Dear Editor,
I commend Ms Sherlina Nageer and Mr Chris Persaud on their letters published in your newspaper under the captions, ‘Who gave an American missionary permission to preach in Georgetown schools?’ (March 21), and ‘Roopnaraine should investigate matter of missionaries preaching in Georgetown schools’ (March 23), respectively.
I first learnt about this missionary when I came across a documentary against Hinduism titled, “The truth about Hinduism”, by Pastor Steven Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church on YouTube. I viewed the said documentary and other videos of the Church’s works and realised some of the preaching was actually held in several public schools in Georgetown. I then made some comments and called on the authorities, particularly the Ministry of Education, on social networks to look into the matter.
Editor, having viewed the documentary and other talks held at these public schools, I am of the conviction that this missionary’s objective is to discredit Hinduism.
The documentary presented a crude, vicious and disrespectful image of Hinduism. The pastor then quoted biblical ideologies to demonstrate the so-called superiority of his faith. There was also a relentless attack on the Bhagavad Geeta.
I later learnt that after the uploading of the documentary on YouTube, it was removed within six days as a result of it reaching 65,000 views. The Church has ordered thousands of DVDs of the said documentary to be distributed, particularly among Indians who are their targets.
I call on every right-thinking person to condemn this hate mission and for the Ministries of Education and Social Cohesion to look into this matter. They should discipline all authorities who allow these people to enter public schools to discredit Hinduism. Guyana is a secular state.
Yours faithfully,
Pt C Nandalall
