The Republican Circus

We live in fun times.

My father had an old story: Two women were having a fierce argument over who among them was the greater person. In the end, one of them dropped the bucket she was holding, wagged a finger at the other one and screamed: “My son drowned in only five meters of water; your son drowned in fifteen meters of water.”

Terrible story, no doubt, but this sums up much the mood of the Republicans who are tearing into each other to be the Presidential candidate of the party. At the moment, the two lead candidates - Rick Perry, the Governor of Texas and Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts – are engaged in a fierce argument as to who among them is better suited to tear down the country. Their major theme is Obama’s health  care bill – a step  that would ensure that all Americans – like the citizens of the other developed countries including neighboring Canada – would have health care coverage, and that the insurance companies cannot deny coverage to a person for pre-existing illnesses.

The core of the Republican debate is that they would rather have uninsured people die than provide universal health care. And, under relentless attack from Perry, poor Romney is trying to live down his record of providing universal health care for the citizens of Massachusetts when he was Governor there a decade ago. Today 98% of the people of that state have coverage, an unpardonable crime in current Republican parlance. Texas under Perry is a model for the Republicans as that state has the largest number of uninsured people in the country. It is essentially a debate over how deep one can drown.

When he is not debating Mitt Romney, Perry is presiding over public prayer meetings beseeching the Almighty for rain in parched Texas. Much like the Elijah of the Old Testament, His Excellency the Governor seems to believe that God communicates with him directly on matters of rain and drought.  No spectacular outcome, however, has yet been reported.

There are other potential candidates, the Minnesotan lady Michele Bachmann for instance. Michele is, in fact, the current darling of the Tea party goers. There are no pretensions about this lady: she is a born again Christian. As a true Christian, she also believes that wives must submit themselves in obedience to their husbands in all matters. Imagine a possible scenario: President Bachmann in the Oval Office with the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as they are about to sign the Second Nuclear Disarmament Treaty. On second thoughts, Madame President puts her pen down, excuses herself, rushes into the master bedroom of the White House and gets Mr. Bachmann’s permission before proceeding further with the presidential signature.

And then there is Newt Gingrich. Newt married once… twice… thrice… Well, whatever be the state of his marital stability, he has stable views on politics. While educating his fellow Republicans, he is reported to have stated: "I think one of the great problems we have in the Republican Party is that we don't encourage you to be nasty. We encourage you to be neat, obedient, and loyal and faithful and all those Boy Scout words."

In short, while considering these presidential hopefuls, there is much to laugh about, but for the fact that, under the circumstances, one of these worthies stands a good chance of being the next President. 

Blessing of the Animals

At the Episcopal church near our house in Winchester it was announced at the worship service today that animals would be blessed next Sunday and that the parishioners are welcome to bring their pets, “large or small, real or stuffed for a special blessing.” (The priest, however, added that if anyone brought a pet snake, he will have to get a different priest to bless it!)

Blessing of the Animals is a regular Episcopalian practice but my evangelical upbringing and mindset could not easily accommodate the idea of God’s sanctuary being open to animals. God’s salvation is for God’s people, I knew.  Jesus came down from heaven “for us and for our salvation”. Animals are clearly outside God’s salvific plan.

Are they? As a child, I remember my visits to my maternal grandparents’ house in Punnavely in rural Kerala. They were faithful Anglicans and good Christians. My grandfather was a small farmer and regularly had one or two cows and goats. His whole life revolved around his farm including his cattle. And when a cow is due to give birth, he would worry over it just like any expectant parent. These worries would get reflected at the evening family prayer when he would earnestly pray for the animal. I could not fully comprehend the theological rationale behind this but strangely felt comfortable that my grandparents lived a life where all – their lives, their cattle, their neighbors – where seen as very much within the care and protection of God.  

In the most recent issue of New Vision, Most Rev. Dr. Philipose Mar Chrysostom, the Senior Metropolitan of the Mar Thoma Church, narrates an instance from his life. One day a man came to his house with a pregnant cow and wanted the bishop to pray for safe delivery. The bishop’s assistant tried to shoo the man away saying, bishops do not pray for animals. The bishop came out, admonished his assistant and said that he would pray for anyone and anything that is brought to him.

