This is my first webblog so bear with me.
Every day I read the news and it gets me into an emotional tantrum; sometimes sorrow, sometimes anger, occasional laughter but quite often I find myself in utter disbelief.
Like today, there is the BBC article about South Asian Tsunami sufferers questioning their faith. In the article, it stated examples and figures of how there has been a lost of faith since Dec. 26, 04 – “(a mother) vowed never to set foot in (the church) again,” after her son’s death, and the reduction of 30% to 50% pilgrims visiting the Vailankanni church.
Somehow, I suspect, the need for ‘balance’ kicked in and the correspondent wrote, “Other survivors have reacted quite differently and have come to experience a much deeper sense of spirituality.” I found myself intrigued; how does one find profound sense of spirituality in Christianity amidst such devastation when India has a far deeper and more ancient web of spiritual practices?
I read on, "In the church courtyard it is hard to miss 'One Leg Thomas' as he calls himself, dispensing blessings to penitent pilgrims.” hmm… “Once a trader in the seafront flea-market, his souvenir shack was destroyed, and with it his livelihood… So now he offers to take on people's worries and burdens - a symbolic act involving prayer and the laying-on of hands - for which he expects a donation of between two and five rupees…”
Oh, that kind of “deeper sense of spirituality.”
At some level, all of the western world and increasingly the east subscribe to Christianity, whether or not one actually believes in it. It is in a more subliminal and profound sense that we value it much differently than other religion, mainly religions of non-Anglo nature.
It is usually the case that, if one finds doubt in Christianity, it is considered a relapse, be it temporary or permanent; if one finds doubt in other non-Anglo religion, one has somehow found enlightenment.
In some ways, it is hard for ‘westerners’ (cultural, not race based) to accept that perhaps there is really no deep spiritual base for Christianity in other parts of the world, such as India. We are reluctant or unwilling to face the fact that Christianity had, in its earlier stage, been imposed on to these people through force and, more recently, through coercion and a cultivated sense of supremacy. Yes, white supremacy imposed through force, exploitation and economic dominance.
When covering religion, it would be unwise to ignore the cultural, historical context and our own entrenched biases.
To read the article - Tsunami sufferers question faith
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4382689.stm
