Religious conversion

"If it is meant by the statement that the form of religion is something permanent and unchangeable, then it cannot be accepted. But if religion here means one's way of communion with the Divine, then it is true that that is something belonging to the inner being and cannot be changed like a house or a cloak for the sake of some personal, social or worldly convenience. If a change is to be made, it can only be for an inner spiritual reason, because of some development from within. No one can be bound to any form of religion or any particular creed or system, but if he changes the one he has accepted for another, for external reasons, that means he has inwardly no religion at all and both his old and his new religion are only an empty formula. At bottom that is I suppose what the statement drives at. Preference for a different approach to the Truth or the desire of inner spiritual self-expression are not the motives of the recommendation of change to which objection is made by the Mahatma here; the object proposed [by Dr. Ambedkar] is an enhancement of social status and consideration which is no more a spiritual motive than conversion for the sake of money or marriage. If a man has no religion in himself, he can change his credal profession for any motive; if he has, he cannot; he can only change it in response to an inner spiritual need. If a man has a bhakti for the Divine in the form of Krishna, he can't very well say, ...I will swap Krishna for Christ so that I may become socially respectable."

"Certainly, Hindu-Muslim unity cannot be arrived at on the basis that the Muslims will go on converting Hindus while the Hindus shall not convert any Mahomedan. You can't build unity on such a basis."

"Fr. James Brodrick, well-known biographer of St. Xavier and himself a Jesuit, while writing about Minguel Vaz, a co-worker of St. Xavier, states how the policy followed by Vaz in effecting conversions involved “‘a great deal of pressure, social and financial ” and resulted in breeding a hatred of Christianity : ‘Minguel Vaz Coutinho. Strange to say, this dignitary, who in effect ruled the Church in Portuguese India, was a layman. St. Francis held in him the highest regard and so did the King of Portugal. A zealous and honest man, the ‘true father of the Indian Christians ’, as the Saint described him, he was yet narrow- minded and very oppressively hostile to the native religion. It was not as he imagined, by destroying Hindu Sanctuaries in Portuguese territory and applying their revenues to the building of churches that the Indians would be won to Christianity. No Hindu in Goa, Cochin, Malacca and other centres was ever forced by that policy to accept the faith, but a great deal of pressure, social and financial, was exercised to ‘ persuade’ them to do so. Of course, it had exactly the opposite effect and bred a hatred of Christianity. All said, however, it was but the application in India of the accepted motto of European politics, Cajos regio, illius religio.’'"

"In Mongolia, for example, Christian missionaries have converted thousands of our people, who formerly practiced Tibetan Buddhism; in the same way, the Chinese encourage your priests to convert my people in Tibet; In East India, American missionaries use economic arguments to convert the poor mountain tribes, thus cutting them off from their roots, their culture and their ancestral way of life. It's not fair: the world is becoming more and more open, borders are being broken down by progress in technology and what are you doing? You practice conversion, which is a kind of war against people and cultures that are not like yours. This is not the message of Christ!"

"…it is my decided opinion, first, that under existing circumstances there is no human possibility of converting the Hindoos to any sect of Christianity, and, secondly, that the translation of the Holy Scriptures circulated among them, so far from conducing to this end, will, on the contrary, increase the prejudices of the natives against the Christian religion, and prove in many respects detrimental to it… The low state to which it is now reduced, and the contempt in which it is held, cannot be surpassed. There is not at present in the country (as mentioned before) more than a third of the Christians who were to be found in it eighty years ago, and this number diminishes every day by frequent apostacy. It will dwindle to nothing in a short period; and if things continue as they are now going on, within less than fifty years there will, I fear, remain no vestige of Christianity among the natives. The Christian religion, which was formerly an object of indifference, or at most of contempt, is at present become, I will venture to say, almost an object of horror. It is certain that during the last sixty years no proselytes or but a very few have been made. Those Christians who are still to be met with in several parts of the country, and whose number (as I have just mentioned), diminishes every day, are the offspring of the converts made by the Jesuits before that period. The very small number of proselytes who are still gained over from time to time are found among the lowest tribes; so are individuals who, driven out from their castes, on account of their vices or scandalous transgressions of their usages, are shunned afterwards by every body as outlawed men, and have no other resource left than that of turning Christians, in order to form new connexions in society; and you will easily fancy that such an assemblage of the offals and dregs of society only tends to increase the contempt and aversion entertained by the Hindoo against Christianity…"

