dalit happenings

Praise God!

It is looking as though the Dalit believers in India may finally be given their chance to take part in normal Indian society.

As a brief recap:

• Dalits are the lowest strata of the caste system. This basically means they are excluded from normal human privileges and treated lower than animals by those in other castes ("upper castes"). It is injustice, pure and simple - coercion of the less powerful by those with the power. Our God is a God of justice.
• A presidential order in 1950 in India reserves certain privileges only to those Dalits who subscribe to Hinduism. This order was extended in 1956 to include Sikhs, and in 1990 to include Buddhists. Those Dalits who do not subscribe to Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism are excluded from the caste system.
• The Indian Supreme Court will be holding a hearing on June 19th to consider restoring "Scheduled Caste" rights to Christian Dalits.

Obviously, the ideal situation would be a complete obliteration of the caste system as a whole, but this is certainly one step closer to equality, and we should thank God for the forward movement and pray that the rights are indeed restored.

Please, please, please pray for these people. Pray for India, that the caste system would be abolished, and that all people would be able to live equally. This has been going on for too long.

I leave you with a quote from Dr. Joseph D’Souza, the president of the All India Christian Council, recorded on the CD "Share the Well" by Caedmon's Call.

"Every religion in India, for example, is too religious. On one side, the upper caste live. On the other side, the Dalits live. And the Dalit side of the village will not have water, will not have electricity, will not have education. These are the people who are treated less than animals and have to live like animals. They have no access to the temples. They are ostracised. Their properties are taken, butchered, killed, etc. This has been going on for 3,500 years, but today it's a pressing problem, because this group of people, numbering about 250 to 300 million people... the Dalits have themselves risen up and said 'We can't take this anymore.'"

The full story is here.