Clarion 1978-11-03 Vol 54 No 07 Page 1 |
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See 1959 Nik Dag 011 page 4 Bethel CoIle e St. Paul, MN Vol. 54. No. 6 November 3 1978 Nissis suffer persecution About 5,000 Nissi Christians from Arunachal Pradesh, north-east India, are about to lose their freedom of religion. In a recent bill passed by the government of Arunachal Pradesh, it will be legal to punish anyone who changes their reli-gion. This bill is awaiting the signature of the President of India before it becomes law in Aruna-chal. The bill seeks to prohibit the use of "fraud" and "induce-ment" in the process of conver-sion. But the way the bill is worded, preaching of the con-sequences of sin, judgment and hell can be interpreted as "force." And the preaching of the re-wards of faith (except other non- Christian religions) can be inter-preted as offers of gifts, and therefore, "inducement." Conversion will be punishable with two years of imprisonment and a fine up to $1250. Any failure to report conversion will be punishable with imprisonment for one year and/or a fine up to $125. If the bill is passed, all the Nissi Christians will lose their freedom of religion which is guaranteed by the constitution of India. But the rest of the Christians in India still have their freedom. The Nissis are a special case because they live in a more primitive area. The government has isolated them from the rest of by Betty Logan If a student was termed "politi-cally active" ten years ago, the connotation would be one of rad-icalism and demonstrations. This definition won't stand today, as students who are active politically usually work within the esta-blished structure. A new emphasis has been put on politics in the Bethel commun-ity this year. There has developed an effort to expose candidates to the student body through pro-motion of their platforms, and visits to the campus. Two Bethel students involved in promotion of political cam-paigns are Tami Forsline and Steve Hoswell. Tami is a sup-porter of Wendy Anderson, and is currently working at his campaign headquarters in the Twin Cities. As co-chairman of the Students for Quie effort, Steve presents Al Quie to the Bethel community. India for fear that they will be exploited. Conversion to Christianity is discouraged because Christianity is considered to be a foreign religion, and therefore a foreign culture.- Some have accused Christ of being a political figure. If Christ was God, they claim, he would not have died. So the people in charge of Arunachal's administration cleverly rationalize that freedom of religion will upset people and cause riots. But this has not _stopped the Nissi church from growing. The Nissis are still one of the most responsive people to the gospel in India. This is not the first time the Nissis have faced persecution. In April 1974, a massive anti- Christian campaign was launched in Arunachal. Churches and homes of Christians were looted and burned. Local hoodlums were hired to harass Christians. Sev-eral Christian leaders were kid-napped and beaten. Homeless Nissi Christians fled to the dense jungles of Assam, a neighboring state. When Chris-tians in that area heard of the plight of the Nissis, they quickly donated food and clothes. Some churches organized prayer meet-ings for the Nissis. Outraged by the violence and injustice, Christians in India raised their voices on behalf of the Nissis. Prominent Christian Both students deeply believe in the candidates they support. Al-though Steve doesn't support Quie because he is a Christian, he claims that. Quie is a prime example of what a Christian should be in politics. Hoswell believes that Quie is dedicated to honest politics. "I don't disagree with any of the fundamentals of his campiagn," said Hoswell. "Anderson't the one I'd like to see in Washington," said Tami. She spent interim of her freshman year working in the Anderson office in Washington D.C., and feels he is the best man for the job. Tami sees Anderson as having all the qualifications needed for representing Minnesota in Wash-ington, including the experience of working there. The only major disagreement leaders met with the Prime Mini-ster (the political head of the country) and asked her to stop the persecution. In spite of all this, the Nissis remained unshakeably firm in their faith. Nor did anyone retal-iate. All this happened before the Nissis had any part of the Bible printed in their language. They now have the gospel of Luke in their language and the gospel of John is on its way. Seven more books are being pre-pared: Acts, Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, James and 1 & 2 Peter. When the persecution finally stopped, the Nissis returned to their ravaged homes, but tension prevailed. Several restrictions were placed on Christians, especially the leaders. For instance, one leader was told that he would be killed if he preached in another village. His persecutors would report that a tiger had killed him. Even though the new bill is not in effect yet, persecution has already begun. Likha Taka, the Paul of the Nissis, was kidnapped and tortured for a week. He, along with some other men were tied to posts and beaten cruelly. They were then told to sign a bond renouncing their faith. But when they refused, their persecutors took their hands and cont. on page 6 she has with Anderson campaign, is his stand on women's rights. "He just has not taken a strong enough stand," said Forsline. On campus, both Steve and Tami are trying to expose the quality of their respective can-didates, and encourage students to become politically aware. Getting the candidates here on campus was a big part of their Bethel effort. "I'm glad both parties have had opportunity to come," said Tami. "We need to have the