Workshop Participants:

    The Most Rev. Raphael Cheenath:  Chairperson  (India)
    The Most Rev. Bonaventure Paul  (Pakistan)
    Fr. John K. Locke (Nepal)
    Gp. Capt. (Retd.)  Cecil Chaudhry: Secretary  (Pakistan.

I.  Introduction

It is the considered opinion of the group that the term "religious fundamentalism" is equivocal and needs to be defined.  It was agreed that "fundamentalist" could simply  mean people who strictly adhere to the fundamental principals of their religion.  Such people are not necessarily offensive towards followers of other religions or sects.  However, religious fundamentalist groups that become totally intolerant and make all-out efforts to thrust their religious beliefs on other sects or religions, even through violent means could be better termed "Religious Extremists".  These are the groups that are disrupting the peaceful co-existence of  various religions in Asia and pose a serious threat to the Church in certain countries of Asia.

II.  Aim

The aim of this workshop is to propose a vision and set goals for action for a renewed Church in Asia.

III.  Causes of the Rise of Religious Extremism

A. Global Context  With the break-up of the USSR, coupled with the Gulf War a change took place in the Muslim perception of world polarisation.  From an East-West bipolar world, the perception changed to a North-South polarisation.  The north happened to be Christian while the South, in their perception, is Muslim.  The extremist Muslims immediately took advantage of this emerging global situation to project Christianity as a threat to Islam and resorted to violence against the Christian minorities in Muslim countries.

B. Christians have become the targets of such extremist groups because, despite being a small minority, they are a very visible community because of an active and dedicated participation in development work, especially in the fields of education and health care in Asian countries.  In countries like India the upper caste Hindus feel threatened by the work of the Church in developing the low castes dalits and tribals who are being exploited by the upper castes for their own selfish motives.

C. Causes from within Christianity.  The following situations prevailing among Christians are contributing towards the animosity extremist elements feel towards Christians:

1. Recently small non-denominational Christian evangelical groups have cropped up in many Asian countries.  These Christian fundamentalists openly condemn the majority religions, like Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism in their attempts to convert people to Christianity.  The majority thus reacts violently against the Christian community as a whole.

 2. Christians have isolated themselves from the local cultures and traditions and do not participate in the festivities and celebrations of the majority.  The majority thus view them as aliens rather than as citizens and therefore feel that the Christian minority have no right to live in those countries.

 3. The Catholic Church often tends to concentrate upon social uplift work amongst its own community, thus isolating it from the mainstream.

 4. Within the Catholic community fundamentalist groups strongly oppose any change towards a renewed Church.  They want to revert to a pre-Vatican II Church.  Quite often they become vocal to the extent of dividing the community and thus paralysing the local Church preventing it from adapting to change in conformity with the needs of the times.

 Religious extremists resort to the following means to persecute Christians:

        A. Pre-planned violence.  In most cases of violence, it turns out to have been a pre-planned action, even supported by certain extremist government or state functionaries, as in the case of India and Shantinagar in Pakistan.

        B. Hate Campaigns  Literature, with a complete distortion of historical facts and packed with lies, is often distributed to justify acts of violence.

        C. Discriminatory Laws  Religious extremists, in collaboration with fundamentalist political parties, often manage to corner weak governments to promulgate laws that discriminate against religious minorities

The vision of a renewed Church should be to integrate the Christian community into the wider community of the peoples of other religious traditions rather than to isolate them, to inculcate in the community a spirit of nationalism and patriotism, to encourage  them to participate fully in the social and cultural activities at the local as well as the national level.  The Church will thus have a multiplicity of  cultures, even within the same country.

 The Church should have the vision given by Vatican II of a return to roots to draw nourishment and build a new society where Christians share the national ethos with people of all religions.  In Asia Christians live in multi-religious societies; and in all countries of Asia, except the Philippines, they are a small minority.  The Church should share with other religious leaders this vision of a return to roots, and help them to draw nourishment from their own roots in this time of globalisation which is causing wide-spread chaos and confusion among people.

VI.   Goals for Action

A. Introduce courses on culture and religions in formation houses, training centres and schools.

B. Diocesan and parish communities should work with leaders of other religious and social groups to develop common platforms of working together.

C. Participate in each other's festivals and join hands with them in solving common problems.

D. Build bridges between different Christian denominations through common prayer services, joint action for the promotion of human rights and development activities.

E. Develop and strengthen pastoral and parish councils within the next five years thus empowering various groups such as women, the youth, etc. and promoting vocations to the priesthood and the religious life.

F. Promote human rights of all people, regardless of caste, colour, creed or religion by raising our voices against all such violations.