people used to read about a subject (either pro or against something) and make up their idea, according to one side of the subject, because they would not be able to get the view of the other side. Now Internet has made things so easy that you can see both the positive and negative side in the same page. If one wants to know the rights of woman in Islam, one can put it on search and you will get both positive and negative articles in the same web page. This is the beauty of the Internet. On top of that, one can go to various discussion forums. This will have a tremendous effect on the query of the people, making them aware of what something really is. Because of the modern culture, religious philosophies are also changing, especially in the west. Some intellectuals in the west maintain that the present civilization is the continuation of the Judaeo-Christian culture. I believe that the modern civilization is anti Christian civilization as maintained by the church, because of the following reasons-

1. Freedom of speech is the backbone of the present civilization. One is allowed to express himself/herself. We all know the persecution of Galleleo and host of other heretics in the hands of Christianity.

2. In Christianity, the slaves are asked to obey their masters making slavery a normal practice. The modern civilization is totally against slavery.

3. Christianity says women should obey their husbands and does not allow them to take prominent post in the church. They are regarded as sinful and less intelligent and therefore unable to do certain things. The modern civilization says that woman and men should be treated equally and should have equal opportunity. There is a place for women even in the army. With their intelligence they are outsmarting the boys in education. While Christianity confines the sex of God, despite it being omnipotent, to male (with huge social implications), modern women are openly asking, why can't God be female?

4. Christianity says apart from Christians no heathens can go to heaven. This essentially means that, out of 6 billion people in the world, only less than 2 billion people have that facility. Rest of the people i.e. a staggering number of more than 4 billion people, do not have that right, despite many of them being genuinely devoted to God and are good for the world at large. Modern people obviously have difficulty in believing in this concept. This is because, firstly, they cannot understand why people like Gandhi, the Dalai Lama etc. who have done so many good things for the humanity at large, should go to hell, and secondly this concept creates huge imbalance in the creation with disproportionately overcrowding of hell. Creation, they argue, works in a balanced way. This sentiment of 'my God is right and only we will go to heaven', has created many Christian sects, including various suicidal cults, who believe that only they will go to heaven and the rest of the world, including other Christian sects, will go to hell. This has created problems for the modern society. It does not believe in exclusive privileges of any group of people.

5. Modern civilization believes in tolerance towards other religions/opinions. It teaches us to respect other religions. Christianity, by its essential belief cannot do that. It on the other creates antagonism with other religions/cultures by calling their follower’s heathen. This by itself is not conducive of a peaceful society or world at large. The modern society is looking for peace in the world. Some people call for banning of the use of the word like heathen, as they have done to the word Niger.

6. Christianity believes that man is the master, and the rest of the creation is there to serve him for his food and pleasure. This has lead to destruction of forest and killing animals for pleasure. Modern civilization believes in conservation of both vegetation and animals, specially the rear species. Modern civilization believes in balance in ecology. Scientists have shown that animals can be trained to learn like us. Monkeys and parrots have already shown that capability. Modern civilization talks about rights for animals as well, and not only for human beings. The varieties of pets are increasing. All these factors give dignity to animals- they are not mere beasts.

7. Modern civilization believes in temporary punishment and believes that they will refine after that, whereas Christianity is comfortable with permanent punishment in everlasting hell.

8. Modern civilization believes in the power of people- democracy. It believes in a powerless king. Christianity on the other hand believes in an all-powerful king. This concept of powerful king has lead to the concept of kingdom of heaven ruled by God, as well as the absolute power and the infallibility of the Pope.

9. Modern civilization believes that this universe came to existence billions of years ago Christianity believes that it started less than 8000 years ago. This, later belief has had a huge implication in writing history.

Let us look at the impact of Christianity at the present time.

Largest number of countries in the world is under Christianity. In Europe, the effect of Christianity is however very much less marked with an average of only 50 % of the people believing in (Christian) God. In the UK less than 3 percent go to church regularly. People think religion, as represented by Christianity (Northern Ireland), is the cause of war. The rich churches have become empty houses, which are taken over by other religious groups. People are trying to find peaceful alternatives, like paganism. In intellectual discussions, secular minds are given prominence to religious ones. In the USA however, things are quite different. 95% of the people living there believe in God. This has baffled the scientific community. In the early part of this century, perhaps following Darwin's theory, the number of people believing in God was less. I think one of the reason is, USA, the land of opportunity, knows the importance of combining religion, with media and money. The commercial media about God everyday constantly hammers people. The philosophy is, religion sells and does earn money, and it is a big business. This has not caught up in Europe as yet. At the moment in the USA the people are hammered by the Christian faith so people believe in the God of that faith. If this faith changes another God could take its place- the commercialisation remaining the same.

