Changing Gods

By Rudolf C. Heredia

In today's pluri-religious society, change of faith can precipitate religious antagonism - or it can facilitate social diversity and tolerance. While religious commitment is essentially a matter of personal conscience and choice, it inevitably impacts other levels of individual and social life.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0143101900
• ISBN13: 9780143101901
• Release Date: March 2007
• Publisher: Penguin Books India
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 5.5" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

A thoughtful, intelligently argued and eloquently written treatise on tolerance

The Converting Issue BY M.V. KAMATH FOR months now there has been a steady,disruptive, controversy over conversions to Christianity noticeably prevalent in the tribal areas of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and in some parts of Andhra Pradesh and even Karnataka. Charges and counter charges have been made and a lot of bad blood has been created. The media went amuck adding to the prevalent confusion over the rights and wrongs of missionary activities. What went wrong? None of these and allied issues have been discussed. Heredia has just done that It is all the more creditable because Heredia is a Jesuit sociologist, who has had long experience of working with marginalised communities and is open to ideas that some may find unacceptable. As he notes, conversion is a complex and emotionally charged issue that fundamentalists exploit, liberals complicate and many do not comprehend while others would prefer to shy away from getting involved. Quite early Heredia concedes that "conversions can destabilise the life of people, unsettle painfully balanced boundaries and scramble carefully constructed identities." He also shows awareness of the fact that " barbaric violence is fuelled by wounded memories and unresolved grievances from a long gone past" and adds that in situations of sharp and hostile boundaries of religion between communities, conversions represent the "ultimate betrayal". Heredia's objectivity gets further enhanced when he states, without hedging, that "often proselytisation has amounted to organised aggression on vulnerable peoples for not very noble motives" - something deserving condemnation. Unlike some scholars who are defensive about the evil deeds of conquerors, whether Muslim or otherwise, Heredia has no hesitation in reminding them that "we can hardly pretend innocence to the destruction brutally" indulged by them. As he put it "We need a certain distancing from, and an honest analysis of, destructive historical events and compromised social structures, not self-righteous defensiveness". Heredia has no illusions about what conversion can do to the individual such as eventually destroying a community's cultural identity, And he is frank in saving that when conversions are organised and backed by political and economic power, they can hardly be truly religious. Heredia is also aware that in India "the identification of Christianity with the west, and particularly with Europe, lingers as a post-colonial hangover enormously difficult to shake off". Heredia understands the Hindu mind-set. Some weeks ago, 5,000 Dalits embraced Buddhism in Bangalore and there was not a whisper from any Hindu organisation by way of protest. Why? Because Hindus accept Buddhism as a part of India's spiritual tradition while Christianity is considered as non-Indian and part of the imperialism brutally exercised by 'Europeans' and 'whites', and therefore unacceptable. Buddha is accepted as an avatar of God, but Christ is not.The Portuguese in Goa did more t