As I stare out the bus window for the nth time in the past 6 hours, I think about the paradox of my situation for the next month: sharing the truth with those here in India, yet being unable to share this truth with those at home. Let me clarify:
For the past few days, my squad and I spent our brief time in urban India undergoing cultural training at our missions base (the location or name of which I cannot tell you) before setting out on an 8+ hour bus ride to the village (the name of which I am also unable to reveal) we will be basing our ministry in for the rest of the month. I apologize for the vagueness of my descriptions, but it is necessary for reasons that will become clear further on.
We learned several things about Indian culture. The first subject was all about the history of India. At least half of the information was about Gandhi; I was surprised to learn he had been killed by a Hindu nationalist. When we asked why he was assassinated, considering Gandhi himself was Hindu, our teachers replied “for some, he was not Hindu enough. This is because he advocated for the destruction of the caste system.” We learned how to dress appropriately: the girls had to spend an afternoon shopping for kurtas, a type of Indian clothing that is sort of like a tunic with quarter-length sleeves, as well as headscarves to wear during ministry, because women aren’t allowed to preach or pray without covering their heads. Our hosts warned against common taboos to avoid, such as wearing shoes indoors or using your left hand for eating, pointing or handing something to others. My favorite subject was the incredibly adorable yet equally incredibly confusing “head bobble” of nonverbal Indian communication (which, by the way, if you don’t know anything about I seriously advise you to look it up, it’s honestly amazing). Everyone had a ball trying to imitate the little gesture. However, I was surprised and apprehensive when our leaders switched the smiles and laughter for serious eyes and grim mouths.
They clarified with us how we all had applied for tourist visas, and explained how it was actually illegal to evangelize on a tourist visa. We all glanced at each other, slightly shocked. They proceeded to inform us how to conduct ourselves in public whenever someone would ask us what Americans were doing in India. They warned us to be as careful as possible. At our apprehensive faces, they were quick to assure us that the very worst that had happened to a team was that they had been arrested and put in jail for a couple of nights. However, as Americans, the true consequences would not be on ourselves, but on our hosts.
You see, Hinduism is not just a religion in India, it’s their culture and way of life. It’s incredibly looked down upon for a Hindu to convert to Christianity. Many times families will formally disown the converted member, and in some cases have them sign documents to never make contact with the family again. The same Hindu nationalists that killed Gandhi have made it their goal to return India to a “true Hindu state,” which means absolutely no evangelizing, and definitely no Indian christians.
Pastors like our host have been hunted, ostracized, and persecuted for their faith. Churches have been vandalised, burnt down, and mobbed. Christians have had their houses destroyed, been banned from markets and buildings, and viciously beaten.
So while the consequences for us might be minimal, if we were to ever let information about our mission slip, we would then be implicating the lives of all the Indian christians who were involved.
Later our hosts gave us a map of the city complete with ministry offices’ addresses and phone numbers, as well as their own personal cell numbers and addresses. They then told us, “take a picture with your phone, and don’t take this paper outside. Please be careful with our information, since it could be dangerous if it gets into the wrong hands.”
It was shocking for me to hear. Every christian knows about persecution of the church. Of how the apostles faced persecution in the BIble, and how in some places people can’t own bibles or go to church. But to suddenly be thrown into the middle of it, with the frightening responsibility of holding lives in my hands, was startling. The subject of persecution suddenly became uncomfortably real.
I knew about persecution. But I didn’t truly understand how violent and prevalent it still was in the world today. In my mind, I had rationalized that it was the modern day, surely it can’t be so bad as the violent persecution described in the Bible. We’re more civilized than that. Right?
But no. Persecution is no mere myth of the Bible, and is rampant in many countries and continents all over the world.
When we discussed media, they told us, “No pictures of any distinguishable geography or buildings that might identify the village can be posted online.” Neither could we post photos of any writing on signs that might reveal the region in which we will be working. We cannot post pictures of the faces of the christians we meet, or our hosts. They advised us to take pictures of tourist spots to legitimize our visas and throw off suspicion about our intentions.
I cannot tell you the name of the village in which we will be posted, the region we will be staying, the true names of any people we meet. I struggle with picking the photos I will share on social media, because if even one has something implicating then someone’s life will be at risk. Because persecution is not a myth. And it’s still just as vicious as in the past.
