When a White Evangelical group in Nashua, New Hampshire, USA in 2nd half of 1980s tried to convert me & my Indian friends to their Christian sect

Last updated on 25th Feb. 2019

This post in based on a recent mail conversation I had with an Indian Catholic Christian friend and former software industry colleague, who I refer to as George (not his real name). The intent of this post is to improve understanding and harmony between Hindus & Christians. It is NOT the intent of this post to denigrate any religious group/sect.

A few days ago, George wrote me over email about an incident when many of us from our Mumbai software company (Datamatics, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datamatics) were in Nashua, New Hampshire, USA and nearby places (some in Massachusetts), doing assignments at Wang Labs. Lowell, Mass., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Laboratories. This was in the 2nd half of the 1980s. To help improve our recollection of the event we also got input from another of our group who was there then.

We were a large group. I don't recall the exact number of us in Wang Labs, at the time the event happened. But we would have been at least twenty to thirty persons.

We were put up in nice condominium type apartments by Wang Labs. I think then I (and George) were living in Royal Crest, Nashua, New Hampshire. Here are some pics of Royal Crest Nashua from their website (takes a little time to load): https://www.royalcrestnashua.com/en/apartments/photo-gallery.html.

We seem to have been noticed by a White Evangelical Christian group and were invited to an event of theirs. We visited them (2 or 3 carloads of us). I think most of us in the group would have been Hindus but George and maybe one or two other persons were Christians. We did have a few Christians in the total group of at least twenty to thirty persons from Datamatics that was at Wang Labs then.

At the event, we were asked to join in a Christian prayer before meals and which I think most of us would have done. I don't think Hindus in our group then had any issue in joining in prayers of other religions that seek blessings and good from God.

Afterwards they showed us the movie, "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Jones_and_the_Temple_of_Doom, which has parts that savagely mock India and Hindu Indians! Mid-way through the movie some of us left, me being one of the group that left.

George wrote (in the recent mail exchange) that I was absolutely right when I said (at that time) that the movie was a poor choice (for the small event organized by the Evangelical group for us) and that the movie lacked sensitivity.

I don't recall what I had said then but I am quite sure I would have been quite offended by the movie and had the view that George said I expressed then.

George wrote that he was told that a few days after we had watched the movie, one of the persons in the Evangelical preacher group called me and requested me to give my life to Christ, but that I said no. In Protestant language he meant, would you like to be born again?

I wrote George that I don't recall this exactly but I am quite sure I would have refused and perhaps even given an explanation of why I was refusing. Note that even in the 2nd half of the 1980s, at which time I would have been in my mid-twenties, I had done fair bit of reading of Hindu scripture and philosophy and commentaries on it by Hindu seers including contemporary seers. I was not much into devotion and belief in supernatural power of Hindu deities, but was into Hindu Vedanta and Gita philosophy.

I also had some exposure to Christian scripture, especially the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, and had quite a few Indian Christian friends. I had studied for the last 4 years of my schooling, 7th to 10th standard  from mid 1975 to mid 1978, in a Christian mission run school - Cardinal Gracias High School in Bandra (East), Mumbai.

Some info. about this school may be appropriate The school website history page, https://cardinalgraciashighschool.org/about-us/history/, tells us that the school was started in a church-cum-school in 1961 by Fr. Pereira. It moved to the present premises (same as where I studied in 1970s) in 1963 after the plot was bought by Msgr. Pereira with the help of the late Cardinal Valerian Gracias, then Archbishop of Bombay. From around 1964, Norbertine Fathers from St. Norbert Priory, Jamtara, Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh, India), seem to have got associated with the school. Later the "Cardinal invited the Norbertine Father of The Abbey of Berne, Holland, to take over the school as well as the ministerial activities." And in 1967 the parish was handed over to the Norbertine Fathers.

By Christian mission school I just mean that a Christian mission (in this case the Norbertine Fathers) is responsible for running the school, and do not imply any conversion attempts of any sort.

I should also say that there was no question of my school (Cardinal Gracias High School) converting non-Christian students to Christianity by proselytizing to them. Of my own accord, I did attend a few services in the church next to the school building in the same compound but that's it. Nobody attempted to convert me or, as far as I know, my other non-Christian school mates to Christianity. I think non-Christians, mostly Hindus, were the majority in my class, and perhaps the school as a whole.

Coming back to the attempt of the White evangelical group in USA to convert me/us in the 1980s to their Christian (Protestant) sect, while I was very respectful of the Christian faith in general as well as various Christian sects, there was ***no way*** I could be enticed into giving up my Hindu faith and converting to the Christian faith or that particular Christian sect's faith!

George also said that the White Evangelical Christians consider Indians to be heathen and so this group tried to convert us to their Christian sect. George added that they do not consider white non-Christians as heathen.

My view is that I think there are a great variety of Evangelical Christians (Protestants) of various denominations in the USA. Some of them may surely have a poor view of the culture and religious traditions of non-white people (black or brown).

And then there are the fundamentalist variety who have the strong belief that those who do not believe in Christ and Christ ***ALONE*** as the saviour, will suffer the terrible fate of burning in Hell for eternity.

