Missionary, sons set afire
by Srimoy Kar & Bijay Chaki
BHUBANESWAR, Jan 23: The campaign against Christians, so far largely limited to Gujarat, took an ominous turn with an Australian missionary and his two sons being torched to death in Keonjhar district early this morning.
Based in Baripada since 1965, Graham Stewart Staines, 58, ran a leprosy hospital and was the secretary and treasurer of the Evangelical Missionaries Society in Mayurbhanj. Staines was sleeping in his jeep with his two sons, nine-year-old Philip and seven-year-old Timothy, when a group of 100 people allegedly poured petrol and set the vehicle ablaze. The incident occurred in Manoharpur under the Anandpur police station.
According to reports from Baripada, another Australian, Gilbert Venge, and a lecturer, Rajendra Swain, who accompanied Steins to Manoharpur, escaped as they were sleeping inside the village church. The attackers spared the church.
Subhas Chouhan, convenor of the state unit of Hindu Jagaran Samukhya, alleged that Staines was killed because he was ``proselytising.'' Sayingthat people may have killed him in a ``fit of rage,'' Chouhan said that the issue should not be communalised.
Janata Dal president Ashok Das has blamed the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad for the incident. He also criticised prime minister A B Vajpayee for giving a call for a national debate on conversions.
The incident has sent shockwaves through the Government and the Congress party. While no official word came from either, both the Home Ministry and the Congress high command are keeping a close tab.
Home Ministry sources said a report from the Orissa Government would be sought. Vajpayee has also been alerted about the incident. Meanwhile, Australian High Commission officials told The Indian Express in New Delhi that they were still awaiting details. A consular official is planning to fly to Calcutta en route to Orissa tomorrow while the High Commissioner has spoken to Home Secretary B P Singh about the incident.
This is the second incident within the last two months when Christianshave been killed in Orissa. Two undertrial prisoners, both Christian, were dragged out from prison by a tribal mob and burnt to death in front of the police at R. Udaygiri on December 8. Besides, 111 houses belonging to the community were also burnt to ashes. Sources said some villagers tried to prevent the mob from setting Staines's jeep ablaze but were chased away. It was regular for Staines to spend the night in the jeep whenever he was on tour, sources said. Staines, described by local residents as ``popular and affable'' was well known for his charity work. He had gone to Monaharpur yesterday afternoon to attend a camp organised by the local church. He is survived by his wife Glades and daughter Easter, 13, both of whom were at Baripada.
Glades said she was ``greatly shocked but not angry.'' She is believed to have told the Australian High Commission that she and her daughter ``are not stranded in Baripada and the locals are sympathetic.'' The funeral is scheduled for tomorrow.
Prayer halls attacked
A group of about 25 persons attacked two prayer halls in tribal-dominated Doswada village under Songadh rural police station in Surat on Friday evening.
According to the police, the miscreants destroyed furniture, musical instruments and walls of the prayer halls managed by the governing bodies of the Indian National Gospel Churches Federation and Good News Ministries Churches of Northern India for the last one decade.
The University of Nebraska made it to the Rose Bowl this year. Although they were crushed by Miami, Nebraska for decades has been one of the premier teams in college football. So it is little wonder that its coaches are always in demand at some of the more prestigious universities in the nation.
Nebraska Assistant Coach Ron Brown was recruited by Stanford University in California to be interviewed for the head coaching position. But Brown didn't get very far. Surely he was not discriminated against because he is black. Not at liberal Stanford. No, his race was not a deal breaker. Indeed, it was likely an asset. Ron Brown's problem at Stanford is that he is a Christian.
Alan Glenn, Assistant Athletic Director at Stanford told the Daily Nebraskan that Brown's religion "was definitely something that had to be considered. We're a very diverse community with a diverse alumni. Anything that would stand out that much is something that has to be looked at...."
Courtney Wooten, the Director of the Queer Straight Social and Political Alliance, told the University of Nebraska student newspaper: "He would be poorly received by the student body in general."
Brown, himself, said he didn't know how he would fit in at Stanford. "The truth is the truth," Brown said, "I don't believe you compromise any truth for whatever job." Ironically, Brown's wife earned a degree from Stanford and his niece has just been admitted there. "If I'd been discriminated against for being Black, they never would have told me that. They had no problem telling me it was because of my Christian beliefs."
Brown, who holds a bachelor's degree from Brown University in Providence, R.I., and a Master's degree from Columbia University in New York City, says "the source of truth is the Bible." Specifically, Brown has said that homosexuality is not Biblically correct.
That led Courtney Wooten to advise that there would be a "huge number" of football players who would be uncomfortable with Brown's views on homosexuality. According to sophomore Julie Fitzgerald, Stanford is a "queer friendly campus." She added that Brown would not fit in very well at Stanford. "If someone with those views came onto campus, there would be a lot of activism about those views."
The Brown episode illustrates once again that the only discrimination that can be tolerated these days is discrimination against Christians. Stanford prides itself in being in the vanguard of institutions which value "inclusion" and "diversity." Their faculty has been out front fighting Ward Connerly in his attempt to bring colorblind admission policies to California public education. But when it comes to an outspoken Christian, there is no room at the inn.
Fortunately Brown, even after 15 years, is still welcome at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, which is easily the most liberal city in Nebraska. Even when Brown revealed some of his more controversial religious views on a Christian radio talk show in 1999, his job was not in jeopardy.
Does this mean, however, that people with Biblically based religious views need to be confined to a certain part of the country?
The voices on the Stanford campus that can whip up a demonstration against alleged racial or ethnic (even anti-Muslim) discrimination in a matter of minutes have been silent regarding Brown. It is perfectly acceptable to discriminate against people whose views are not politically correct.
Brown said it is ironic that a prestigious school founded on religious principles is no longer welcoming to born again Christians. "They seemed to have no notion of squelching or eliminating one because of his representation of Jesus Christ." Brown remarked.
Ryan Wilkins, the President of the Association of Students at the University of Nebraska, told the Daily Nebraskan, "The Stanford decision sends a dangerous message." Wilkins added: "He's a football coach. Judge him on whether his players play well on the field, whether his players respect him or whether his players graduate. Don't hire or disrespect a man because he carries a Bible in his suitcase."
Well said, but not acceptable at Stanford, where politically correct views are more important than Brown's ability to coach.