different sides presented to cultivate responsible " voters here at Bethel." Steve works here on campus through the Quie headquarters, getting the Quie name and litera-ture out to students. Tami is working at the Anderson head-quarters. She has been mainly working on mailing lists and letters, and has just started on the phone bank, which runs until election. by Kriste Ericsson Two weeks ago Dr. Donald Larson, professor of linguistics and anthropology, was in the Philippines to speaking at the Urban Evangelism Strategy Con-ference, held by the Southern Baptist Convention. Steve and Tami both feel It is important for Christians to be politically aware and involved. "Since we are Christians," said Steve, "it's logical for us to set the standards for others. One major way is through govern-ment." Tami sees the Christian's poor record of political involvement as something that has to change. "We should be in control of what happens to us," she said. "We should shape our government the way we want it." Both students want to stay involved in politics throughout their lives. Steve hopes to some-day have a career in political management, possibly on the na-tional level. "Involvement begins on a per-sonal level," said Tami. "It's when you decide this is important or that something needs to be done." Conference leaders and Ameri-can missionaries from many of the surrounding Asian countries attended. Its purpose was to give them experience in observing urban communities and deter-mining whether a community would be open to some type of Christian service. Dr. Larson came away quite impressed. "If we knew half as much as the Asians about urban evange-lism, our ministries would be much better off," he commented. Dr. Larson gave five lectures on cross-cultural communication in urban settings, served as a panel member in several discussions, and acted as a consultant and analyst of field-work experience. He also advised missionaries on their language problems, and visited the International Langu-age School in Manila, where he lectured to the faculty and stu-dents. On the way home he stopped in Tokyo, where he met with the board of directors of the Japan Missionary Language Institute and listened to their problems and made suggestions. He also advised new Southern Baptist missionaries who had just started studying Japanese. "The key word in my job is `de-alienation, "'he said. ", try to help the missionaries understanu what aspects of their alienation they have to lose in order to be accepted by the people." Dr. Donald Larson, professor of Linguistics and anthropology, recently spoke to American Missionaries and BGC leaders in a conference held in the Philippines. Larson visits Philippines, lectures on communications Bethel students participate in election campaign
Object Description
Description
Title | Clarion 1978-11-03 Vol 54 No 07 Page 1 |
Edition (Vol. No.) | Vol. 54 No. 7 |
Date Published | November 03 1978 |
Decade | 1970 |
Academic Year | 1978 - 1979 |
Digital Publisher | Bethel University |
Transcript | See 1959 Nik Dag 011 page 4 Bethel CoIle e St. Paul, MN Vol. 54. No. 6 November 3 1978 Nissis suffer persecution About 5,000 Nissi Christians from Arunachal Pradesh, north-east India, are about to lose their freedom of religion. In a recent bill passed by the government of Arunachal Pradesh, it will be legal to punish anyone who changes their reli-gion. This bill is awaiting the signature of the President of India before it becomes law in Aruna-chal. The bill seeks to prohibit the use of "fraud" and "induce-ment" in the process of conver-sion. But the way the bill is worded, preaching of the con-sequences of sin, judgment and hell can be interpreted as "force." And the preaching of the re-wards of faith (except other non- Christian religions) can be inter-preted as offers of gifts, and therefore, "inducement." Conversion will be punishable with two years of imprisonment and a fine up to $1250. Any failure to report conversion will be punishable with imprisonment for one year and/or a fine up to $125. If the bill is passed, all the Nissi Christians will lose their freedom of religion which is guaranteed by the constitution of India. But the rest of the Christians in India still have their freedom. The Nissis are a special case because they live in a more primitive area. The government has isolated them from the rest of by Betty Logan If a student was termed "politi-cally active" ten years ago, the connotation would be one of rad-icalism and demonstrations. This definition won't stand today, as students who are active politically usually work within the esta-blished structure. A new emphasis has been put on politics in the Bethel commun-ity this year. There has developed an effort to expose candidates to the student body through pro-motion of their platforms, and visits to the campus. Two Bethel students involved in promotion of political cam-paigns are Tami Forsline and Steve Hoswell. Tami is a sup-porter of Wendy Anderson, and is currently working at his campaign headquarters in the Twin Cities. As co-chairman of the Students for Quie effort, Steve presents Al Quie to the Bethel community. India for fear that they will be exploited. Conversion to Christianity is discouraged because Christianity is considered to be a foreign religion, and therefore a foreign culture.