Dear Editor,
Ms Kanhai’s letter in the Guyana Chronicle ‘Our diversity is the beauty of Guyana’ (30.4.08) is timely but its contents are unsettling! I wish to sincerely thank Guyana Chronicle for the moral courage to publish the letter.
It is indeed incomprehensible that in 2008, missionaries still are allowed to practise proselytization (conversion of someone to a different religious faith). One would think that gone are the days when people would de-nounce other religious faiths under the guise of a nebulous religious umbrella. It is evident that the moral compass of these individuals is grossly misaligned!
It would be interesting to learn who is providing funding to support their deeds.
I am a Hindu. My religion teaches me to respect and acknowledge other religions. Also, it teaches me to love and respect others. How one religion thinks that all other faiths are doomed for hell but their faith has the answer for life’s intricate questions is baffling to the simplest of minds!
I have many Christian, Muslim, etc, brothers. We respect each other’s religions. I would never dare attempt to convert my friends to Hinduism since it would be abhorrently immoral and against the sacred teachings of the Vedas.
Ms Kanhai’s cited text from this missionary organization ‘Truth for Today,’ as follows: “The country of Guyana is in spiritual darkness.
“They are gripped by the power of Satan, and are searching for hope within the false religions that plague the country. Guyana has religion, but they don’t have Christ. Our desire is to go to Guyana and help win souls to Christ through evangelism, Biblical training, and church planting.”
I wish to point out to Kyle and Jennifer Ficek that Guyana is not in spiritual darkness. We are a country of many races and religions. We are a tolerant nation that respects the religion of others.
While there are political and ethnic differences within our country (and every country has political and ethnic differences including your own), our religious heritage runs deep. Proselytization is a hideous sin.
I grew up in Guyana where many of my best friends were Christians and Muslims.
In fact, at Queen’s College where I attended, there were many religious school organizations and I attended Christian and Muslim activities although I was born and raised as a Hindu.
It is about time that these missionaries make a meaningful contribution to society rather than prey on the poor and weak which they have done for years in many, many developing countries including India.
Fortunately, India has enacted legislation to ban the practice of involuntary proselytization.
As I stated a while back, I believe that the letters’ column should not be used as an avenue for religious dialogue. As a result, this will be my only letter on this subject. As a Hindu scholar and one whose life has been tremendously influenced by The Mahatma (Gandhiji) teachings, I leave with a quotation given by The Mahatma and published just over 80 years ago in ‘Young India: January 19, 1928’:
“I came to the conclusion long ago that all religions were true and also that all had some error in them, and whilst I hold by my own, I should hold others as dear as Hinduism. So we can only pray, if we are Hindus, not that a Christian should become a Hindu.
“But our innermost prayer should be a Hindu should be a better Hindu, a Muslim a better Muslim, a Christian a better Christian.”
Yours faithfully,
Shiv Maharaj
