After two weeks in India: Reflections

by Dr. Gerald McDermott, Professor of Religious Studies, Roanoke College, Roanoake, Virginia

Let me start with some enduring images:

• Men brushing their teeth in the morning, even in the dirtiest slums, and even among the poorest of the poor, in Calcutta and Rajamundry (a city of 400,000 in the South).
• Brightly-colored Hindu temples throughout the city of Rajamundry–usually cleaner and more attractive than private homes, many of which were mud huts with thatched roofs
• A booming Indian economy, powering the world's second-largest country. 1.2 billion people, with a rising middle class of 200 million (more than 50 million of whom make more than $40,000 per year), but 800 million still make less than a dollar a day.
• Because of this bustling economy, there is thick air pollution in the cities, and traffic that would make even New Yorkers cower in fear.
• In Calcutta, which some call the armpit of the world, piles of rotting garbage on nearly every street. Men urinate and defecate at streetside. Thousands of men and some women and children sleep on sidewalks.
• Everywhere we went in India we saw beautiful people, and even poor women in brightly colored, elegant saris.
• The churches are growing, but they struggle in some Indian states against persecution from militant Hindus. Christians number about 2% of the 1.2 billion Indian population. Far more Christians are in the South than in the North. One exception: the small NE state of Nagaland (.5 million) is 95% Christian.

Calcutta was our first stop. It was 115 degrees for most of our three days there, with a 125-degree heat index because of the humidity. The smells and sights of grinding poverty were overwhelming. Children came up begging, pointing to their mouths and stomachs. When we gave them a coin or bill, they raced off to give the money to an adult, usually not a parent. We learned later to give them sweets or fruit to make sure they got to enjoy it.

On Sunday morning we went to Mother Teresa's main house, where we joined in the 6 AM Mass. We heard a wonderful sermon on the Trinity, in English. That night we had dinner with the preacher, a Jesuit who was Mother Teresa's spiritual advisor during her last 15 years of life. He says he wrote the famous speech she gave at the National Prayer Breakfast in 1993 in Washington, DC, condemning the nations that promoted abortion.

The world's media showcased Bill and Hillary Clinton in the audience, where they were pictured looking none too pleased. He also told us how "Mother" got a call one night at 3 AM from the Governor of California (Jerry Brown?), who was being asked to commute an execution that day. "What should I do?" he asked the world's most famous nun. Mother asked this priest for advice, and then replied, "Do what Jesus would do." The governor commuted the execution.

That day we also met with three women from Word Made Flesh, who live in the slums, without AC, ministering to prostitutes (many of whom are forced into this work), teaching them how to get free and find God. These three are Americans in their late twenties. They have lived there for two and three years. Recently they have set up a 3-room factory making quilts out of old saris, wages from which the women use to buy their way out of the Red Light District.

Then we spent six days in Rajamundry, a small city of 400,000 several hundred miles south of Calcutta. CRI (Children's Relief International: www.childrensrelief.org) supports a boys' home that educates, feeds and trains spiritually twenty boys, ages 6 to 14. These boys are from impoverished homes, which means they would not get an education otherwise. They are from both Hindu and Christian families. Some are true orphans, some have one destitute parent, others have both parents but one or both are diseased or disabled. CRI has gotten support to sponsor about half the boys, and still needs people to sponsor the other half: http://www.childrensrelief.org/rajah_boyshome

These boys are eager to learn, are well-behaved, and are thankful to be in this home. One day we took them to the beach and taught them how to body-surf. None had ever seen the ocean. It was worth the cost of the trip to see the joy in these boys' faces–in the midst of dirty, oily water and a trash-ridden beach.

One day we journeyed up country to the Deep Forest, home to all twenty boys. There we met with about fifteen Indian pastors who labor among dangerous conditions bringing the gospel to Hindus and animists who worship trees. The dangers? Pythons, leopards, wild boar, and militants who destroy churches and attack Christians. Floods regularly wash out their mud-hut homes. They barely can feed themselves and their families. But they labor on for the joy of Christ, pasturing congregations of 25, 50 and 100. For pictures of some of these pastors, see http://www.childrensrelief.org/deep_forest_ministry

One of these pastors told us he had been a gang leader who got younger men to steal rice because they all were suffering from a famine. They all were caught and put in jail. He prayed from his prison cell, "God, Father of Jesus Christ, it's not fair that these young men are in here, because I talked them into it. If you are there, and you get them freed, I will serve you and become a pastor." They all were freed, and this man has gone on to become a courageous pastor in the Deep Forest.

Another said he had been a drunkard until only six years ago. He had a dramatic conversion when he turned to the Hindu gods and they were silent. Only Jesus Christ answered his prayer and displayed His reality. He is now leading a congregation of thirty.

All these pastors asked for transportation so they can reach more people. CRI plans to give a bicycle to each pastor by Christmas. Cost of each bike: $75. CRI is sponsoring six pastors now at $30 per month. It wants to sponsor them at $50 per month and add up to ten more pastors. That amount of money will feed a pastor and his family, and provide other basic needs.

CRI helps support monthly rice distribution to villages in the Deep Forest, which shows these Hindus and spiritists that Christians want to feed their bodies as well as their souls.

We had a dramatic day at the rock quarry outside Rajamundry. Here we came upon hundreds of families who spend long days under the broiling sun cutting rocks. I asked some of them, "How much money do you make here?" They told me, "If my family [this includes little children] works very hard for a week we can cut up a pile that size over there." The pile was about six feet high. "And that will give us 300 rupees!!!"

300 rupees is about $9. This means that family makes about a dollar a day. Not per person, but per family.

All of these families are Hindus. The Christian pastor (Pastor Isaiah) who runs the boys' home with his wife and brother, wants to send an evangelist/pastor to these rock-cutters to bring rice and the gospel. How much will that cost? $50 for the rice and $50 salary for the pastor and his family. CRI has already committed to both.

In Delhi, India's capitol, we saw beautiful tree-lined streets and magnificent public buildings. Poverty but also affluence and beauty. At a store we met two women salespeople. One was a Hindu married to a Christian. They have only one daughter (now 1-2 children is the norm because, they say, they cannot afford more), and they are bringing her to both Hindu temple and Christian church. Another woman is a Hindu married to a Hindu, but their son goes to a Catholic school. He is ten, and she says he loves Jesus and asks Jesus to forgive his sins. His mother is proud of him, and says she has a good impression of the Christians she knows.

That's a little slice of multi-cultural, multi-religious India. Sociologists of religion say India is the most religious country in the world. More people believe there than anywhere else in the world. It has 900 million Hindus, and its 90 million Muslims make it the second-largest Muslim country in the world (after Indonesia).

The New York Times' Thomas Friedman says that while most people think China is the country of the future, he thinks India is. Why? Because India has what China doesn't: a free press and religious freedom (less than here, but far more than many countries). Indians also have a tremendous work ethic, and huge emphasis on education. Everywhere we went, we saw billboards advertising schools: "Come to our school, we have the best English teachers! We will help you pass the important national exams!"

I want to go back. This is a fascinating country with a friendly, smart, and deeply religious people. God's Kingdom is flourishing here. There are dirt and grinding poverty, and tragedy. But there are also the beauty of God and millions of Christians who are doing heroic work.

It's exciting.

Gerry McDermott