Jananeethi

Jananeethi is a registered charitable society under the provisions of the Travancore-Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies  Act XII of 1955. Registration No. 193/92 TCR. Accreditation No. 7/1999. Tax  Exemption granted u/s 80G of Income Tax Act 1961.

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August 10, 2006    4.00  p.m.

SEMINAR ON MINORITY RIGHTS

 
 

 

"Those who wear the mask of social commitments while justifying evildoers and mafia are the betrayers of the community. The holy Bible says, “when you have a feast, invite to your feast those who are poor and miserable in the community; because they will not be able to invite you in return and your reward in heaven will be safe”. This Scriptural reading was part of the worship on the 25th of July 2006. It was sad and strange that the congregation of faithful was also compelled to listen to the joint pastoral letter that was just in contravention to the above Scriptural passage."

Professor Rev. Thomas John 

(Formerly the Head, Department of Psychology, U.C.College, Aluva)  

 Exhortations are not required for laity; they are badly in need for those in authority, wielding arbitrary power over the people having no contact with ordinary people. This is true in the case of the church hierarchy as well as the judiciary.

 The earlier speakers referred to tensions and strife in the society. I would say, it is good. Only through strife and social confrontations, the real stuff – the dirty linen – will be taken out. You provoke the ‘holy’, and then what is ‘unholy’ inside will flow out. The ultimate result will be a consensus. The churches do not offer a scope for discussion on values, we should seek secular forums.

 The missionary tradition in the churches ended in 1975. Which of the aided schools are the ones built by the sweat of your forehead? There was a time when we all thought education was the most befitting remedy for the inequalities existed in society. And the elite and the filthy rich have later hijacked this education. The elitist tendency in education in Kerala started with globalization. The invasion of elitist forces in the arena of education was very fast and enormous. The sins committed by the churches included the following:

·        Education was commercialized

·        The poor was made totally dependant or a destitute

·        Equity among members of same community was wiped out

·        Church became a partnership of the rich and the powerful

·        Virtue of sacrifice was eluded from all thought process.

 The Church in the past had a vision and a philosophy on education. It was meant to be a tool for social change. To create a new man, and a social environment. The greedy and self-centred new man is the product of the contemporary culture created by new education system.

 I can understand and appreciate my minority rights only in the light of my vulnerability and helplessness. Constitutional safeguards should protect those who are weak and marginalized lest they should be swallowed by the rich and the powerful. What the churches are doing today, they throw the poor and the vulnerable to market forces and they protect the interests of the elite and the business magnets. The Church does not appreciate democratic values, or a social auditing. It is the problem with “infallibility”.

 Both the Government that let doors of education open to private investments, and the judiciary that had written off education to the corrupt and unethical practices of the mafia in the TMA Pai case had done great harm to the future generations and it cannot be reconciled with.  I feel sorry for the bishop who lately said that self-financed professional colleges couldn’t be run like ‘ration shops’. Those who wear the mask of social commitments while justifying evildoers and mafia are the betrayers of the community. The holy Bible says, “when you have a feast, invite to your feast those who are poor and miserable in the community; because they will not be able to invite you in return and your reward in heaven will be safe”. This Scriptural reading was part of the worship on the 25th of July 2006. It was sad and strange that the congregation of faithful was also compelled to listen to the joint pastoral letter that was just in contravention to the above Scriptural passage.

 The present crisis, I am of the opinion, was unnecessary and untimely. It only indicates to the moral turpitude in the Church and a corrupt and materialistic leadership in the Christian community.

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