Missions Message

We have been getting little snapshots into the country of India these last few weeks. This week we are going to focus on the religions of India. This is the breakdown of religions in India: Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (2001 census).

India has the largest number of Sikhs and the second largest number of Muslims in the world, next to Indonesia. In 1971 the Muslim population was 9.9%, which increased to 11.35 in 1981 and now it is claimed that India is more than 14% Muslim.

Although Islam is on the rise, as we can see the bulk of Indians see themselves as Hindu. It is the world's third largest religious system. But what does it mean to be Hindu? To be honest, it is very difficult for me to be able to synthesize it down to a couple of sentences. In fact, Indians would probably say a westerner could not do it. But, I will make some attempt to give us at least an idea.

Many people consider themselves Hindu simply because they live in or identify with India and its culture. As a religion, Hinduism is a wide system of thought with beliefs spanning monotheism, polytheism, panentheism, pantheism, monoism, and atheism. As you may realize, Hinduism is as diverse as its languages and peoples. Some tenents are that the goal of life is personal extinction in the impersonal oneness of all things. Man is in an endless cycle of reincarnation and suffering caused by past actions. To be released from this cycle of suffering and fate you need to be able to empty yourself by following a specific ritual or discipline.

One of the results of this religion has been the caste system. You are born into a caste because of your past life (good deeds/living in past life and you are in a higher caste, bad deeds/living and you are in a lower caste). Although caste discrimination is forbidden by the constitution it is still prevalent. These different castes function as a separate group because of the social barriers that separate them.

Although India has religous freedom, it is closed to missionaries from other countries. Indian missionaries, though, can travel to any part of the country and preach the Good News.

The information for this week came directly from Wikipedia, the CIA Factbook, Operation World and The Universe Next Door.

So, now we come to prayer points:

That...

the leaders will uphold religious freedom as mandated by the constitution.

the Holy Spirit would begin to move throughout India and open eyes to the truth.

that the training of Christian workers would increase through Bible schools and training centers.

And finally pray for the Christians who are currently being persecuted in India.