- Some have accused Christ of being a political figure. If Christ was God, they claim, he would not have died. So the people in charge of Arunachal's administration cleverly rationalize that freedom of religion will upset people and cause riots. But this has not _stopped the Nissi church from growing. The Nissis are still one of the most responsive people to the gospel in India. This is not the first time the Nissis have faced persecution. In April 1974, a massive anti- Christian campaign was launched in Arunachal. Churches and homes of Christians were looted and burned. Local hoodlums were hired to harass Christians. Sev-eral Christian leaders were kid-napped and beaten. Homeless Nissi Christians fled to the dense jungles of Assam, a neighboring state. When Chris-tians in that area heard of the plight of the Nissis, they quickly donated food and clothes. Some churches organized prayer meet-ings for the Nissis. Outraged by the violence and injustice, Christians in India raised their voices on behalf of the Nissis. Prominent Christian Both students deeply believe in the candidates they support. Al-though Steve doesn't support Quie because he is a Christian, he claims that. Quie is a prime example of what a Christian should be in politics. Hoswell believes that Quie is dedicated to honest politics. "I don't disagree with any of the fundamentals of his campiagn," said Hoswell. "Anderson't the one I'd like to see in Washington," said Tami. She spent interim of her freshman year working in the Anderson office in Washington D.C., and feels he is the best man for the job. Tami sees Anderson as having all the qualifications needed for representing Minnesota in Wash-ington, including the experience of working there. The only major disagreement leaders met with the Prime Mini-ster (the political head of the country) and asked her to stop the persecution. In spite of all this, the Nissis remained unshakeably firm in their faith. Nor did anyone retal-iate. All this happened before the Nissis had any part of the Bible printed in their language. They now have the gospel of Luke in their language and the gospel of John is on its way. Seven more books are being pre-pared: Acts, Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, James and 1 & 2 Peter. When the persecution finally stopped, the Nissis returned to their ravaged homes, but tension prevailed. Several restrictions were placed on Christians, especially the leaders. For instance, one leader was told that he would be killed if he preached in another village. His persecutors would report that a tiger had killed him. Even though the new bill is not in effect yet, persecution has already begun. Likha Taka, the Paul of the Nissis, was kidnapped and tortured for a week. He, along with some other men were tied to posts and beaten cruelly. They were then told to sign a bond renouncing their faith. But when they refused, their persecutors took their hands and cont. on page 6 she has with Anderson campaign, is his stand on women's rights. "He just has not taken a strong enough stand," said Forsline. On campus, both Steve and Tami are trying to expose the quality of their respective can-didates, and encourage students to become politically aware. Getting the candidates here on campus was a big part of their Bethel effort. "I'm glad both parties have had opportunity to come," said Tami. "We need to have the different sides presented to cultivate responsible " voters here at Bethel." Steve works here on campus through the Quie headquarters, getting the Quie name and litera-ture out to students. Tami is working at the Anderson head-quarters. She has been mainly working on mailing lists and letters, and has just started on the phone bank, which runs until election. by Kriste Ericsson Two weeks ago Dr. Donald Larson, professor of linguistics and anthropology, was in the Philippines to speaking at the Urban Evangelism Strategy Con-ference, held by the Southern Baptist Convention. Steve and Tami both feel It is important for Christians to be politically aware and involved. "Since we are Christians," said Steve, "it's logical for us to set the standards for others. One major way is through govern-ment." Tami sees the Christian's poor record of political involvement as something that has to change. "We should be in control of what happens to us," she said. "We should shape our government the way we want it." Both students want to stay involved in politics throughout their lives. Steve hopes to some-day have a career in political management, possibly on the na-tional level. "Involvement begins on a per-sonal level," said Tami. "It's when you decide this is important or that something needs to be done." Conference leaders and Ameri-can missionaries from many of the surrounding Asian countries attended. Its purpose was to give them experience in observing urban communities and deter-mining whether a community would be open to some type of Christian service. Dr. Larson came away quite impressed. "If we knew half as much as the Asians about urban evange-lism, our ministries would be much better off," he commented. Dr. Larson gave five lectures on cross-cultural communication in urban settings, served as a panel member in several discussions, and acted as a consultant and analyst of field-work experience. He also advised missionaries on their language problems, and visited the International Langu-age School in Manila, where he lectured to the faculty and stu-dents. On the way home he stopped in Tokyo, where he met with the board of directors of the Japan Missionary Language Institute and listened to their problems and made suggestions. He also advised new Southern Baptist missionaries who had just started studying Japanese. "The key word in my job is `de-alienation, "'he said. ", try to help the missionaries understanu what aspects of their alienation they have to lose in order to be accepted by the people." Dr. Donald Larson, professor of Linguistics and anthropology, recently spoke to American Missionaries and BGC leaders in a conference held in the Philippines. Larson visits Philippines, lectures on communications Bethel students participate in election campaign |
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