"The Hindoos are a people entirely different from all others. You may, if you choose, exercise over them the most despotic sway; you may oppress them by every kind of tyranny; you may overload them with taxes, and rob them of their property; you may carry away their wives and children, load them with chains and send them into exile: – to all such excesses they will perhaps submit; but if you speak of changing any of their principal institutions, either religious or civil, you will find a quite ungovernable people, never to be overcome on this point; and it is my decided opinion, that the day when government shall presume to interfere in such matters, will be the last of its political existence.… If any one among the pagans still shews a desire to turn Christian, it is ordinarily among out-casts, or quite helpless persons, left without resources or connections in society, that they are to be found. They, generally speaking, ask for baptism from interested motives. Few, if any of these new converts, would be found, who might be said to have embraced Christianity from conviction; and I have every reason to apprehend, that as long as the usages and customs of the Hindoos continue unimpaired, it is perfect nonsense to think of making among them true and sincere proselytes…"

"The experience I have gained through a familiar intercourse with the natives of all castes, for a period of twenty-five years entirely passed in their society, during which I lived like themselves, conforming to their customs and prejudices, in order to gain their confidence, and endeavouring by these means to insinuate myself among them as a religious teacher, has made me thoroughly acquainted with the insuperable obstacles that Christianity will ever have to encounter in the deep-rooted and quite invincible prejudices, and in the invariable usages, customs, and education of the Hindoos of all castes; and it is my decided opinion, that not only the interests of the Christian religion will never be improved among them, but also that it will by little and little lose the small ground it had gained in better times; and, in a short, dwindle away to nothing… …in no country in the world has the Christian religion had to encounter the stupendous obstacles that are to be met with in India. In no country was the struggle so desperate; in none had it to deal with a people so completely priest ridden; in none had it to oppose a system of cunning and priestcraft so deep laid, and so well calculated to baffle all the attempts of that divine religion to gain a solid footing; but, above all, in no country had it to encounter any difficulty resembling that baneful division of the people into castes which (whatever may be its advantages in other respects) has always proved, and will ever prove, an insurmountable bar to its progress. In consequence of this fatal division, nowhere but in India is a father reduced to the cruel and unnatural necessity of separating himself forever from a beloved son who happens to embrace this religion; or a son to renounce forever a tender father for the same reason. Nowhere is a spouse enjoined to divorce, for the same cause, a cherished husband; or an unmarried young person, after having embraced Christianity, doomed to pass the rest of his life in a forced state of celibacy. In no other country is a person who becomes a Christian exposed, by doing so, to the loss of kindred, friends, goods, professionals, and all that he holds dear. In no country, in short, is a man, by becoming a covert to Christianity, cast out as a vagrant from society, proscribed and shunned by all: and yet all this happens in India, and a Hindoo who turns Christian must submit himself to all these, and many other no less severe trials… The crafty Brahmins, (in order that the system of imposture that establishes their unmolested superiority over the other tribes, and brings the latter under their uncontrolled bondage, might in no way be discovered or questioned,) had the foresight to draw up between the Hindoos and the other nations on earth an impassable, an impregnable line, that defies all attacks from foreigners. There is no opening to approach them, and they themselves are strictly, and under the severest penalties, precluded from access to any body for the purpose of improving themselves, and bettering their actual condition, than which, as they are firmly and universally persuaded, nothing on the earth is more perfect."

"On the other hand, it will be acknowledged, I believe, by every unbiased observer, that as long as we are unable to make impression on the polished part of the nation, on the leaders of public opinion, on the body of Brahmins in short, there remain but very faint hopes of propagating Christianity among the Hindoos; and as long as the only result of our labours shall be, as is at present the case, to bring in to our respective communions here and there a few desperate vagrants, outcasts, pariahs, horse-keepers, beggars, and other persons of the lowest description, the impression made on the public mind cannot fail to be un-favourable and detrimental to the interests of Christianity among a people who, in all circumstances, are ruled by the force of custom and example, and are in no case allowed to judge for themselves."

