Well, come and feel Welcome in the Church!

UK Churches to give special treatment to bald and fat people: A Church of England guidance is being issued suggesting churches should try harder to make bald and obese people feel welcome. (Times of India, Nagpur Edition, 28th July 2009, Pg. 9)

Thank God! neither Paul nor any other writers of Bible had written about baldhead and obesity telling such people will not inherit the kingdom of God, which also made the Church in England to issue a guidance (probably with out any controversy or much debate) in making bald and obese people feel welcomed into the churches. The guidance from the Church comes at a time, when discussions are geared across the globe with greater velocity, whether to accept or condemn people with different sexual orientations.

The bald headed and the obese friends would have had bitter experiences as they come to church, for some giggle at them, some look down upon them and even some mock at their physical appearances. In that backdrop, this guidance from the Church, calls on the Church and its members to be sensitive and make Churches welcome such people. Thanks to the Church of England for being sensitive to the feelings of these our friends. The percentage of population older than fifteen with a body mass-index greater than thirty is 23% in UK, which means almost a quarter of its population. Again according to a finding approximately 25 percent of men begin balding by age 30; two-thirds begin balding by age 60. There is a 4 in 7 chance of getting the baldness gene. Therefore I presume in order not to exclude such a huge population, the Church of England had to issue such a guidance to convey how inclusive is the Church today. Moreover, the gospel is all liberative and inclusive, and therefore the Church needs to welcome all people irrespective of their creed, colour, religion, sex, and even physique.

I was just wondering what does this issuance of guidance by the Church of England mean to the Churches in India? I know both the contexts of England and India are totally different, however when this news has been quoted in the secular print media in India, certainly there is an inclination for the readers of all faiths in India to attempt to imply such a guidance to the Churches in India as well. Should the Churches in India need to work hard to make bald and obese people feel welcome in its Churches? Yes, surely we need to welcome such friends, and Church can no way object them nor deject them for being bald and obese. But the Churches in India have much more pressing needs in India to address within the Church and in the wider society. People with disabilities in some Churches in India have been un-welcomed by the Churches in administering the sacraments, for the Church feels disability is a curse. Women in some Churches have been un-welcomed by the Churches to be ordained, for the Church feels God has ordained only men. People with different sexual orientations in Churches across India have been un-welcomed by the Churches, for the Church feels they are unscriptural and are perverse against the law of creation.

If all these categories of people are at one hand, the plight of a major group who have been un-welcomed by the Church are the Dalits & Tribals. Is it not startling to know that caste, a social hierarchy discriminating Dalits is alive in the Indian Church? But it is a dire reality that still exists, dominates and governs the life of the Church today. 25% of the Indian population consists of Dalits & Tribals, and the Churches in India have been deaf to the plights of these our brothers and sisters. During the times of marriages in the Church, caste plays a vital role, and marriages between caste Christians and Dalit Christians has still been a distant reality. The caste further plays its dirty politics by widening the gap between the sub-castes within the Dalits. During the times of elections within the Church, caste card plays a pivotal role, and people are elected based on their caste identities and affiliations. The plights of Dalit Christians knew no bounds, for they have been discriminated by the Church as well as by the State by not granting them equal opportunities like their other Dalit Hindus, Dalit Buddhists & Dalit Sikhs. The sensitivity of the Churches in India towards Dalits has been so minimal, and yet times even negligible. In most of the Churches, Dalit issue is non-issue and has no space in their mission agendas. Even though Dalit agenda has a space, it has always been an appendix issue or a matter of miscellaneous. When will the Churches in India issue guidance suggesting their local congregations in trying harder to make Dalit people feel welcomed? When will the Churches in India open its doors and arms to Dalits by being their friends? When will the Churches in India journey with Dalits in their struggles for justice and transformation? When will the Churches in India champion the cause of Dalits & Tribals perceiving them as not mere objects of mission but as subjects of mission?

Into that heaven of freedom my father, let my Churches in India wake up!