The Freedom to Choose
Filed under Religion
In 1978, 'the Freedom of Religion Bill' was proposed in the Indian parliament, with the aim to prevent conversions to Christianity by 'force, fraud, inducement or allurement'. The bill was part of a government led campaign to discourage the activities of foreign missionaries.
In this particular situation, the late Mother Teresa, herself an outspoken activist and a leader for the church, wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister, Morarji Desai:
Dear Mr Desai, and Members of Our Parliament,
After much prayer and sacrifices, I write to you, asking you to face God in prayer, before you take the step which will destroy the joy and the freedom of our people.
Our people, as you know better than I — are God-fearing people. In whatever way you approach them, that presence of God — the fear of God, is there. Today all over the country everybody feels insecure because the very life of freedom of conscience is being touched. Religion is not something you and I can touch. Religion is the worship of God — therefore, a matter of conscience. I alone must decide for myself and you for yourself, what we choose. For me the religion I live and use to worship God is the Catholic religion. For me this is my very life, my joy and the greatest gift of God in His love for me. He could have given me no greater gift.
I love my people very much, more than myself, and so naturally I would wish to give them the joy of possessing this treasure, but it is not mine to give, nor can I force it on anyone. So also no man, no law, no Government has the right to prevent me or force me, or anyone, if I choose to embrace the religion that gives me peace, joy, love.
I was told that Gandhiji had said, 'If the Christians would live their lives according to the teaching of Jesus Christ, there would be no more Hindus left in India.' You cannot give what you do not have.
The new move that is being brought before Parliament under the cover of freedom of religion, is false. There is no freedom if a person is not free to choose according to his or her conscience. Our people in Arunachal are so disturbed. All these years our people have lived togehter in peace. Now religion is used as a deadly weapon to destroy the love they had for each other, just because some are Christians, some Hindus, some Tribals. Are you not afraid of God?
You call him ISHWAR, some call him ALLAH, some simply God, but we all have to acknowledge that it is He who made us for greater things: to love and to be loved. Who are we to prevent our people from finding this God who has made them — who loves them — to whom they have to return?
I took the letter from page 157, Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography written by Kathryn Spink. And yes, there is more from where this letter came from. I might provide the remainder of the letter another day, but for now, yes I believe this is sufficient.
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Jun25
June 25, 2007 at 7:31 pm
I guess that’s the way to go when your marketing is not strong enough…
June 25, 2007 at 9:40 pm
“There is no freedom if a person is not free to choose according to his or her conscience.”
Thanks for sharing this.
June 25, 2007 at 10:06 pm
humans fighting and killing each other so they can go meet their creator sooner. god loves us all.
June 26, 2007 at 4:20 am
For those who think “mother Teresa” has credibility and doing what she has done purely for the love of fellow human beings and not advancing the cause of Catholism perhaps might be interested in “Missionary Position” by Christopher Hitchens.
BTW, you might also be interested in his other book “God is not great”.
June 26, 2007 at 5:41 am
“It’s a conspiracy!”, shouted MrDon’tBelieveInConspiracy
June 27, 2007 at 4:13 am
StopPropagatingMyth,
Well, the end result would had those unfortunate rescued mah…Isn’t that nice?
“There is no freedom if a person is not free to choose according to his or her conscience.â€
The biggest challenge is how to “capture” his or her conscience…
Those who can adapts will have their marketing tools updated and “get the he or she to choose their religion freely”.
For example: The then demonised Led Zeppelin music is now use to spread “word of freedom”…we have P.O.D, Jars of Clay and a bunch lot in Singapore. Sales is good and easy in the third world or those rural aborigines village. But when you are back in the city, you need those bands and a guideline on how to answer questions regarding Da Vinci’s Code.
June 27, 2007 at 9:10 am
nocrid,
“There is no freedom if a person is not free to choose according to his or her conscience.â€
I’ll just have a brief note on the above and I thank you for your genuine opinion – There is abundant supply of superstitions in India and what Teresa was doing in reality was swapping one with another, except that this one is based on sin, guilt and fear.
It’s not freedom of religion that we need, it’s the free of guilt, free of fear and most of all free of religion (read superstition and that includes Islam, Judaism and others too).
We can still able to do all those charity, philanthropy and genuinely doing them out of our heart and not because of fear or/and expecting divine reward. Isn’t that true charity?
June 27, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Without fame and publicity, there would be no charity. Philanthropists give to feel great, to set example, to make name and because of multitude of other reasons.
Kids will never learn to give, cuz they don’t get anything in return.
True charity is “the myth”.
Setting religion free and getting free of religion? Lets just live in the middle.
June 29, 2007 at 9:42 am
If mother Teresa thought God/Ishwar/Allah are all the same entity why was she so desperate to convert people from one to the other???
Talk about hypocrisy.
Perhaps all the soiled cash she received from Despots,Juntas & Tyrants skewed her sense of reality?
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