INDIA: TSUNAMI BISHOPS TROUBLE TAMIL NADU
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The south Indian state of Tamil Nadu may have the worldwide highest rate of churches per capita. Though only a small minority of people call themselves Christians, there are said to be as many as 1500 independent Christian churches represented in the Independent Churches of India Association in Chennai (earlier Madras). Most of them belong to the huge and ever-growing group of evangelical churches that are founded and supported from abroad. Some are Anglican or Orthodox splinter groups. Many are Pentecostals of different origin. They have names like Calvari Mission Trust or Halleluyah Full Gospel Missionaries of India. Though quite tiny and never heard of, many of these independent churches have their own bishops. Nobody knows exactly, how many robed men are roaming around, who has appointed them and who is paying them.
Since some time, an increasing number of these "holy men" are attracting the attention of the police. During the last three months, several cases of betrayal have been registered against priests and bishops, who pretended to build houses for Tsunami victims and poor people and thereby cheated the public of huge amounts. Two bishops of the Moulin Mission Trust in Mahabalipuram and the Calvari Mission Trust in Vellore have been arrested. They are accused of swindling several hundred million Rupees from contractors. They collected huge deposits from them after promising them orders for house construction for tsunami victims. Some other bishops, who used the same trick, have so far escaped arrest by absconding.
Most of the independent churches emerged in the aftermath of the tsunami catastrophe and descended upon the affected areas. The phenomenon of bishops cheating locals marks the second wave of exploitation. The first wave flooded the accounts of the new churches with fat donations from their supporters abroad. The tsunami desaster unleashed the largest wave of donations in history. Worldwide more than 12 billion Dollar have been collected from state funds as well as from private purses. The biggest part of this money was in the hands of NGOs of all provenience, among them thousands of ad hoc created religious organisations.
Many of these small churches are still collecting money for house construction for tsunami victims. The houses, if they have constructed any, are often not up to the needs of the victims. The Evangelical church of India (ECI), for example, constructed without official permission 70 one-room hutments in Cuddalore that could not be used and had immediately to be sealed by the police as they were in danger to collapse. These ruins had obviously only one purpose: to carry shiny big boards with the proud inscription: "This house is a gift of the Providence Baptist Church, NC, USA, through ECI Relief Team". Similarly World Vision, the largest evangelical recipient of US state grants, donated a fleet of new and colourful fishing boats to the fishermen of Nagapattinam that turned out to be completely unfit for use in the sea and were after some days abandoned by the disappointed recipients. These are only two out of 160,000 cases that have been collected by the lawyers of the Tsunami Comittee Legal Action. Only a small part of them have so far been brought to court.
http://www.rationalistinternational.net/archive/en/rationalist_2006/162.html#
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The south Indian state of Tamil Nadu may have the worldwide highest rate of churches per capita. Though only a small minority of people call themselves Christians, there are said to be as many as 1500 independent Christian churches represented in the Independent Churches of India Association in Chennai (earlier Madras). Most of them belong to the huge and ever-growing group of evangelical churches that are founded and supported from abroad. Some are Anglican or Orthodox splinter groups. Many are Pentecostals of different origin. They have names like Calvari Mission Trust or Halleluyah Full Gospel Missionaries of India. Though quite tiny and never heard of, many of these independent churches have their own bishops. Nobody knows exactly, how many robed men are roaming around, who has appointed them and who is paying them.
Since some time, an increasing number of these "holy men" are attracting the attention of the police. During the last three months, several cases of betrayal have been registered against priests and bishops, who pretended to build houses for Tsunami victims and poor people and thereby cheated the public of huge amounts. Two bishops of the Moulin Mission Trust in Mahabalipuram and the Calvari Mission Trust in Vellore have been arrested. They are accused of swindling several hundred million Rupees from contractors. They collected huge deposits from them after promising them orders for house construction for tsunami victims. Some other bishops, who used the same trick, have so far escaped arrest by absconding.
Most of the independent churches emerged in the aftermath of the tsunami catastrophe and descended upon the affected areas. The phenomenon of bishops cheating locals marks the second wave of exploitation. The first wave flooded the accounts of the new churches with fat donations from their supporters abroad. The tsunami desaster unleashed the largest wave of donations in history. Worldwide more than 12 billion Dollar have been collected from state funds as well as from private purses. The biggest part of this money was in the hands of NGOs of all provenience, among them thousands of ad hoc created religious organisations.
Many of these small churches are still collecting money for house construction for tsunami victims. The houses, if they have constructed any, are often not up to the needs of the victims. The Evangelical church of India (ECI), for example, constructed without official permission 70 one-room hutments in Cuddalore that could not be used and had immediately to be sealed by the police as they were in danger to collapse. These ruins had obviously only one purpose: to carry shiny big boards with the proud inscription: "This house is a gift of the Providence Baptist Church, NC, USA, through ECI Relief Team". Similarly World Vision, the largest evangelical recipient of US state grants, donated a fleet of new and colourful fishing boats to the fishermen of Nagapattinam that turned out to be completely unfit for use in the sea and were after some days abandoned by the disappointed recipients. These are only two out of 160,000 cases that have been collected by the lawyers of the Tsunami Comittee Legal Action. Only a small part of them have so far been brought to court.
http://www.rationalistinternational.net/archive/en/rationalist_2006/162.html#
No comments:
Post a Comment