Situation in the developing world

In the developing world people have less money and they are bombarded with modern amenities which cost money. These amenities are believed to be coming from the west, and the west is regarded as the gold standard. During the British Raj, the Raj and their religion was the gold standard, as visualized by some people. To attain the standard, perhaps, almost all of the Anglo-Indians became Christians. People want to be associated with the gold standard. Christianity is taken as part and parcel of the west. While European churches are lacking in funds and are closing, some American churches are flourishing. Since religion is combined with business, there is abundance of money with the American Christians. Part of this money is being siphoned to the poor countries for conversion. Important thing to note and ask here is, why this money is not channeled to Europe to convert the non-believers? The simple answer to this question is, the people of Europe are educated and ask intelligent questions. Perhaps Christianity does not have the ability to give them satisfactory answers. Despite Europe being the homeland of the Pope, why isn't there advertisement of this religion? The black church infused song, hence spirit, into the American church proceedings by the influence of African spirituality. Since music is glamorous this has had a positive effect on American Christianity. Since religion there is a big business, I am not quite sure if some of the propagators of Christianity in the USA themselves believe in God. It looks like financial gain plays an important part in the propagation process.

The future of mankind

As mentioned above, the world is constantly changing. Because of freedom, People do not like any sort of rules. What they do is change the rules, create new rules. Rules are restrictive, which is contrary to the notion of freedom. The freedom part of things gives them the freedom, to create new rules. They like to be different and create a different trend. They will need philosophical guidance (as given by religion like Hinduism) but not rigid laws (as given by Semitic religions). Concept of family is gradually diminishing. In some ways we are gradually becoming animals. The only philosophy/religion we will be governed by will be "don't hurt". This could be applied to humans, animals and vegetation. This will perhaps be the religious philosophy in the coming century, apart from yoga and meditation, which are techniques to attain something- one has to master those skills like a surgeon masters the art of operation. Since the surgical skill will always be there, similarly, yoga and meditation will also be there. There could also be further hybridization of religions e.g. taking yoga and meditation from Hinduism and taking the God from the other religions (depending upon which religion's God is glamorous and which God people know). Sufism, though not excepted by mainstream Islam, is a clear example of hybridization of religions. It has to be mentioned here that religion is not important for a modern person with its rigid laws, they will however except guidance as given in Hinduism. People of modern society will however always need God: for they want somebody to help them in this severely competitive world where there are failures as much as successes. Loneliness amongst a crowd, will not be an exception.

What is in Hinduism that fits the modern world?

1. The highest authority book, the Vedas, say that Truth (God) is one but it is only people who call it by different names. This is a very inclusive statement. It gives respect to other religions and opinions. Hinduism does not believe that all religions are the same but what it believes is that all religions are attempting to reach God, the incomprehensible one, in different ways. This philosophy fits into the modern philosophy of respect for other religions. The concept of development of interfaith relations in the modern world arises from this.

2. Hinduism is the only religion whose numbers of years since creation is similar to what the scientist have found in terms of billions.

3. Hinduism teaches about respect of quality and ecological balance. Hinduism does this by respecting not only humans, but also animals like cows and various plants, which are beneficial to human beings and who have qualities, as well. Hinduism knows their importance. Hinduism has always taught about the balance of the universe and the importance of every living and non-living thing, which helps to maintain that balance (ecology). It does not teach us that every thing is created for man and he should not bother, about other inhabitants of the world. Modern society also has a similar attitude, like Hindus that we need to preserve our world. Modern society has found out that animals also have intelligence and have the ability to learn like us. They have trained monkeys and parrots who have shown the ability to correspond with us about their feelings. We have just begun to understand the animal world. The concept of monkeys should have rights, like human, is coming. Forest conservation is a very well known fact in Hinduism. In other words Hinduism understands ecology like the modern society.

4. Hinduism gives importance to knowledge- It says that according to action (training) and circumstances people are divided into four groups or varnas. The goal of which is to elevate every varna to the Brahmin (One who is learned and a teacher). It is important to note here that a Brahman's (teacher's) son or daughter, does not automatically become Brahmin. The concept of Brahmans offspring becoming a Brahman, by birth alone, was a result of distortion of Hindu culture, because of various factors, which is against the Hindu teachings and therefore cannot be called part of Hindu religion. They are born as Sudras and have to make their way up, according to training, they opt for and receive. Similarly a Sudra's children can also become Brahmins after training e.g. Narad and other rishis. If a Brahmin does not show proper conduct, he looses respect and becomes a Sudra. The modern world recognizes the fallacy of the communist propaganda, of people being equal. Like Hindus, the modern society gives importance to making people learned and also recognises training of people, giving them respect, as per their training.

