Dalit Christian

2021-06-07T14:47:25Z

103.44.13.129:

{{Use Indian English|date=February 2021}}

{{Infobox religious group|group=Dalit Christians|population=42% of [[Christianity in India|Indian Christians]]<br/>90% of [[Christianity in Pakistan|Pakistani Christians]]|regions=[[India]] and [[Pakistan]] (majority)<br/>
[[Bangladesh]] and [[Nepal]] (minority)|religions=[[Christianity]]|scriptures=[[Bible]]}}

The term '''Dalit Christian''' (sometimes '''Christian Dalit''') is used to describe those who have converted to [[Christianity]] from [[Hinduism]] or [[Islam]] and are still categorized as [[Dalit (outcaste)|Dalit]]s in Hindu, Christian and Islamic societies in [[India]], [[Pakistan]] and other countries. Hindu Dalits are referred to as "[[Harijan|Harijans]]". 90% of Pakistani Christians are Dalits and over 42% of Indian Christians are Dalits, categorized thus by the greater societal practices of the region they live in.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|title=Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011|date=2019-10-28|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Socio_Economic_and_Caste_Census_2011&oldid=923382165|work=Wikipedia|language=en|access-date=2019-11-01}}</ref><ref name="Phan2011">{{cite book |last1=Phan |first1=Peter C. |title=Christianities in Asia |date=2011 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4443-9260-9 |page=25 |language=English|quote=For example, 90 to 95% of Pakistani Christians are Punjabi of the chura (dalit) group converted from Hinduism rather than from Islam or local religious systems.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Sara |first1=Singha |last2=Ariel |first2=Glucklich |title=Dalit Christians and Caste Consciousness in Pakistan |url=https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/761014 |access-date=22 September 2020 |language=en |date=23 April 2015 |quote=This study explores caste discrimination in Pakistan against untouchable (Dalit) converts to Christianity. During the nineteenth century in India, many Dalits converted to Christianity to escape caste persecution. In the 1870s in Punjab, a mass movement to Protestant Christianity flourished among the Dalit Chuhra caste. The Chuhras were the largest menial caste in Punjab and engaged in degrading occupations including sweeping and sanitation work. By the 1930s, almost the entire Chuhra caste converted to Protestant Christianity. In 1947, during the partition of India, the majority of Chuhra converts in Punjab became part of the Protestant community in Pakistan. After Partition, many uneducated Chuhras were confined to menial jobs in the sanitation industry. Today, the stigma of Dalit ancestry is a distinct feature of social discrimination against Chuhra Christians in Pakistan.}}</ref><ref name="Michael2007">{{Citation| last = Michael | first = Editor S.M.| year = 2007| title = Dalits in modern India : vision and values| pages = 82| url = https://books.google.com/?id=xnyo1xPNwxwC&pg=PA82&dq=Dalit+Christian| isbn = 978-0761935711| publisher = Sage Publications| location = New Delhi}}</ref>

==The Caste System==
[[File:MSSP mission in Pakistan.jpg|thumb|250px|Punjabi Christians with the [[Missionary Society of St Paul (Malta)|Missionary Society of St. Paul]] (May 2006)]]
[[Christian missionaries]] who were [[evangelism|evangelising]] in [[colonial India]] largely fought against the idea of a caste system.<ref name="Satyanarayana2005">{{cite book |last1=Satyanarayana |first1=A. |title=Dalits and Upper Castes |date=2005 |publisher=Kanishka Publishers |isbn=978-81-7391-703-5 |page=140 |language=English |quote=Protestant missionaries not only to condemn caste but also to eliminate it within the churches. The missionaries aimed at encouraging and strengthening the existing movements against caste oppression and discrimination. ... Especially, the founders of Guntur and Nellore missions were the arch enemies of the spirit and practice of the caste system.}}</ref> However, some people within the different branches of [[Christianity]] in South Asia still engage in societal practices with regard to the caste system, along with all its customs and norms, to varying degrees depending on their background. Though other Christians in the Indian subcontinent may not practice a caste culture themselves, they may face societal discrimination outside their Christian community for the caste they belong to.<ref name="AqeelFaruqi2018"/> Asif Aqeel and Sama Faruqi documented in ''[[Herald (Pakistan)|Herald Magazine]]'':<ref name="AqeelFaruqi2018"/>
{{quotation|In 1947, there were two types of Christians in what was then known as West Pakistan: landless, unskilled, poor labourers and peasants living in villages across central Punjab, and educated Christian professionals, mostly Anglo-Indians and Goans, who lived in big cities such as Karachi and Lahore. The former are generally converts to Christianity from low-caste Hindus and the latter from upper-caste Hindus as well as Muslims.