"During my travels, I find a general belief that to turn a Christian is to turn European; to become self-willed, and give up self-restraint, use only foreign cloth, dress oneself in European style and start taking meat and brandy. But I think the fact is, if a person discards his country, his customs and his old connections and manners when he changes his religion, he becomes all the more unfit to gain a knowledge of God. For, a change of religion means really a conversion of the heart. When there is a real conversion, a man’s heart grows. But in this country one finds that conversion brings about deep disdain for one’s old religion and its followers, i.e., one’s old friends and relatives. The next change that takes place is that of dress and manners and behaviour. All that does great harm to the country."

"If I had power and could legislate, I should certainly stop all proselytising. It is the cause of much avoidable conflict between classes and unnecessary heart-burning among the missionaries… In Hindu households the advent of a missionary has meant the disruption of the family coming in the wake of change of dress, manners, language, food and drink. … The other day a missionary descended on a famine area with money in his pocket, distributed it among the famine-stricken, converted them to his fold, took charge of their temple and demolished it. This is outrageous. The temple could not belong to the converted, and it could not belong to the Christian missionary. But this friend goes and gets it demolished at the hands of the very men who only a little while ago believed that God was there."

"Conversion in the sense of self-purification, self-realization, is the crying need of the hour. That, however, is not what is meant by proselytising. To those who would convert India, might it not be said, ‘physician heal thyself’?"

"It is no use trying to fight these forces [of materialism] without giving up the idea of conversion, which I assure you is the deadliest poison which ever sapped the fountain of truth."

"In my opinion, they are not examples of real conversion. If a person through fear, compulsion, starvation or for material gain or consideration goes over to another faith, it is a misnomer to call it conversion. Most cases of mass conversion, of which we have heard so much during the past two years, have been to my mind false coin… I would, therefore, unhesitatingly re-admit to the Hindu fold all such repentants without much ado, certainly without any shuddhi... And as I believe in the equality of all the great religions of the earth, I regard no man as polluted because he has forsaken the branch on which he was sitting and gone over to another of the same tree. If he comes to the original branch, he deserves to be welcomed and not told that he had committed sin by reason of his having forsaken the family to which he belonged. In so far as he may be deemed to have erred, he has sufficiently purged himself of it when he repents of the error and retraces his step."

"All direct attempts at religious conversion made by the English, especially in Bengal, have completely failed. The Indians, though sounded everywhere, have nowhere been willing to exchange Mohammed or Brahma for Jesus Christ or the Trinity, but for some years past the Government has wisely withdrawn its support from the missionaries (and courageously too, for it takes some courage for the East India Company to provoke the stupid or hypocritical wrath of Parliament) and opened free schools in Calcutta, Benares and Delhi, to which it attracts children of the middle class by every means of influence in its power, for the purpose of instructing them in the languages and sciences of Europe without ever telling them about our follies. I visited these schools, especially in Calcutta, where they have a larger number of pupils, and I talked with a number of young men in their higher classes who had quite naturally been converted from Mohammed or Brahma to reason by their European education. Many of them complained, however that the possession of this treasure only made them more wretched, by cutting them off from the rest of their nation and giving them a conception of happiness and a desire for it under forms forbidden them by their caste; and none of them has yet had the courage openly to cross this infernal barrier. Yet if there is any hope of ever civilizing the East, it is by this means alone. The English Government would hasten its action enormously if it were to substitute the use of the English language in courts of justice and all public transactions for that of Persian, introduced by the Mogul conquerors, but the knowledge of which has remained quite foreign to the mass of the people and has only survived in certain hereditary professions. This change could easily be carried out within less than ten years, for the Indians learn English more quickly than they do Persian, and Persian is no use to those who know it except in the routine of their profession, whereas English would be a key to the whole of European knowledge."

