“They convert our people and sent to Kashmir to fight the Indian army” – Christian Body

 Kerala churches unite over ‘existential threat’
M P Prashanth – www.expressbuzz.com

KOZHIKODE: Confronted by ‘increasing threats to the existence of the community’, believers of the major Christian Churches in Kerala have formed a common platform to face the challenges unitedly.

The first meeting of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) was held here on Sunday which was attended by representatives of the CMI, CSI, Syrian Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Fr. Dr. Antony Kozhuvanal, national general secretary of the Infam, inaugurated the meeting.

The CDU came into being against the backdrop of the incidents after the attack on T J Joseph, lecturer at the Newman College, Thodupuzha. Sources said the CDU feels that unorganised Christians are facing stiff challenges from other ‘organised forces’.

“They convert our people after giving many promises. These persons were sent to Kashmir to fight the Indian army,” says the notice distributed before the meeting of the CDU.

Indirectly referring to the attack on Joseph, the notice says “nobody reacts when the hands and legs of Christians are being chopped off.”

It went on to add “political parties and the ruling class are hunting the Christians and their institutions. They need vote banks. They want the support of the communities whose population graph shows an upward trend.”

The CDU is also concerned about the decline in the population of the Christians in the state. It says the population of the Christians came down from 30 percent in 1950 to less than 20 percent in 2010.

“This is because educationally forward Christian community imbibed the spirit of the family planning programme.”

The fledgling organisation is dejected by the let-down by the political parties which traditionally enjoyed the support of the Christians. Sources said initially the organisation will concentrate in the northern districts before spreading to other areas. Advocate Babu Benedict has been elected the president and Advocate Joy Abraham general secretary. T M Abraham is the treasurer.

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