Advocating for Dalit Christians

The term 'Dalit' has come to mean things or persons who are cut, split, broken or torn asunder, scattered or crushed and destroyed. By coincidence, there is in Hebrew a root 'dal' meaning low, weak, poor. In the Bible, different forms of this term have been used to describe people who have been reduced to nothingness or helplessness. However, the present usage of the term Dalit goes back to the nineteenth century, when a Marathi social reformer and revolutionary, Mahatma Jyotirao Phule (1826-1890), used it to describe the outcastes and untouchables as the oppressed and the broken victims of our caste-ridden society. Dalit communities are those who are oppressed by the caste system in India. They account for about 16% of the total population; they are discriminated against for being polluting or untouchable and are relegated to performing occupations such as leather tanning, scavenging, weaving, and fishing, professions that are considered defiling and polluting and are largely understood to have their origins in the Chaturvarna system of Indian social classification sanctioned by the Hindu law giver Manu. However, Dalits are outside the pale of the caste system and its defined social and occupational hierarchy.

Among 30 million Christians, at least twenty millions are considered to be Dalits. Most of them live in extreme poverty and desperation. A survey undertaken by Jesuits in Tamil Nadu revealed that 79.6% of the Dalit Christians are landless, that their illiteracy rate is 65%, and that their average annual income is no more than 25 dollars. The Christian community in India also is too are divided into a number of castes with the previously Brahmin castes at the top and untouchables at the bottom. Though Christianity also does not recognize caste system, there are upper and lower caste among Christians. In Goa, for example, there are upper caste Catholic Brahmins who do not marry Christians belonging to the lower castes. In many churches, the low caste Christians have to sit apart from the high caste Christians. In Andhra Pradesh, there are Christian Dalit, Christian Malas, Christian Reddys, Christian Kammas, etc. In Tamil Nadu, converts to Christianity form Scheduled Castes - Latin Catholics, Christian Shanars, and Christian Gramani are in the list of Scheduled Castes. Such instances are many and vary from region to region.

Logically, the term ‘Dalit Christians’ is self-contradictory. How can a person be a ‘Dalit’ when he is a Christian; for Christianity does not recognize the caste system which is an evil prevalent only in the Hindu society? When a person gets converted, he is no longer a Hindu and thus does not fall into any category of the caste hierarchy. But unfortunately, in India we do have this category of people who got converted to Christianity in the vain hope of leading a respectable life. Conversion to Christianity has only added to the misery of the Dalits. Many Dalit Christian leaders refer to the twice-alienated situation of the Dalit Christians in India, namely, discrimination within the Church and discrimination by the State as they are denied Scheduled Caste status in the Constitution, and the related privileges which come with that status.
This is because the external forms of untouchability and their practice still exist among Christians, within the Church, in the graveyard, in the festivals, in marriage alliances, etc. The most unfortunate thing is that the caste Christians, practicing these inhuman acts are often supported by their own caste-priests and nuns, who even encourage them to attack Dalit Christians. That is the main reason for caste-practice continuing in the Church.

The same rules of Hindu caste system govern them, and they are known by their caste names --- Christian Nayars, Christian Paraya etc. Hardly any lower castes are allowed to be appointed as priest. Untouchables have separate graveyards and churches. So entrenched is the system that if a Christian upper caste cannot find a suitable caste Christian to marry, then a Hindu of the same caste will be selected rather than another Christian of lower caste.

The Dalits who converted to Christianity possibly gained a new sense of self-respect, but the gains were wiped out by the fact that upper caste Christians from whose ranks their religious superiors come still treated them as untouchables. There have been recorded instances of priests refusing to enter the houses of their Dalit congregation; the mission schools have separate arrangements for Dalits and other castes. In some Protestant churches, there were separate cups for the Dalits at the Eucharistic celebration. In the Catholic churches, there were separate communion rails, nor did their relationship with Hindu castes change in any way. So, many Dalit Christians have either started new churches themselves or reconverted back to Hinduism.

Little did they know that conversion to Christianity would not redeem them from social discrimination and untouchability, because though Jesus never advocated the caste system, Christianity in India was not free from the caste bias. Christian outfits which criticized Hinduism for its caste system, practiced discrimination based on castes in their Churches. In spite of the fact that around 75% of the Christians are ‘Dalits’ who got converted to Christianity to lose their caste or ‘outcaste’ tag, Dalit Christians within the Church were discriminated against and were denied powers within the ecclesiastical structure.

Today, the Dalit movement is a growing movement both within and outside the church, working for the liberation of Dalits from caste oppression — stigma, discrimination — political, economic, social, and religious. Dalit theology is an emerging discipline that is taking shape against much resistance both from both the dominant groups and from some Dalits themselves, who are still conscious of their status as Dalits and the social ramifications of embracing their Dalit identity. The situation Christian Dalits face is even more oppressive, as the general miserable living conditions characterizing the situation of Dalits are compounded by the denial of affirmative action by the state. Those who become Christians today usually cannot hope for material rewards.