Life is sacred; not only human life but also animal life. Dr. M. M. Thomas, in his Biblical reflections on the book of Deuteronomy used to say that even when it was recognized that eating animal flesh is permitted, God’s people were prohibited from eating the meat with lifeblood on it. “But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.” (Deuteronomy 12: 23).

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD. (Psalm 150: 6)

Last Lecture

The news of the passing away of Rev. Usha Rani Subharam, a dear colleague at Gurukul, just reached me. Some of us teachers die after prolonged illness, like Usha. Some others depart rather abruptly, like Lalitha, my sister in law. Lali was Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology at NIMHANS, Bangalore and passed away rather suddenly last year.

Whether our departure is gradual or abrupt, what would we leave behind? What would our last lecture be? What do we wish it had been?

The “last lecture” has a long tradition in academic circles. Last lectures are often delivered by departing professors and those imagining they were. It is an occasion when academics are asked to think deeply about what matters to them, and then give a hypothetical "final talk," i.e., "what message would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?" The exercise usually elicits light hearted advice, bittersweet reminiscing, and some personal reflection.

The practice of last lecture was revived recently by Randy Pausch shortly after he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. The 47 year old Pausch was one of the foremost computer scientists in the United States and served as professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His last lecture, delivered last September to a packed audience and telecast to millions elsewhere, was meant as a parting gift to his three young children. In his lecture Pausch was in his usual upbeat and humorous mood and offered earnest advice on life and how to live it. He stated: “I’m dying and I’m having fun. And I’m going to keep having fun every day I have left. There is no other way to play it…”

Randy Pausch died one week ago but the practice of last lecture had caught on. On April 17, David Skorton, President of Cornell University in his last lecture, stressed one of the fundamental aspects of an intellectual: a spirit of inquiry. He stated: “If someone asks me what is the most important attribute for a citizen to have, I would say curiosity. If you will stay in touch with the curiosity you’ve had since birth, what you do, you will enjoy it more, you will be able to make more of a difference, and you have a more satisfying life.”

In her last lecture, Alice Laffey, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the College of the Holy Cross, harped on the need to ask oneself fundamental questions about life and the meaning of life. She said: “It is not enough to ask, “what?” and “why?” about the world, as important as that is. One must ask those same questions about oneself. What do I love? What do I believe really? Do I love this more than that? Why did I act that way? Why did I say that? Why do I feel this way?

In conclusion, Laffey recalled Ignatius of Loyola who counseled the Jesuits to take time each day - if possible twice daily - to examine themselves and ask: What really do I desire?

Sunday musings

Grace Chapel defies definition. Grace is a popular Christian congregation in Boston, but is not Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox or Pentecostal. Even as worshippers at most traditional churches in this part of the world are rapidly dwindling, new congregations such as this are full and overflowing into the balconies and lobbies.

While places like Grace Chapel defies definition, it is by no means difficult to describe them, for such congregations are a growing phenomenon around the globe. Some describe them as free churches or non-denominational ones. Scholars use the term “Neo-Pentecostal” to describe such congregations. These places are certainly not the traditional Pentecostal with their insistence on adult baptism, speaking in tongues and rejection of ornaments. Grace Chapel is none of these, but still is the new face of Pentecostalism. Demographers who study church growth trends describe Pentecostalism as the fastest growing Christian trend today. Probably that is where the future of Christianity lies.

One aspect that makes Neo-Pentecostalism popular around the world is the people’s waning interest in rigid rituals and sacraments that have come to define mainline churches. Traditional churches just do not speak to the contemporary men and women. Inability to address the pastoral needs of the people is another aspect that makes the traditional churches unpopular with a growing generation. Our church structures are just too institutionalized and far removed from the people.

There are clear positive factors too that attract people in hordes to Neo-Pentecostal churches. Music is one such. At Grace Chapel, the music is just terrific. Except for the duration of the sermon, the rest of the service is virtually musical. Sensitivity to differently abled people is another factor (This is probably true with most places in the West, but for someone from India, is still a refreshing change). At Grace right through the service, a specialist in sign language stands in front, interpreting the songs and sermons to those who cannot hear like most others present.

The messages at Grace Chapel are clearly non-partisan. No overt attempts are made to “proselytize” worshippers from other church backgrounds, though I believe, adult baptism is a requirement for full membership at the Chapel. Often, social themes are addressed in sermons (even if it is a generalized exhortation to the hearers to “care for the poor and needy”, but not advocating any radical social action).

