WORKING WITH COMMUNITIES

GLOBAL COUNCIL OF INDIAN CHRISTIANS (GCIC)

Engaged in the advocacy for freedom of faith and justice

The great preamble to the Indian Constitution solemnly resolves to constitute India into a pluralistic society ensuring that every culture thrives and makes religious tolerance the foundation of secularism in our nation.

THE PEOPLE OF INDIA through the constitution have solemnly resolved to “constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:
JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;
and to promote among them all
FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation”

The Global Council of Indian Christians was established with the endeavour to protect and preserve the constitutional guarantee to all persons to profess, practice and propagate the religion of their choice, to scrupulously restrain the state from making any discrimination on the grounds of religion and to help every section of society especially the least privileged to assert their own rights.

From the outset, our endeavour was to be proactive instead of reactive with regards to the interests of the Indian community and other minorities, including Dalits, tribals and other backward communities. We aimed at getting committed, talented individuals who would be ready to put their energies together and safeguard the interests of the church and its activities through every constitutional means available.

Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) is a registered non-profit organization headquartered in Bangalore.

Following the call of God in Proverbs 31:8, 9 to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves, defend the rights of those who are poor, needy and destitute, GCIC seeks to voice the concerns and difficulties faced by those who are not able to practice their faith freely in the country. Joining hands with existing national and international bodies like Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI), National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), UIC, PFI Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations of North America (FIACONA), ICF and others, GCIC is committed to collaborating and complimenting with other supporters of the universal church.

Observing the recent and accelerating trend of religious fundamentalists in Indian society, GCIC has been true to its mission of advocacy of freedom of faith and continually lobbies agencies and people responsible at the local and national levels for upholding and implementing the constitutional guarantees and Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

GCIC’s motto is to protect and assert the rights of the Indian Christian community in relation to the national issues that impact them. In light of the recent increased attacks launched against the Christian community, GCIC feels that the vulnerability of Christians has been exposed and wants to be ready and proactive in every measure that needs to be taken.

Prayer letters prepared by GCIC are received by concerned Christians worldwide and media houses. The response to this communication has been overwhelmingly positive.

Activities

Advocacy: GCIC has volunteers from across the country who ensure that all stories of attacks against Christians reach the head office. These stories are published on the GCIC website with regular updates. In addition to this, press releases are sent to the media whenever any atrocity of a great magnitude occurs and this enables people to be more aware of fundamentalist attacks on the faith in India. GCIC stories are often picked up by the international Christian press and released worldwide for a greater network of support and prayer for the church in India.

Intervention: GCIC has established various points of contact in each state in India. These contacts are accessible to all churches across the nation. As soon as there is an attack on an individual or a church, these coordinators are informed and immediately they provide legal help and any other practical help required – sometimes this is hospitalization, or intervention with the local police etc. Lawyers are contacted and the coordinators ensure that those arrested without any reason are safe and get released at the earliest. These coordinators also send messages to the GCIC network and immediately prayer for the persecuted victims is mobilized.
GCIC is in constant touch with national and international agencies and the various governments. Among a few of its collaborators are:
National Commission of Minorities (NCM)
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)
State Minority and Human Rights Commissions

Prayer: GCIC has a national network of prayer partners who are engaged in intercession for the peace and prosperity of our nation and people.
GCIC also has a 24-hour prayer helpline that ensures that any urgent prayer request is immediately taken and prayed for.
In addition to this, GCIC also brings out a magazine every month that gives prayers points. This magazine is sent out to various Christian institutions, eminent persons, churches and lay Christians around the country.

Encouraging: Every year GCIC organizes a country-wide meet of the persecuted in the church in India. At this meeting, many are encouraged as they learn that they are not alone in their faith and they pray together and learn to forgive their attackers.
The monthly magazine and 24-hour helpline also provide much needed encouragement to those who call in distress.

Outreach: When a coordinator establishes contact with a pastor in a certain locality in order to intervene in a persecution case, the contact is maintained. Bible distribution and distribution of other translated Christian literature is organized by GCIC. GCIC is at the forefront of dialogue with people of other faiths in order to remove misconceptions about Christianity and share the love of Jesus with all.
GCIC has also taken the lead in bringing youth into assertive action programs for communal harmony.

Special Projects: A unique program Mother Teresa Save a Million Lives has been set up by GCIC to enlist a million blood donors through school and college children in cooperation with the leading educational institutes.
Viswa Deepam (Universal Light) promotes education for the needy under the United Indian Churches of which GCIC is a part.

Needs

GCIC is in urgent need of a team of legal experts who can take up the cause of the community effectively.

A team of eminent lawyers and jurists is being put together to work on matters pf constitutional justice for GCIC correspondents and volunteers who may be facing harassment and arbitrary action from government officials. It has been proposed that a battery of well-qualified and eminent lawyers from the High Courts and the Supreme Court be constituted for taking up various issues. GCIC will also network with other Human Rights organizations and NGO’s who are working for protecting various human rights.

There has been little or no progress in highlighting atrocities against Christians and bringing perpetrators to justice. The time when we as a community can just be passive observers while members of our own community are being murdered, raped, attacked and terrorized is over. We must act in Christ’s love along with the constitutional rights we have in our nation.

