American tourists on 'conversion drive' asked to leave

[xchrom]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/American-tourists-on-conversion-drive-asked-to-leave/articleshow/8850411.cms

KOCHI: The fear of proselytization by Christian missionaries has gripped the southern most state Kerala yet again. Three US women tourists were asked to leave the country following complaints that they along with the local pastors were trying to convert "poor families" to Christianity in the coastal area of Alappuzha district in Kerala.
However, the state police said that the three tourists were asked to quit because they had violated the tourist visa rules by trying to attend organized group activities and meetings. The Circle Inspector (CI) of Police J Santhoshkumar who is investigating the case told the TOI that the three women - Shelly Louise Deeds (50) a nurse in Pennsylvania, her daughter Katelyn Heather Deeds (15) and Diane Gean Harrington, a teacher at Wisconsin had arrived here about 15 days ago, and their tourist visas were valid till November this year.

However, the activists of some Hindu organisations complained to the police that the three were trying to convert the poor people by offering them material inducements. ``They were targeting the poor families in the coastal area and were trying to convert them with several offers. The area had significant Hindu and Muslim population while only some recent converts were part of the Christian community. The pastors and foreigners were trying to influence the local people through the new converts. They had visited several houses in the area and conducted prayer sessions,'' RSS Taluk office-bearer Raghu said.The proposed prayer sessions by the local pastors and the tourists created a commotion in the area and the right-wing Hindu organizations threatened to launch a protest

[LynneSin]

1. Instead of converting them - why not help feed them

:grr:

[xchrom]

3. not enough of this in the world:

The Corporal Works of Mercy
1 Feed the Hungry
2 Give drink to the thirsty
3 Clothe the naked
4 Shelter the homeless
5 Comfort the imprisoned
6 Visit the sick
7 Bury the dead

[Scout]

5. AFTER they become Christian, then they'll feed them n/t

[Welibs]

6. Because they're not real christians. They're hateful self-righteous

extremists that don't really care about the people, they care about how many they can convert.

I grew up around real Christians and when a hand is outstretched to them for help, they don't check the colour of the hand or check to see if it's clean before they take it. Right wing christians would dangle food in front of their faces and make them repent their sin of being non-christian before they'd allow them to have any. Their cruel and ignorant narrow minded fools.
.

[TheMadMonk]

7. You can push off with the not real christians BS.

Every bloody Christian I converse with tells me: "THEY are not REAL Christians."

Thus the ONLY logical conclusion that can be reached is that THERE ARE NO, NONE, ZERO, NADA "REAL CHRISTIANS".

[Bragi]

9. Quite so

There are many different types of people who call themselves Christians, but none of these seems to me to be more "real" than others. Unfortunately, they are all "real".

[gratuitous]

10. Just so

We have a woman in our congregation who was a missionary in India for 37 years, helping with the founding and the establishment of the Church of North India many years ago. Their work was not about conversion, but about organizing the congregations of the area, and providing support for their activities in feeding the hungry, and tending to the sick. Early on, she was visiting a congregation that was just finishing up its service. A gang of ruffians burst in and accosted the pastor as he was greeting the departing congregants. One of the men began throwing punches at the pastor, who simply stood there. He didn't raise his hands or take any defensive action. The ruffian struck the pastor three times without getting any kind of reaction. Unnerved, he and his pals fled while the congregants tended to the pastor's broken jaw.

I'll put that eyewitness report up anytime, anywhere against the women in Kerala and anyone who ignorantly claims that nobody knows or practices Christianity.

[hobbit709]

2. "If missionaries were killed and eaten on sight there'd be less proselytizing."

to quote Terry Pratchett.

[Welibs]

4. Ah, the right wing christian Inquisition! These people are worried about muslims.

These so called faux christians think they are entitled to spread their brand of hatred throughout the world. They think it's their job!

They're a cancer in this country and no one is safe when they have any kind of influence or control.

We are going to have one heck of a mess to clean up once we remove all of their archaic rules and re-written laws after 2012.

[Vehl]

8. Missionaries are one of the most despicable examples of mankind

They personify the ideal that "my path is the only path, and everything else is wrong"...a result of ideologies which are exclusive and rather barbaric, if I may say so. How is it possible that one religion...or even path can be more "true" than anything else? Only bigots will fall for such line of thinking. Hopefully, as humanity evolves, more and more people will stop believing in such BS and accept the fact that its rude, and silly to try shove one's own belief's down the throats of others.

What really annoys me most about these folk is that they zero in on the poorest segments of society, and dangle monetary and materiel wealth (which are funded by mega evangelical corps in other nations)in order to convert. This practice has been going on for centuries...In south Asia, such converts have a name, "rice converts"...in other words, people who converted due to forms of bribery such as these. During the British era there was the added benefit of government jobs for such converts. Missionary movements went hand in hand with invading colonials. This is true everywhere. Look at the America's...the Conquistadors butchered highly civilized native American peoples...and the missionaries who came along with the butchers took up the job of "converting the masses". The sad result of this is not only did the Native Americans lose a lot of their land and culture, but they also ended up being the unwitting (and devout) servants of those who enslaved them.

I'm really glad that Indians are not falling prey to this kind of Neo Colonial BS. Even after nearly 2 centuries of European Colonial rule, only 2% of Indians are Christians. I welcome the efforts of the RSS and other groups in curbing this despicable practice of missionaries. I'm not against conversion of individuals based on their private preferences, but I am definitely against industrial-scale mega-church funded cheap trick-based conversion attempts.

[JHB]

11. So how much money did they spend to get there (and back)...

...as well as for what they intended to maintain themselves for several months?

And couldn't thise resources have been better spent iding needy persons a little closer to home? Or even just sent to help someone who was already local in Kerala?

But I suppose they figure the people closer to home are already chrisitan enough, so they need to go elsewhere to save heathen souls. And just sending money to someone else wouldn't let them put "I personally brought __ souls to Jesus!" feathers in their caps. And what's the point if nobody knows what their "score" is?