Anglo-Indians and Goans immediately faced discrimination in jobs and business opportunities in the newly created Pakistan. Their rather privileged social status under the Raj – that prized their English language skills and British cultural mannerisms – started waning. Punjabi Christians, on the other hand, were always treated with contempt due to their caste and their dark skin.<ref name="AqeelFaruqi2018">{{cite web |last1=Aqeel |first1=Asif |last2=Faruqi |first2=Sama |title=Caste away: The ongoing struggle of Punjabi Christians |url=https://herald.dawn.com/news/1153539 |publisher=[[Herald (Pakistan)|Herald Magazine]] |access-date=25 May 2021 |language=English |date=26 February 2018}}</ref>}}
Within the three major Christian branches in South Asia, there were historically and are currently different levels of caste acceptance. The [[Protestantism in India|Protestant]] churches have been most consistent among the Christian community in repudiating it as part of the Hindu social order while attempting to establish a caste-less Christian community.<ref name="MichaelMichael2007">{{cite book|author1=S. M. Michael|author2=Sebastian Maria Michael|title=Dalits in Modern India: Vision and Values|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xnyo1xPNwxwC&pg=PA83|date=8 May 2007|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-0-7619-3571-1|pages=83–}}</ref> The [[Roman Catholics in India|Roman Catholic Church]] is said to sometimes develop a more culturally consistent view, treating the caste system as part of the Indian social structure and, for much of its history in India; similarly, the [[Oriental Orthodoxy in India|Syrian Orthodox Churches]] have sometimes responded in like fashion, except it has tended to collectively act as one caste within the caste system instead of maintaining different castes within their churches.<ref name=Michael2007/> However, Protestant churches have fared no better than Catholic churches other than the fact that mainly Dalit dioceses have got Dalit Bishops. The other ways where the presence of caste is seen among Indian churches include the non-acceptance of a Dalit priest, maintaining separate entrance for Dalits in churches, separate seating, and other features.<ref name="Rajkumar2016">{{cite book|author=Peniel Rajkumar|title=Dalit Theology and Dalit Liberation: Problems, Paradigms and Possibilities|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3w8pDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA20|date=13 May 2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-15493-8|pages=20}}</ref>

Other major factors affecting dalit Christians and other Christians within India in regard to caste statutes are the regional variances in maintaining the caste system.<ref name=Michael2007/> [[Rural area|Rural]] communities are said to hold more strongly to the caste system than the urban communities and Roman Catholics are the majority of Christians in these communities. The [[Urban area|urban]] areas tend to have the least pressure to maintain caste classes and Protestant churches are aid to be best represented in this background.<ref name=Michael2007/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/496862.cms |work=The Times Of India |title=Dalit Christians demand equality |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060216081119/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/496862.cms |archivedate=February 16, 2006 }}</ref><ref name="Anderson2003">{{Citation| last1 = Anderson | first1 = Edited by Allan| last2 = Tang | first2 = Edmond| last3 = Foreword By Cecil M. Robeck | first3 = Jr| year = 2003| title = Asian and Pentecostal : the charismatic face of Christianity in Asia| pages = 251| url = https://books.google.com/?id=LDZgKELq7AoC&pg=PA251&dq=Dalit+Christian| isbn = 1-870345-43-6| publisher = Regnum Books International| location = Oxford, UK}}</ref>

After conversion, people in India lose any privileges they had in their former caste, while those in lower castes often gain more opportunities.<ref name=Bauman2008>{{Citation| last = Bauman | first = Chad M.| year = 2008| title = Christian identity and Dalit religion in Hindu India, 1868-1947| pages = 89| url = https://books.google.com/?id=Hn7GT3uxmekC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Dalit+Christian| isbn = 978-0-8028-6276-1| publisher = William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co.| location = Grand Rapids, Mich.}}</ref><ref name=Michael2007/> Although about 42%<ref name=":0" /> of Indian Christians are widely reported to be Dalit Christians,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=kBTkAAAAMAAJ Struggle for justice to Dalit Christians] By Brojendra Nath Banerjee, Uiliyāma Kerī Sṭāḍi eyāṇḍ Risārca Seṇṭāra. Page 42: ''"At stake is the fate of 16 million Christians of SC origin, who form 70-80 percent of the Christians in the country"''</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=CaRVePXX6vEC&pg=PA40 Culture and customs of India] By Carol Henderson Garcia, Carol E. Henderson ''"Today about 70 percent of Christians are Dalits"''</ref> the [[Sachar Committee]] on Muslim Affairs reported that only 9% of Indian Christians have [[Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes|Scheduled Caste]] status, with a further 32.8% having [[Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes|Scheduled Tribe]] status, and 24.8% belonging to [[Other Backward Class|other disadvantaged groups]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://minorityaffairs.gov.in/newsite/sachar/sachar_comm.pdf |title=Sachar Comm |accessdate=June 3, 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100704154521/http://minorityaffairs.gov.in/newsite/sachar/sachar_comm.pdf |archivedate=July 4, 2010 }}</ref>