"The people of this country who become Christians do so purely for temporal advantage, as is inevitable in a land where slavery reigns. Slaves of the Moors or Hindus seek baptism in order to secure their manumission at the hands of the Portuguese. Others do so to get protection from tyrants, or for the sake of a turban, a shirt, or some other trifle they covet, or to escape being hanged, or to be able to associate with Christian women. The man who embraces the faith from honest conviction is regarded as a fool. They are baptized whenever or wherever they express a wish for the Sacrament, without any instruction, and many revert to their former paganism...."

"...it is the duty of those who have accepted them [Allah's word and message] to strive unceasingly to convert or at least to subjugate those who have not. This obligation is without limit of time or space. It must continue until the whole world has either accepted the Islamic faith or submitted to the power of the Islamic state."

"It [Islam] has had a calamitous effect on converted peoples. To be converted you have to destroy your past, destroy your history. You have to stamp on it, you have to say 'my ancestral culture does not exist, it doesn't matter'... This abolition of the self demanded by Muslims was worse than the similar colonial abolition of identity. It is much, much worse in fact... You cannot just say you came out of nothing."

"Conversion from one faith to another is both psychologically undesirable and logically unwarranted."

"I would not seek to force people to live up to my ideals but rather love them into doing the thing that is right."

"Although the Hindoos have adopted from us, various improvements in their manufactures of salt-petre, opium, and indigo, and have made rapid advances in the knowledge of ship-building, practical mathematics, and navigation; yet none of these acquirements have interfered with their religious prejudices. The instant these are touched, they fly off from all approximation to their masters, and an end is put to farther advancement. Nothing is therefore more to be avoided than alarming their jealousy on this head, and exciting the suspicion that Government means, in any manner, to interfere in the business of proselyting. The Brahmins are a very powerful body; they are both an hereditary nobility, and a reigning hierarchy, looked up to with the highest veneration by the inferior casts, and possessed of the most distinguishing privileges: they will consequently oppose with their whole influence any attempt to subvert that system, upon which all their superiority depends. They have already taken alarm at the proceedings of the Missionaries in Bengal, and other parts; and, if driven to extremities, will doubtless excite a formidable disaffection to our Government among the natives. On the contrary, the former wise policy of treating them with respect, and giving a full toleration to their superstitions, was often attended with the happy effect of making them the instrument of enforcing useful regulations in the country; for they have never scrupled, when required, giving a sanction to the orders of Government to suppress hurtful practices, as in the case of sacrifice of children at Sorgur, and in many other instances. We should also be aware that although the comparison between the Mussulmaun intolerance, and our contrary spirit, was so much in our favour, as to have had a powerful efficacy in attaching them to the British Government, knowing that they had only a choice of masters; yet were this difference of policy taken away, their habits and manners, which are more congenial to those of the Mussulmauns, would probably induce them to prefer their government to ours."

"That the success of the Missionaries in China, Japan, and other places should have been brought forward by people unacquainted with India, as an argument of the probable conversion of the Hindoos, is not surprising; but that it should have been urged by “a late resident in Bengal,” does indeed astonish me; for what analogy is there between these countries and India? There was no loss of cast, no civil disqualifications, no dread of future punishment, to prevent the Chinese, the Japanese, or the inhabitants of the Philippine Islands from becoming Christians; yet all these impediments are in the way of the Hindoo; and I confess I believe them unconquerable."

"The conversions made by the Mahommedan sovereigns of India have also been quoted; but as these are admitted to have been merely the effect of the utmost violence and oppression, they can hardly be used as an argument of the practicability of conversion by any other means; and I trust they are not brought forward as an indirect recommendation of the coercive system of the Rev. Dr. Buchanan…. The advocates for conversion seem to dread the force of the argument that may be brought against them from the former failure of the Mussulmauns to convert their Hindoo subjects, and the more recent failure of the Catholic and other missionaries; they therefore wish to argue, that, “something inefficient or unsuitable has entered into all their measures;” but is it not more reasonable to suppose that there are insurmountable obstacles in the habits, laws, and religious prejudices of the inhabitants, that have prevented the pure doctrines of Christianity from having the same force over the minds of the Indians that they acquired over the Japanese, Chinese, and other nations? Has not the Massulmaun religion met with the same resistance from its first appearance, through the plentitude of its power, to its present decay? The Sultauns found they could destroy their subjects, they could raze their temples, but they not convert them; not from any antipathy to the religion of their masters, but from an attachment to their own. Yet we should remember, that the Sultauns had advantages that we have not; they had a real, a physical power in the country, which rendered them superior to any risk of rebellion."

