Religion: Can Christians Be Hindus?

The lingering bugaboo of colonialism is not the only thing that turns Indians against Christian missionaries. Reports South India Churchman Paul David Devanandan in last week’s Christian Century: a school of thought is developing in Hinduism that questions Christian proselytizing on strictly religious grounds and makes the missionary’s task even harder.

Modern Hinduism claims to include all other beliefs and practices, from crude animism to the most exalted metaphysical speculation. On this vast spiritual menu the individual Hindu can choose the divine nourishment he likes best, and it is all equally nutritious—provided that he swallows it seriously enough. And, suggest the Hindus, since Christian practice (if not Christian theology) is on the Hindu bill of fare, it is wrong for Western evangelists to urge converts to leave Hinduism in order to become Christians.

An essential misunderstanding between Hinduism and Christianity is in the contrast between teaching and preaching. By explaining the meaning of Hindu doctrine to his pupil and guiding him in controlled living, the Hindu master hopes to lead him to enlightenment. “That is why the Hindu is always perplexed by Christian preaching, which invariably leads to a point where a decision is called for. While the evangelist’s teaching may be accepted and his good work appreciated, the final appeal for a decision to which all this eventually leads is resented as essentially irreligious.” Indian Scholar P. J. Mehta speaks for most Hindu religious leaders when he says: “By all means discuss your faith with us, share your views and your experience with us, but India would like to suggest that the true missionary is one who, by both example and precept, helps the other to live his own faith more perfectly, and not to forsake to the missionary’s faith.”