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CONVERSION OR CHANGE OF LABEL ( Page 3)
In conversation with a Muslim Colleague I happened to say that as a child I was taught that there was no salvation outside the Catholic Church and that later I found that to be a very wrong view of the other religions. She seemed surprised at my attitude. “But isn’t that what you are supposed to believe?” she asked. “We strongly believe that there is no salvation outside the Islamic faith.” She was serious. In her simplicity she believed that it was the right attitude. She was not worrying her head to ponder if one of us could be wrong and if so which one. This conversation in 1980 made me underscore the insignificance of the ‘label’ of one’s religion. The essence of the teachings of Christ, the Prophet, the Gurus and the masters is the same. It is the golden rule. “Do to others what you want others do to you”. Or, “Love one another”. To be a Christian it is not enough to be baptised. One must live according to the teachings of Christ. A Muslim is not just any one who had been circumcised but one who ‘submits to the will of God’. A person who has not even heard of Christ, but live a life of love and selfless service is a true Christian.
Conversion Today
When my son Siju was doing his engineering degree he was very active in the students’ union and a prayer group. A Hindu friend asked Siju’s advice if he should be converted to Christianity. Siju wrote to me asking for my opinion. I discouraged the idea. “Conversion is necessary,” I wrote, “Not just the Hindus but every one should be converted, not from one religion to another but from one way of life to another better way, from materialistic way to a spiritual way, from religiosity to spirituality. Baptizing or changing the label of a good, God-fearing, Hindu is no conversion at all.”
What percentage of the so-called Christians of Europe and America attend church services even once a year? How many of those who attend church know the teachings of Christ? And how many of them live accordingly? There was a joke that a ‘good’ Christian should be in church on three occasions - for baptism, marriage and funeral. But I suppose this is outdated by now. In those days marriage was only once in your life, but now it is a frequent affair for many in the west. Besides, if you are rich you do not have to go to church to get married. The priest will come to your house or the hall and marry you for the right fee.
The point I am trying to make is that there is a great need for Christians to be converted from the worldly, materialistic way of life to a Christian and spiritual way, from a selfish life of pleasure and greed to a selfless life of love and generosity. Many people have left or neglected their church and religious affiliations due mainly to a void in their lives that could not be filled by their church or pastors and parents. Many of these try to fill this spiritual void in one of several ways, some good, some not so good and some outrightly dangerous. Who is to blame for this state of affairs? I think the problem lies in what I prefer to call unbalanced evolution.
As mentioned earlier, the biological evolution had reached a zenith some 12 000 years ago with the creation of Homo sapiens. But evolution continued in the cultural sense. Over the past few millennia man had been making for himself great advancements in various aspects of his existence. These various fields can be generally put under two heads – material and spiritual – those relating to the body or the soul. All the progress made in the past few centuries was in the material field only. There was no corresponding growth in the spiritual realm. The last one or two decades has seen some progress in the spiritual sphere but nothing comparable to the progress in the scientific sphere. Religious leaders failed to rise to the challenges of the times and to keep pace with the material advancement of humanity. Take the case of Education. In ancient times education meant learning about the eternal truths - about God, soul, eternal life, how to lead a good life. In short the aim of education was wisdom. The masters would impart wisdom to the disciples. This was the case in Ancient India. Later the emphasis shifted from wisdom to knowledge. Schools and universities were there to impart knowledge of all kinds. Today nobody is interested in knowledge even. The sole aim of education today is imparting of skills. In the modern curricula of educational systems various types of skills are mentioned. But they all boil down to one skill - the skill to make money.
Feudal lords used religion to exploit the poor. To redeem the poor from the clutches of the church-state coalition, and to bring the life of the poor up the scale of standard, as Christ would have wished, Marx had to label religion as the opium that blinds man to the realities of life. This was necessary to get the poor away from the clutches of slavery or serfdom. Communism was trying to do to the poor what Christ himself wanted done. It was said that if Christ himself had come and fought for the rights of the poor the church leaders themselves would have crucified him. Even as the Church went far from the teachings of Christ, the communist movement went far from its original ideals, especially under Stalin. The tragic fact of history is that the churches supported capitalism against communism even as it once supported feudalism.
What is required is a thorough reorientation of all religions and churches to fall in line with the changing times. What is needed is very simple. It is enough to remember and put into practice the following simple ideas.
* Religions do not exist for God; they exist for people.
* Religions should teach people to love each other and not to hate, to unite and not to cause division among peoples.
* Spirituality must replace religiosity.
* The realisation that the self of man is not the body but the soul.
* The realisation that the soul of each and every human being is made in the image and likeness of God and thus all are children of God and your brothers and sisters.
* The realisation that selflessness brings happiness and selfishness misery.
* Learn to be content with what you are and what you have and try to help others less fortunate than you.
The term conversion means a sort of lateral inversion. It means turning around from the old ways and taking new ways, new directions that will lead you to happiness and peace. If you are on the right track what is needed is not conversion or change of direction but further progress along the same path. A Christian must try to be a better Christian, a Muslim a better Muslim, a Hindu a better Hindu and so on. What is needed is a change of heart, not a change of label.