"Very little encouragement is affordable therefore by past experience to expect that the future exertions of Missionaries should prove successful in converting the Hindoos from a religion to which they are so bigotedly attached, and which is interwoven with their whole civil polity; while the danger of such attempts, if apparently favoured by the British Government, is manifest and urgent… Upon the whole, I am fully persuaded that the first step to be taken is that of rendering our own religion respectable in the eyes of our Indian subjects by an establishment of greater splendour and dignity, and especially by a better choice and more vigilant inspection of the regular clergy; and that Government should studiously avoid interesting itself in the conversion of the natives, since it is impossible that they should not connect in their minds the zeal of proselyting, exerted by those in power, with a plan of coercion and intolerance. If placing in the hands of the Hindoos translations of Scriptures into the languages of the country, will not induce them to make unfavourable comparisons between our lives and our doctrines, and consequently expose us to contempt, no objection can be made to such a dissemination of the principles of true religion. To its silent operation the cause of Christianity should be left, and who will not rejoice in its success?"

"This is always the way in which the reality of Christian conversion evidences itself. It makes the selfish man charitable: the churlish, liberal; and implants in the soul, which hitherto has cared only for the things belonging to himself, a disposition to seek also the things of others."

"In every sound convert the judgment is brought to approve of the laws and ways of Christ, and subscribe to them as most righteous and reasonable; the desire of the heart is to know the whole mind of Christ; the free and resolved choice of the heart is determined for the ways of Christ, before all the pleasures of sin, and prosperities of the world; it is the daily care of his life to walk with God."

"Conversion by the Holy Spirit is a spiritual illumination of the soul. God's grace lights up the dark heart. And when a man has once been kindled at the cross of Christ, he is bound to shine."

""Follow me!" The publican "rose up." This implies immediate action. It was now or never with him. So you must act with prompt obedience. He did the first thing Jesus bade him do. Are you willing to do as much? If not, you are deciding against Christ, and that means death."

"Every man or woman who turns to Christ must bear in mind that they are breaking with their old master, and enlisting under a new leader. Conversion is a revolutionary process."

"Conversion is the act of joining our hands to the pierced hand of the crucified Saviour. The new life begins with the taking of Christ's hand, and His taking hold, in infinite love, of our weak hands."

"A man to be converted has to give up his will, his ways, and his thoughts."

"The time when I was converted was when religion became no longer a duty, but a pleasure."

"Conversion is not, as some suppose, a violent opening of the heart by grace, in which will, reason, and judgment are all ignored or crushed. The reason is not blinded, but enlightened; and the whole man is made to act with a glorious liberty which it never knew till it fell under the restraints of grace."

"My observation continues to confirm me more and more in the opinion, that to experience religion is to experience the truth of the great doctrines of Divine grace."

"You cannot find, I believe, a case in the Bible where a man is converted without God's calling in some human agency — using some human instrument."

"Quran (8:38-39) - “Say to those who have disbelieved, if they cease (from disbelief) their past will be forgiven... And fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief and polytheism: i.e. worshipping others besides Allah) and the religion (worship) will all be for Allah Alone [in the whole of the world ]. But if they cease (worshipping others besides Allah), then certainly, Allah is All-Seer of what they do.”"

"Quran (9:5) "But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war); but if they repent, and establish regular prayers and practice regular charity, then open the way for them...""

"Sahih Muslim (1:33) The Messenger of Allah said: "I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify that there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, and they establish prayer and pay zakat.""

"Sahih Muslim (19:4294) - "When you meet your enemies who are polytheists (which includes Christians), invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withhold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them ... If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah's help and fight them""

"Sahih Bukhari (84:59) - "Allah's Apostle said, 'I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah.' And if they say so, pray like our prayers, face our Qibla and slaughter as we slaughter, then their blood and property will be sacred to us and we will not interfere with them except legally and their reckoning will be with Allah.'""