For all their success, however, Neo-Pentecostal churches raise disturbing questions. Rigid and irrelevant forms of worship and a “lack of spirituality” can drive people out of traditional churches but such negativity may not be enough to keep them for long in Neo-Pentecostal congregations. Playing down theological and social differences is an attraction today for these new congregations but may not be enough to build up a church. Sooner or later, they too will have to wrestle with deep questions of justice, peace, sexuality and other related issues.

Yet, such places of worship obviously meet a dire need today. Denominational rigidity is clearly on the wane. At the grand piano at Grace Chapel today was the son of a Mar Thoma pastor from India. Last Sunday he was one of the organists at the local Mar Thoma Church. Denominationalism, at least in the diaspora, seems to be giving way to an era of trans-denominationalism.

Leaving Carbon Footprints behind...

That India is today on the path of rapid industrialization is an undisputed fact. Economic growth has led to an affluent middle class that is increasingly trying to ape the West in patterns of consumption. In Business Today of 27 August, N. Madhavan described Chennai as “India’s Detroit”. According to him, 45 km long corridor near Chennai is on its way to becoming one of the largest automobile centres in the world. "Five global car majors, two commercial vehicle companies, one tractor manufacturer, three earth moving equipment companies, a tyre major and over 100 auto parts producers have either made it their home or will do so soon." Madhavan says that by 2012 we would see production of 1. 28 million cars, 350000 commercial vehicles and an unspecified number of tractors and earth moving equipment every year.

Such a grand vision of the future would make any Indian swell with pride. From eons of backwardness, our society is emerging to claim its place in the industrial world. Our slow and traditional habits are giving way to Western ways of doing things. Soon we would catch up with the West, or so it seems.

Gautam Bhatia in a recent article in Indian Express, however, struck a different note. He cautioned: “Today, every move up a notch on the social ladder is an ecological step in the wrong direction. For years a mug of water sufficed for the elimination of early morning bodily waste. The toilet roll dispenser was a decorative English anomaly. Today it is filled regularly with 230 yards of soft tissue culled from an Uttarakhand forest. In a middle-class house five air-conditioners hum to the tune of eight kilowatts of power — enough juice to light two villages. A driver picks up a fifteen rupee loaf of bread by driving a 3000 cc Pajero to the local market, using up two litres of fossil fuel that took three million years to form deep below the earth crust.”

Bhatia goes on to say that even as India, in rapid consumption, is trying to catch up with the West, several Western societies are turning away from their wayward ways to more responsible lifestyles. Cycles and public transport are rapidly becoming popular modes of transport in Europe and America.

Another area of grave concern is the construction of buildings especially as about 40 per cent of the world's energy is consumed by buildings — both for construction and subsequent use. That is indeed an alarming statistic enough to get the government to adopt a rational policy on green architecture. Yet little effort is being made in that direction. The construction of buildings is perhaps the most booming business in urban India.

In conclusion, Bhatia spells out an alternative worldview which should guide our future: “A 10 per cent growth rate can hardly be a matter of national pride when the country's rivers, air, and cities are some of the most polluted in the world, and lifestyle indices all place India at the bottom of the list. An altered way of life can only be a small part of the solution. However, an imaginative policy can transfer ecological accountability where it hurts least: amongst the high profit businesses and industrial houses, who are the cause of climate change in the first place.”

It would perhaps be appropriate to conclude this discussion with a quote from Barack Obama’s speech at Berlin yesterday: “As we speak, cars in Boston and factories in Beijing are melting the ice caps in the Arctic, shrinking coastlines in the Atlantic and bringing drought in farms from Kansas to Kenya.”

A far cry indeed from George Bush’s (and Manmohan Singh’s) refusal to accept global warming as a reality.

Mission as Crawling

Ecumenical News International reported on 23 July 2008:

"Indian churches hail government's slim win in no confidence vote:

Churches in India have hailed a victory by the country's governing coalition, dominated by secular parties and which won a crucial vote of confidence in the national parliament. The United Progressive Alliance coalition government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh won the vote of confidence late on 22 July after two days of acrimonious debate, garnering 275 votes against the 256 recorded by the opposition parties. "We're very happy about the result," Methodist Bishop Tharanath Sagar, president of the National Council of Churches in India, told Ecumenical News International on 23 July. "The defeat of the secular government would have strengthened the hands of fundamentalist forces. We're relieved," noted Sagar, who heads the Indian church council made up of 30 Orthodox and Protestant churches."