Milestones
 11th Nov 1998 India’s biggest ever Christian protest march in recent times organized in Bangalore against persecution of Christians.

 Delegations to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Home Minister Mr. L K Advani and to President K R Narayanan.

 Investigation team sent for fact-finding on atrocities against Christians to Mangalore, Mysore, Orissa, New Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai.

 Visit to Manoharpur immediately after re-conversion of tribal Christians by His Holiness Puri Shankaracharya.

 Visit to His Holiness Puri Shankaracharya to initiate a peace process in the wake of attacks against Christians.

 Joining national level dialogue with RSS in conjunction with NCCI and CBCI.

 Challenged Orissa Freedom Religion Act at NHRC and UN Human Rights commission at Durban, South Africa.

 Got NHRC to take action against state and central government for starvation deaths in the tribal villages of Orissa and Kerala.

 GCIC instrumented through NHRC in abolishing the discrimination in relief being provided to minorities in Gujarat and Orissa during super cyclone and earth quake. Social boycott of Christians in Periapatnam was legally lifted off through the intervention of NHRC.

 The Global Council of Indian Christians urges Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to use his influence over the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its affiliates in order to restrain cadre members from vitiating the atmosphere with what appears to be its communal agenda.

 GCIC was instrumental in the identification of 13 persons allegedly belonging to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the BJP for the attack on Missionaries of Charity near Calicut on September 25.

 The Global Council of Indian Christians has expressed concern over the renewed activities of communal forces, the latest manifestation of which was the attack on two groups of sisters and brothers belonging to the order of the Missionaries of Charity.

 The Global Council has drawn attention to repeated attack on churches, disruption of worship services and other forms of harassment indulged in by miscreants obsessed with religious hatred.

 GCIC documented over 1000 incidents of major attacks against Christians and submitted them to various government bodies for intervention and action. National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India on receipt of GCIC documentation, responded by ordering special investigations in Orissa and Karnataka.
 150 victims of atrocities in Orissa were paraded in front of the Parliament of India.
 Victims of atrocities of Martyrs family members are gathered for spiritual enrichment and mutual encouragement on an annual basis.

Encouraged by positive feedback GCIC moves on

According to the spokesperson of GCIC, “The tremendous interest shown in GCIC for its various initiatives in solving major problems faced by the Christian community was appreciated through letters and telephone calls from many churches and organizations from all parts of India, affirming that the formation of GCIC has become a significant sign for us to move forward. GCIC now represents a vast and increasing constituency across the nation”.

GCIC also seeks to encourage the continuation of the dialogue started by the Catholic Bishops Conference of India and the National Council of Churches with the RSS.

Rev. Dr. Gana Robinson, Chairman, Peace Trust, Kanyakumari, said GCIC and the Trust would organize regional meets to promote inter-faith conferences in different States from November.

“We want to encourage and enlarge the scope of dialogue among different communities for peace and harmony”, he added.

Merits and Limitations

Merits: As a advocacy council, GCIC petitions NHRC, NCM and also the State Minority Commissions whenever, the rights of the minority communities have been infringed upon and where ever there have been violations against the human rights of individuals, communities and institutions.

In the case of Dalits and Tribals, GCIC has been a trailblazer in providing advocacy to this marginalized section of society, providing legal avenues to ensure their assimilation into main stream of Indian society.

GCIC has been involved at the grassroot levels in helping the cause of the Dalits and Tribals of India. Dalits have had to endure social stigma for centuries, because of the cursed hierarchy caste system, which places them at he lowest rung of the social order, and compels the Dalits to endure humiliation and violence, by upper castes who blatantly show a total disregard for law or any respect for human or constitutional rights.

Limitations: Given the large percentage of Dalits and Tribals in the country, the logistics of providing advocacy to them all is mind-boggling. One of the major demerits is the financial constraint that hinders GCIC from complete rehabilitation of the cases.

Seeking legal redressal of cases in the Supreme Cournt, is rarely possible, because of prohibitive costs.

In the case of a violation against Dalits and Tribals, these marginalized communities are most often wary of acts of reprisals and vengeance by the majority community and often refrain from testifying in court against their aggressors. In such instances, GCIC advocates security in the judicial cases of the Dalits and Tribals.

Networking is another lacunae. Organizations and Non-governmental agencies working in similar areas often refuse to share information and are reluctant to network with other agencies and this is a deterrent in the rehabilitation of the Dalit and Tribal community.

United Christians, express your concerns in spite of our theological and cultural differences, especially glorifying the great plans of our mighty God at the times of persecution.

• Christians are already one in spirit. John 17:20-23; Rom 8:9; 1 Cor 1:12,13; Gal 3:28; Eph 4:3-6
• Unity was apparent during the first days of the Church. Acts 2:44,46; 4:32; 5:12.
• Our love for each other identifies us as Y'shua's disciples. John 13:35.
• What does the Bible say about denominations? Do we say we are Catholics, Protestants, Baptists, Newlife etc? Or should we just call ourselves Christians? 1 Cor 1:10-13; 3:1-4
• What should we think if some other denomination is properly and successfully preaching the Good News? Luke 9:49,50.
• What should be our response if someone is preaching the Good News with impure motives? Phil 1:15-18

Please add the country and name of your organization/church/group.