Evangelism with lure of money
Swami Gulagulaananda said:
"Evangelism with lure of money is cheap and underhanded"
This is a very interesting topic - You will find it interesting only if you read this with a completely unprejudiced mindset. Go ahead, comment and post your views.
Christianity as a religion has been very aggressive in its spread. I have had several experiences of attempted conversion and have heard a lot of talk from these evangelists as well. You can see them here.
Modus Operandi
Now, in this post, I would like to talk about christianity trying to spread its tentacles by using money as a bait or lure. How does this work? Simple. There are thousands of people who donate millions of dollars worldwide for the spread of christianity to some missionaries. These missionaries come to places like India, and target poor people. Now, assume there is a destitute who has no money - These people come there and tell them, "We will give you money, you convert to our religion".
So what?
Now comes the interesting part - There are several 'secular' (read pseudo-secular) and 'educated' (read so called scientific bent of mind and so called open minded) people who ask "So what? If they are getting money, that's making them happy right? So how does it matter which religion they belong to?"
Yes, I would be inclined to agree to that point, provided you agree to this - In that case, let's also legalise the following:
Cash for votes - There is a poor man. Rich politician comes up to him and says "We will give you money, you vote for our party". What's wrong in that right? Same logic... They are getting money, that's making them happy. How does it matter then?
Cash for sex - There is a poor woman, and a rich man comes to her and says "I will give you money, come to bed with me" What's wrong in this then? That's making her happy because she is getting money, it's consensual, it's her wish...
Cash for drugs(?) - Ok, there is a poor man. Mafia comes to him and says "Dude, you go peddle drugs, I will give you money". Then there is the son of a rich man who comes to him and says "Give me drugs, and I will give you money" Now what's the problem?
Cash for anything else - Yeah, what's wrong with bribing that friendly neighbourhood traffic policeman? Policeman needs money, you want to avoid fine of Rs 300... Give him Rs 100, both are happy, right?
Ridiculous arguments you say?
Ok, your mindset right now is "Dude, your arguments are ridiculous" How can you equate drugs to the rest of them? It causes harm... Now, who does it cause harm to? To himself, and he is doing it to himself. He takes drugs, and sits in his room, ecstatic. Yeah, he is good for nothing, but heck, he is happy, and the guy from he bought it from, is happy as well - But for some reason, drugs are frowned upon, right? Hey, it is bad, health issues man! Ok, health issues... Then shouldn't we even ban smoking and drinking? In fact, more people smoke and drink than take drugs. In fact, there have been many cases of drunken driving killing innocent people, or murders in stupor, or families ruined because man keeps splurging money in alcohol. Cigarettes also cause harm to others as well as themselves... If you want to ban things that cause harm, then ban them all, right? But that's not happening... If you allow cigarettes (nicotine along with several other narcotics are there anyway) and alcohol (your body can't even process alcohol, which is why your liver goes kaput later, plus you kill others) then why ban drugs?
Cash for whatever - NOT OK!
Ok, now think - If we always keep looking at it with the view that "Hey, both parties are happy, one wants to give money, other wants to take money, and there is a string attached which neither minds" then what happens is that prostitution, cash for votes and drug trade, everything becomes legal... And this is not right. It's not right for all the reasons you know. Which is why religious conversions using lure of money is illegal (though still done)
Same for religion
The same goes for religion - If you want to do social service, do it. Unfortunately, the NGOs that are run by christians are normally focussing on spread of religion. Joyce Meyer ministries, for example, gives education, food, blah blah - makes it sound oh-so-cool and nice, but they also give bibles and abet conversion via lure. Seriously, think about it - If you are so interested in social goodness and wellness, why would you want to introduce religion? If there is an organisation that wants to do good for, say, a poor group of Hindus, don't you think giving them education, food and stopping at that point make them happy? Why introduce religion? It's clear - there is an ulterior motive there.
Learn to respect others for what they are...
"Evangelism with lure of money is cheap and underhanded"
This is a very interesting topic - You will find it interesting only if you read this with a completely unprejudiced mindset. Go ahead, comment and post your views.
Christianity as a religion has been very aggressive in its spread. I have had several experiences of attempted conversion and have heard a lot of talk from these evangelists as well. You can see them here.
Modus Operandi
Now, in this post, I would like to talk about christianity trying to spread its tentacles by using money as a bait or lure. How does this work? Simple. There are thousands of people who donate millions of dollars worldwide for the spread of christianity to some missionaries. These missionaries come to places like India, and target poor people. Now, assume there is a destitute who has no money - These people come there and tell them, "We will give you money, you convert to our religion".
So what?
Now comes the interesting part - There are several 'secular' (read pseudo-secular) and 'educated' (read so called scientific bent of mind and so called open minded) people who ask "So what? If they are getting money, that's making them happy right? So how does it matter which religion they belong to?"
Yes, I would be inclined to agree to that point, provided you agree to this - In that case, let's also legalise the following:
Cash for votes - There is a poor man. Rich politician comes up to him and says "We will give you money, you vote for our party". What's wrong in that right? Same logic... They are getting money, that's making them happy. How does it matter then?
Cash for sex - There is a poor woman, and a rich man comes to her and says "I will give you money, come to bed with me" What's wrong in this then? That's making her happy because she is getting money, it's consensual, it's her wish...
Cash for drugs(?) - Ok, there is a poor man. Mafia comes to him and says "Dude, you go peddle drugs, I will give you money". Then there is the son of a rich man who comes to him and says "Give me drugs, and I will give you money" Now what's the problem?
Cash for anything else - Yeah, what's wrong with bribing that friendly neighbourhood traffic policeman? Policeman needs money, you want to avoid fine of Rs 300... Give him Rs 100, both are happy, right?
Ridiculous arguments you say?
Ok, your mindset right now is "Dude, your arguments are ridiculous" How can you equate drugs to the rest of them? It causes harm... Now, who does it cause harm to? To himself, and he is doing it to himself. He takes drugs, and sits in his room, ecstatic. Yeah, he is good for nothing, but heck, he is happy, and the guy from he bought it from, is happy as well - But for some reason, drugs are frowned upon, right? Hey, it is bad, health issues man! Ok, health issues... Then shouldn't we even ban smoking and drinking? In fact, more people smoke and drink than take drugs. In fact, there have been many cases of drunken driving killing innocent people, or murders in stupor, or families ruined because man keeps splurging money in alcohol. Cigarettes also cause harm to others as well as themselves... If you want to ban things that cause harm, then ban them all, right? But that's not happening... If you allow cigarettes (nicotine along with several other narcotics are there anyway) and alcohol (your body can't even process alcohol, which is why your liver goes kaput later, plus you kill others) then why ban drugs?
Cash for whatever - NOT OK!
Ok, now think - If we always keep looking at it with the view that "Hey, both parties are happy, one wants to give money, other wants to take money, and there is a string attached which neither minds" then what happens is that prostitution, cash for votes and drug trade, everything becomes legal... And this is not right. It's not right for all the reasons you know. Which is why religious conversions using lure of money is illegal (though still done)
Same for religion
The same goes for religion - If you want to do social service, do it. Unfortunately, the NGOs that are run by christians are normally focussing on spread of religion. Joyce Meyer ministries, for example, gives education, food, blah blah - makes it sound oh-so-cool and nice, but they also give bibles and abet conversion via lure. Seriously, think about it - If you are so interested in social goodness and wellness, why would you want to introduce religion? If there is an organisation that wants to do good for, say, a poor group of Hindus, don't you think giving them education, food and stopping at that point make them happy? Why introduce religion? It's clear - there is an ulterior motive there.
Learn to respect others for what they are...
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