5. Equality of sexes- 

While Hinduism did not give enough direct encouragement, for woman to educate, it did not hinder woman, who were determined to succeed. This is evidenced by the fact that Hinduism is the only society, which can boast of woman intellectuals (as discussed later), who were writers of scriptures and others, who have even acted as judges in great intellectual discussion, let alone being just member of audience. In fact in the Vedic period there were equal. Modern society gives equal opportunity to men and women.

6. The technique of Yoga and meditation, which are very useful for the modern individual, in relieving stress and improving health, can also give human being super human qualities. Many yogis have shown such qualities. The present scientific community looks for such powers. Hinduism is the only religion, which gives us yoga and meditation, which in turn gives us the opportunity to observe the paranormal (otherwise we would not have anything to go beyond the normal). In fact scientists are doing special scans on the brains when people are in deep meditation. They have in fact found that in deep meditation a part of brain becomes very inactive. Hinduism gives them a chance to observe the mysteries of nature and study it. Though it must be stated here clearly that, yoga and meditation are for attaining God and not to show power. Similarly research is going on to see, if people do have incarnation. All these concepts give the people of modern society, the opportunity to solve the mystery of creation and to further understand the cosmos.

7. Basudhaiba Kutumbakam-

This philosophy of Hinduism says that all the people of the world should be treated as a family. This is an action oriented, great philosophy. This is to say that we have a divine tie together and not a worldly tie. This peaceful slogan does not limit to any creed, race or color. It recognizes the diversity at the same time. This is distinctly different from the Adam and Eve family, because the propagation of family after Adam and Eve was, logically, out of incest relationship, amongst their siblings. The brotherhood of mankind of Hinduism does not rely on incest. The modern world also says, we all are not very different; it goes further and says that close relative marriage causes health problems, which Hinduism advises not to as well.

8. Karma and reincarnation-

This theory says that the present situation of a person is the result of past performances, in previous lives. It also says that better performance in this life, will lead to better life, after this. This concept blames the person involved for a bad life (yes we human do make mistakes, we need to learn from our mistakes and progress), but at the same time gives him/her the opportunity to do good, in this life, for a better next life. It does not blame God, because God is beyond blame. In Semitic religions, logically the blame has to go to God, if it is nobody's fault. Modern philosophy is also individualistic.

9. Peace-

Some religions talk about their religion supporting peace in the world. The very mantra of Hinduism calls, not only for peace in the world but peace in space, vegetation and the spiritual world, as well. This is a very catholic philosophy. Support of peace by modern civilization is well known. One can easily see that Hinduism goes even further than the modern civilization.

10. Vegetarianism-

This is increasing in the west. Many people are understanding the rationale of it. Taking life out of a living being is a sin. The fact is that one cannot live without eating. For our selfish existence, one has to commit the sin of taking others life, in order to live. Hinduism teaches us that killing plants for our food, is definitely an evil act because we are taking life away, for our selfish needs, but since we cannot do without eating, killing plants is regarded as lesser evil than killing animals. I am sure everybody would agree that plants are a lower forms of life than animals- hence the lesser evil. Yes this makes us sensitive and hence civilized.

Here I would like to mention ahimsa. Some writers have suggested that ahimsa or non-violence, is totally foreign to Hindu dharma, which I think is not true. Others like Gandhi have suggested, it teaches ahimsa. The truth is Hindu dharma teaches, both himsa and ahimsa- important thing is the cause of himsa or ahimsa. It all depends upon the situation at the time of the incident. It is difficult to make a strict rule of himsa or ahimsa because circumstances change. People give example of Krishna's advice to Arjuna to fight, in Gita and say that Hinduism teaches violence. Yes it is true Krishna teaches violence in Gita. One has to remember that the conversation in Gita is taking place, just at the beginning of a war. Conversation at the place of war cannot be of peace, when people are ready to kill one another. It can only be of defense and action. If an army man refuses to fight in war, he is called a coward and is shot.

If one wants to judge Krishna's teaching, then one has to see the things done by Krishna, to avoid both the Mahabharat war, through his peace proposals, and the exodus to Dwaraka, to avoid war. We must not forget that this is very much part of ahimsa he is teaching. Yes Hinduism teaches both himsa and ahimsa, but it wants a full justification, for the necessity of himsa. Yes himsa can be justified, but it should be the last, and the only option available under the circumstance. One action in one situation is good, while in another it is not. The act may not be important but the cause of the act is important. For the act is done and done with, but the cause remains part of the history for others to follow.

11. Belief-

Hinduism does not encourage people just to believe in scriptures, it teaches people to rationally analyze the knowledge they are provided instead of believing in it just because they are part of the religion. One is allowed to decipher the truth by themselves, with the help of Yoga and Meditation and rational arguments. There is no place for dogma in Hinduism and no human being has the authority/right to give a decree.