But there are many USA Christian denominations which are NOT so fundamentalist. I don't know whether all evangelical Christian denominations can be viewed as fundamentalist. I have met quite a few USA Christians and also read the works of many USA Christians. A lot of them are far more knowledgeable about India and Indian cultural and religious traditions than what is portrayed in Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom!!!

I am very respectful of the faith of many Christian sects in the USA. I may not accept some of their views - e.g. the belief that I as a Hindu am destined to burn in hell for eternity unless I accept only Christ as the saviour.  I, perhaps somewhat condescendingly, view that as spiritual ignorance on part of those Evangelical and other Christians who hold such beliefs. As these Christians ***do not force*** their belief on me like has been the case in past eras for various religions and religious sects, I do not get perturbed by their having such a belief. I mean, we live and let live.

But I do find some of the other teachings and practices of Evangelical Christians to be very inspirational. This includes perhaps the most famous USA pastor of the 2nd half of the 20th century - the late Billy Graham, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Graham. I am not in favour of/not supportive of Graham's "crusades" in India (in the past) aiming to convert Indians to his brand of Christianity but I do marvel at his deep faith and the great efforts he made to spread faith in Christ (God).

I should also say that in general I am against aggressive proselytization of any religion/sect. But I support the right of anybody in India to choose to follow a different religion/sect if he/she, of their own free-will without any coercion or any material inducements, wants to follow/convert to a different religion/sect.

George wrote that at that time in Nashua, he used to read his small Gideon's Bible daily,  but every time his Hindu flatmate and Datamatics Mumbai software company colleague would enter his room, George would hurriedly put it away. George's Hindu flatmate told him that he shouldn't do that.

I think George shared the above to show how his Hindu flatmate was encouraging George to freely worship as per his Christian faith.

I wrote George that he may like this post of mine: Radhanath Swami and Father Francis Clooney : Encountering God- Hindu and Christian Perspectives - Columbia university, 2012; Father Clooney makes brief mention of keeping Sai Baba vibhuti in his office, http://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2018/01/radhanath-swami-and-father-francis.html, 11th Jan. 2018

George wrote that for sometime after he left Datamatics and was working in Chicago (USA), he went to a white evangelical church.  It had a group for young adults. George wrote that he has fond memories of that group and still keeps in touch with them though twenty one years have passed. It was the best Christian group that he had been to. Note that George now is based in India.

I wrote George that it was good to know the above.

George wrote that his evangelical Christian friends (in Chicago) used to tell him to listen to Christian FM stations. One Pastor used to advertise for his church on the radio and in his ad he used to call the people living in Africa, the 'heathen'.

I wrote: Heathen and Pagan are the terms that one comes across often in evangelical Christian literature when it comes to people of non-Abrahamic religious faiths. Here's the wiki page for Paganism, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paganism, if you want to have a look.

Many Christians that I know in the USA and in Europe do not accept such views, and so I am comfortable interacting with them on Facebook and elsewhere. Unfortunately, some "fundamentalist" religious leaders of various faiths present a negative view of religions other than their own. But leaders like Pope Francis do not use such disparaging terms for people from other religions including non-Abrahamic religions like Hinduism. I very much appreciate such positive attitude from Pope Francis towards people from non-Christian religions.

===============================

George had a look at above post contents and responded: "Thank you. It is excellent."
-----------------

Given are some comment exchanges from my FB post,  https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2414474725435757, associated with this post:

--Name-snipped-- wrote:
Ravi, I don't know much about Christianity or some Christians' deep interest in converting others; but I was told by someone that some Christians believe that unless all the humans accept Jesus, the "final flight to heaven" won't take off! Imagine the pressure someone can feel!

An interesting aside: before joining the World Bank, I worked as a contractor at AT&T in downtown Washington DC for a few months and one of my lady colleagues (a Black American) gifted me a small book by Sathya Sai Baba! I never knew at the time that Baba had such a vast reach in the US. I was a part of Chinmaya Mission around that time.
----

I (Ravi) responded (slightly edited): Very interesting aside --Name-snipped--. Thanks for sharing. And yes, the ***only way*** to salvation is through Jesus part of some Christians' belief can put a lot of pressure on those who are being influenced by them to convert. Thankfully, in our early 21st century times, I think that sort of pressure being put may be limited only to fundamentalist kind of evangelical Christian sects.
----

In response to comment, "Heathen or pagan: do these have similar connotations to ‘pariah’ term used among Indians?", I wrote (slightly edited):
--Name-snipped-- sir - As I was born (in 1962) and raised in Mumbai and surrounding areas, I have only read about the term 'pariah' in books & articles (English language) but have not heard it being used in my family and friends social environment either in Mumbai or now in Puttaparthi.

Perhaps in the past that term was in vogue in South India, meaning an outcaste. I am not sure, even in the past usage of that term as outcaste (which attitude, of course, is something deplorable about our Hindu community's past), whether that would have similar connotations to heathen or pagan. I think the modes of worship of the so-called outcastes would not have been viewed as negatively as heathen and pagan worship seem to have been viewed by some Christian fundamentalist type preachers.
----