In the 1990s there were protests against those Christian organizations that still practiced some form of the caste system and for discrimination in leadership positions; Dalits saw those practices as contrary to Jesus's egalitarianism.<ref name="FernandoGispert-Sauch2004"/> Dalit Christians have frequently criticized the Church for not just tolerating but hiding the discriminatory practices among Dalit Christians.<ref name="FernandoGispert-Sauch2004"/>

Leonard Fernando, G. Gispert-Sauch writes that: "Today, no Indian Christian think would approve or speak of tolerating the caste reality. There are many, however, who live in it."<ref name="FernandoGispert-Sauch2004">{{cite book|author1=Leonard Fernando|author2=G. Gispert-Sauch|title=Christianity in India: Two Thousand Years of Faith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7dgYjLCSa0wC&pg=PA188|year=2004|publisher=Penguin Books India|isbn=978-0-670-05769-6|pages=188–}}</ref> Dalits that have become Christians in south India have transformed their position as just spectators in Hindu religious practice to that of leaders and representatives of the Christian religion; they have also become influential promoters of Dalit political aspirations.<ref name="Mocherla2020">{{cite book|author=Ashok Kumar Mocherla|title=Dalit Christians in South India: Caste, Ideology and Lived Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ihIHEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA122|date=16 November 2020|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-00-022658-4|pages=122–}}</ref>

==Reservation==
[[Reservation in India|Reservation]] is available to Dalits who follow Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism, but Dalit Christians and Muslims are not protected as castes under Indian Reservation policy.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Should Dalit Christians get reservation?|url=https://www.rediff.com/news/2005/feb/11dalit.htm|url-status=live|access-date=2021-02-28|website=[[Rediff|www.rediff.com]]}}</ref><ref>[http://www.indiatogether.org/2006/oct/soc-dalitsc.htm Dalit Christians: SC or not?]</ref> The Indian constitution in 1950 abolished untouchability, converting those castes to ''scheduled castes and tribes'': in doing so it also provided a system of affirmative action (called the Reservation Policy) whereby 22.5 percent of all government and semi-government jobs including seats in Parliament and state legislatures were reserved for those in those castes; the law also set aside space for admission to schools and colleges. In 1980 the constitutional policy was extended to cover the rest of the 3,743 backward castes in the country. But Christians who claim to belong to no caste are not included in the quotas, meaning those Dalits who convert to Christianity are no longer part of the affirmative action program run by the government. Dalit Christians have now appealed to the government to extend the benefits of reservation policy to Dalit Christians to improve their employment opportunities.<ref>{{Cite web|title=FindArticles.com {{!}} CBSi|url=http://findarticles.com/?noadc=1|access-date=2021-02-28|website=findarticles.com}}</ref> In 2008, a study commissioned by the [[National Commission for Minorities]] suggested extension of reservation to Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians. According to the study, Indian Muslims and Christians should be brought under the ambit of the constitutional safeguards.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Archive News|url=https://www.thehindu.com/archive/|access-date=2021-02-28|website=The Hindu|language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Caste system among South Asian Christians]]
*[[Dalit theology]]

==References==
<references/>

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book |author1-last=Ashok |author1-first=Kumar M. |author2-last=Boopalan |author2-first=Sunder J. |year=2015 |chapter=Indian Christians in Conflict: Dalit Christian Movement in Contemporary India |editor-last=Hunt |editor-first=Stephen J. |editor-link=Stephen J. Hunt |title=Handbook of Global Contemporary Christianity: Themes and Developments in Culture, Politics, and Society |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion |volume=10 |doi=10.1163/9789004291027_017 |pages=308–324 |isbn=978-90-04-26538-7 |issn=1874-6691}}

==Further reading==
*''Dalit Christians: Right To Reservations'', by Camil Parkhe. 2007. ISPCK. {{ISBN|978-81-7214-979-6}}.
*''India’s ‘lower caste’ Dalit Christians establish media to fight discrimination'', by Rita Joseph, 2020. [https://www.licas.news/2020/12/14/indias-lower-caste-dalit-christians-establish-own-news-website-to-fight-discrimination/ LiCAS.news]

==External links==
*[http://www.christiantoday.com/article/dalit.christian.supreme.court.case.commences.in.india/5882.htm Dalit Christian Supreme Court Case Commences in India]

[[Category:Christianity in India]]
[[Category:Christianity in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Dalit]]

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Dalit Christian