One of the reasons for this is the fact that church development co-operation does not distinguish between Christians and non-Christians. Instead Christians must rather expect to be penalized; they lose their entitlement to state support in the form of allowances for school fees, grants, the right to jobs in public service etc. Actually this situation has recently led to quite a few Dalit Christians giving up their Christian faith because of their miserable living conditions, hoping to improve them through state support. On top of this enormous pressure is being exerted on Christians by Hindu groups and massive re-conversion campaigns waged among Dalits and Adivasis, - „indigenous peoples", as Indian tribal people nowadays call themselves. These campaigns often do not differ at all from „forced conversions" and otherwise bear all the hallmarks of what Christian mission is accused of.

The truth behind the debate becomes even more evident if one bears in mind that the conversions of those sections of the population who are discriminated against and marginalized in many respects is not a phenomenon exclusive to Christian mission. Attention must be drawn, above all, to the attitude of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, who - an „Untouchable" himself - rose to the position of a spokesman for the „Untouchables" in the thirties and later as an architect of the Indian Constitution and India’s first Minister of Justice did a lot to promote the Dalits. Unlike Gandhi, who tried to improve the living conditions of the Harijans mainly by appealing to the higher caste Hindus and quite often showed a paternalistic attitude towards the Harijans, Ambedkar held the view that the Dalits must speak for and fight to achieve justice for themselves. For him the issue of „Untouchability" was inextricably linked with Hinduism itself, which he rejected as his religious home as early as 1936. As the caste system and „Untouchability" were connected with Hinduism for him and he saw no possibility of achieving justice within the Hinduistic system, he converted to Buddhism in 1956 in a dramatic act along with hundreds of thousands of his followers. Conversion had thus become a form of social and political protest.

Because the state policy of affirmative action has been unable to overcome discrimination against Dalits to the present day, the living conditions of many of them are now worse than they used to be, and above all because their stigmatization as „Untouchables" persists, the ideas of Ambedkar have received renewed attention over the past two decades and have become the ideological ferment of a broad social movement for the emancipation of Dalits and the cultural self-assertion of the Adivasis, the Indian indigenous people. The fact that the Church today - not least of all due to Dalit theology which is aimed at liberating the Dalits - is part of this social movement is what is really behind the controversies over conversions. It challenges the Indian social system, which insists on privileges based on caste hierarchies, and champions another model of society. Even as agitations go on against the prevailing attitude of the government towards the Dalit Christians it is important to note that it is not as though the problems of Dalit Christians have not received attention from the government. Several commissions appointed by the government have referred to the disabilities Dalits suffered in Christian society.

Kaka Kalelkar, chairman of the Backward Classes Commission of 1955, said, “We discovered with deep pain and sorrow that untouchability did obtain in the extreme south among Indian Christians, and Indian Christians were prepared in many places to assert that they were still guided by caste, not only in the matter of untouchability, but in social hierarchy of high and low. While the Harijans among the Hindus, classified as scheduled castes, stand a fair chance of bettering their condition under the Indian government’s reservation policy, their Christian counterparts stand twice discriminated.”

Two more reports that came a decade later found that the status of Dalits in the Christian society remained the same as it was in 1955 when the Kalelkar Commission was appointed. First, the Chidambaram Committee report of 1975 said, “Casteism is practiced widely among the members of the Christian fold as judged by the characteristic of the caste system and going by the economic status of the Harijan Christians. It is evident that they are poverty-stricken lot.” The infamous Mandal Commission report conceded the reality of caste among Indian Christians as in any other community. The commission cited the example of the Christian community in Kerala, which, according to its report, is not only divided into various denominations on the basis of beliefs and rituals but also into various ethnic groups on the basis of their caste background.

The emerging Dalit and liberation theologies are today propelling significant sections within the Indian Church towards the path of radical social activism by challenging structures of oppression—religious, cultural, economic and political. Contemporary Dalit and liberation theologians see Jesus himself as a revolutionary, a central concern of whose mission was to oppose the hegemony of the ruling establishment and to crusade for a radically new social order. This new commitment to a socially engaged, radical Christianity is today inspiring many Christian priests, more so Catholics than Protestants, to engage themselves in the struggles of the poor, particularly the Dalits and the tribals.

Even as we lobby for reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for our Dalit brethren, there is a lot of house cleaning that needs to be done in the church itself.
A good question to ponder is how well represented are the Dalits in the leadership of the churches and other Christian institutions. Even as we vociferously argue for reservations, there is a need to evaluate the institutionalized caste system amidst our own establishments. There is also the fact that apart from overt instances of separate pews, graveyards and such external manifestations, often there exists a much more subtle, overt separation – in terms of insulting and patronizing attitudes. We should be asking that as even as we point fingers at the state, are we within the church also stained with the same blood of violating the fundamental rights of the Dalit Christians, not just as citizens of secular India but also as citizens of the Kingdom of God, where there is no Jew and no Greek, no free and no slave. The apostle Paul said “a good while ago, God chose among us many who heard the gospel and believed. God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the Dalits who came to the Christian fold?