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It is indeed appropriate that the Indian churches are demonstrating a keen interest in the political life of the country. The question, however is, in the context of a politically divisive matter (as was the circumstances that led to the recent vote of confidence), what is the criterion that is employed with regard to taking a stance on political matters. It is public knowledge that what led to the vote of confidence was India's nuclear energy deal with the United States and the emerging strategic partnership between the two countries. This step was widely seen as a virtual surrender of India's non-aligned foreign policy. The move led to harsh criticism, not only from the political circles but also in the wider society.

There is, however, more to the present vote of confidence than the surrender of India's sovereignty. The level to which the ruling Congress Party and its alliance partners stooped to save the government (and thus save the strategic partnership with U.S.) virtually shook the conscience of the public. Even the American media, which has been generally supportive of the nuclear deal between the two countries, noted: "Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Congress party fought hard to secure victory, and appeared to cut back-room deals when all else failed. An airport was named after one lawmaker's father, another was promised a high-level job and - rival politicians allege - many others received millions of dollars in bribes" (The Boston Globe, July 23, 2008).

The statement of the President of the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) needs to be read in the backdrop of such wheeler dealer business behind the vote of confidence. This, incidentally, is not the first occasion when NCCI is taking a stance on an issue of paramount national interest. The Emergency regime (1975 - '77) of a previous Congress government was one such. The Emergency was the first time (and mercifully, the only one so far) when civil liberties and democratic rights were denied in "the world's largest democracy". For those twenty months, free speech and freedom of press were suspended; hundreds of people who demanded freedom, democracy and human rights were thrown behind the bars. That is indeed a dark period of which every Indian is ashamed of.

The National Council of Churches in India, however, had a different perception of the situation. At the height of Emergency, the NCCI led a delegation of bishops to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. There, the Christian leaders of the land offered their unconditional allegiance to the Prime Minister and to the Emergency regime! As proof of their allegiance, they praised Mrs. Gandhi for being a benevolent leader of the country and for taking good care of Indian Christians. An opposition leader later wryly remarked: "During the Emergency, people were asked only to stoop, but some started crawling."

Suffice it to say that, three decades later, NCCI has lived up to its reputation.

Binayak Sen

Dr. Binayak Sen recently completed one year in jail. His crime was that he stood with the villagers in the Central Indian state of Chhattisgarh in their struggle to regain their lost land. The government tricked villagers into giving away their lands to international companies that are building mines to extract bauxite and diamonds in the region. The displaced people were then forcibly relocated to camps that have no water or sanitation or facility for health care. Dr. Sen, a pediatrician who had helped the villagers build their own hospital where no one would be denied health care, was accused of being a "naxalite" and arrested in May last year.

Ms. Ilina Sen, wife of Binayak Sen, was recently in Boston where she delivered a lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the circumstance that led to her husband's arrest. A women's activist and teacher in her own right, Ilina had travelled to the United States to receive, on behalf of her husband, the Jonathan Mann Award. The award for health and human rights was given to Binayak Sen for his exceptional work in caring for the poor and the marginalized.

About 40 people attended Ilina Sen's lecture at MIT, including Dr.Sen's former classmates from the Christian Medical College, Vellore and alumni from CMC who are currently employed at Boston-area hospitals - as well as members of local organizations: "Secular and Democratic South Asia", "Association for India's Development" and "South Asians Stepping in Solidarity".

What is most amazing is that, even when no charges have been established against Dr. Sen and despite the worldwide demand for his release, there is no sign of freedom for him. In a country that prides itself in being "the world's largest democracy" and where people assume that they enjoy freedom and human rights, the authorities can put the tag "naxalite" on anyone - even on as eminent a person as Binayak Sen - and put them behind bars indefinitely.

Ilina Sen's lecture reminded us once again that the struggle to free people detained unjustly everywhere need to be pursed with renewed vigor. To sign a petition for Dr. Binayak Sen's release, please go to aidboston.org/FreeBinayakSen.