"Sahih Bukhari (53:392) - "While we were in the Mosque, the Prophet came out and said, "Let us go to the Jews" We went out till we reached Bait-ul-Midras. He said to them, "If you embrace Islam, you will be safe. You should know that the earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle, and I want to expel you from this land. So, if anyone amongst you owns some property, he is permitted to sell it, otherwise you should know that the Earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle.""

"Sahih Bukhari (2:24) - "Allah's Apostle said: "I have been ordered (by Allah) to fight against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is Allah's Apostle, and offer the prayers perfectly and give the obligatory charity, so if they perform a that, then they save their lives and property from me except for Islamic laws and then their reckoning (accounts) will be done by Allah.""

"Sahih Bukhari (59:643) - One day while he was using them (i.e. arrows of divination), Jarir stopped there and said to him, "Break them (i.e. the arrows) and testify that None has the right to be worshipped except Allah, or else I will chop off your neck." So the man broke those arrows and testified that none has the right to be worshipped except Allah"

"Narrated Abu Huraira: The Verse:--"You (true Muslims) are the best of peoples ever raised up for mankind." (3:110) means, the best of peoples for the people, as you bring them with chains on their necks till they embrace Islam."

"Narrated Anas bin Malik: Allah's Apostle said, "I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah.' And if they say so, pray like our prayers, face our Qibla and slaughter as we slaughter, then their blood and property will be sacred to us and we will not interfere with them except legally and their reckoning will be with Allah." Narrated Maimun ibn Siyah that he asked Anas bin Malik, "O Abu Hamza! What makes the life (دَمَ) and property of a person sacred?" He replied, "Whoever says, 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah', faces our Qibla during the prayers, prays like us and eats our slaughtered animal, then he is a Muslim, and has got the same rights and obligations as other Muslims have.""

"Narrated Qais: Jarir said "Allah's Apostle said to me, "Won't you relieve me from Dhul-Khalasa?" I replied, "Yes, (I will relieve you)." So I proceeded along with one-hundred and fifty cavalry from Ahmas tribe who were skillful in riding horses. I used not to sit firm over horses, so I informed the Prophet of that, and he stroke my chest with his hand till I saw the marks of his hand over my chest and he said, O Allah! Make him firm and one who guides others and is guided (on the right path).' Since then I have never fallen from a horse. Dhul-l--Khulasa was a house in Yemen belonging to the tribe of Khatham and Bajaila, and in it there were idols which were worshipped, and it was called Al-Ka'ba." Jarir went there, burnt it with fire and dismantled it. When Jarir reached Yemen, there was a man who used to foretell and give good omens by casting arrows of divination. Someone said to him. "The messenger of Allah's Apostle is present here and if he should get hold of you, he would chop off your neck." One day while he was using them (i.e. arrows of divination), Jarir stopped there and said to him, "Break them (i.e. the arrows) and testify that None has the right to be worshipped except Allah, or else I will chop off your neck." So the man broke those arrows and testified that none has the right to be worshipped except Allah. Then Jarir sent a man called Abu Artata from the tribe of Ahmas to the Prophet to convey the good news (of destroying Dhu-l-Khalasa). So when the messenger reached the Prophet, he said, "O Allah's Apostle! By Him Who sent you with the Truth, I did not leave it till it was like a scabby camel." Then the Prophet blessed the horses of Ahmas and their men five times."

"Allah says: "There is no compulsion in religion", meaning: do not force anyone to embrace Islam, because it is clear and its proofs and evidences are manifest. Whoever Allah guides and opens his heart to Islam has indeed embraced it with clear evidence. Whoever Allah misguides blinds his heart and has set a seal on his hearing and a covering on his eyes cannot embrace Islam by force...hence Allah revealed this verse. But, this verse is abrogated by the verse of "fighting...Therefore, all people of the world should be called to Islam. If anyone of them refuses to do so, or refuses to pay the Jizya they should be fought till they are killed. This is the meaning of compulsion. In the Sahih, the Prophet said: "Allah wonders at those people who will enter Paradise in chains", meaning prisoners brought in chains to the Islamic state, then they embrace Islam sincerely and become righteous, and are entered among the people of Paradise.[9]"