The test of adequacy of service or of a servant leader is this: Do those who are served grow as persons, become wiser, just, and more likely themselves to become servants? Jesus’ disciples became better people in every conceivable way after they met him and committed themselves as servants for the transformation of the world. The effectiveness of churches’ programmes of liberation and justice should be assessed on the basis of resultant transformation among the Dalits. The humiliation and crucifixion of Jesus was a degrading and cruel event. Those who were crucified were labeled as God-forsaken or cursed by God. But God "exalted" Jesus, gave him the name above all names, Lord, and made every knee to bend, in acknowledgment of his lordship and acceptance of the new norms of the new community. Hope was given the oppressed that victory would follow humiliation and God’s glory would ultimately prevail and transform the world

The lure and oppressive bid for power, which ultimately oppression is all about leads us to deal with sin in our lives. We have sinned against God by making our human distinctions. It’s time for us to repent and to confess our sin to the one, true and living God who revealed Himself in creation to all and in a very special way through His Word, the Bible and His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. Every human being is important as God gave His Son, out of love, for man. The Bible says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16).

Because Jesus emptied himself, God has exalted him (Phil. 2:9), made him sit at the right hand of God the Father. The ascended Lord is not resting but is involved in a struggle to put down all his enemies under his foot. The exalted Lord inspires us in our struggle. Christians are not to compromise with evils that alienate and exclude others, such as casteism, racism, sexism, etc. It will be a poor state of affairs if our witness through our lives and relationships is in no way better than the witnesses given by those who practice and perpetrate these demonic structures and cultures.

So to stress again, Christianity does not preach inequality in any form and caste distinctions are anathema to the Bible and its teachings. “There is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to call upon Him (Romans 10: 12).” If you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as law breakers (Jas 2:9). Paul clearly taught that differential treatment against those of a different economic or social background should be avoided at all costs in our churches. Instead, he tells us in Romans 12:3,” Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment.” Every one of us has been bought with grace through the shed blood of Christ. Partiality in the church indicates the loss of saving grace. God does not want us to base our judgment on the criteria of the world.

How can we forget that the word of God urges us to love others by accepting them as they are and seeing them as individuals for whom Christ gave His life? We are not to judge others or look down on them. Preferring the rich to the poor, or the higher caste to the lower caste, is a terrible sin, for Christ became poor that we might be rich in Him. When a former low caste person comes into the Christian congregation, he is to be received in love and shown just as much grace as a former high caste person. The man of the world may look on outward appearance and the circumstances of our birth, but God sees the heart and we should do the same. By refusing to receive those who in our imagination are beneath us because of their ancestry, we are dishonoring the Lord and the ones who He loves.

A Christian’s identity is in Christ – not in his past. All of us are complete in Christ. Consequently , caste can have no place in the church of god. The name of our loving , creator God and Lord is blasphemed when we continue with our caste prejudices within the church. How He must grieve when he sees set aside His commandment to love and think of us more highly than we ought to, and follow the rest of society in dehumanizing those whom He has created.
We live in a time when the world has recognized the Biblical principle that all human beings are created equal and must be treated with respect. This principle has even been incorporated into our laws and is consequently a right capable of being protected by the force of law. When we break the law, as we do when we practice discrimination against former Dalits, we invite legal action and incur God’s wrath. Our churches should learn from history and the trends of society and stop perpetuating a shameful legacy.

It is unfortunate that casteisn has crept into Indian Christianity and thrived. This belies the gospel. It should have no place in churches. The “Dalit” meaning broken, people of our country have been subjected to cruelty and disrespect for centuries. Our task as the church should be to rub salve and not salt , into the many lives, wounded by the cruelties of caste that have come to Christ. We must help them forget their past as “Dalits”. We need to remember and help each other to remember who we all, without exception are in Christ. Even as we stand shoulder to shoulder with our Dalit brothers and sisters in their fight for their legal rights, our ultimate aim should be to take the phrase ”Dalit Christians”, out of the nation’s political vocabulary. In god’s kingdom, we are all his children. We should endeavor to make this equality a mark of the church as well. May we be known for our love, as Jesus desired and not for upholding time worn prejudices.

Thus far we have not taken seriously the words and example of our Lord Jesus Christ who, when he came to earth and walked the villages, the Bible says: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36). Where is our compassion? Let us follow the model and the mandate of Jesus who described his Spirit-anointing for mission with the words:” “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19). Are the Dalits not the poor, the prisoners and the oppressed of our day? The very term: “Dalits, means oppressed.” Why have we waited so long? Now is the time, now is the opportunity. Let us come together as one to ask the God of the universe to free the oppressed. Is this not what Jesus, our Master, would do? Christian mission -- however it is understood and whatever form it may take -- must not adopt the ideology of the colonialists, as the Hindu nationalists have done. It will be most true to its Lord by proclaiming the gospel confidently, but in a way that respects the human right to be religiously different