Christian fundamentalist Ben Zeisloft has called for tearing down Hindu mandirs or repurposing them as Churches after ‘conquering’ Bharat (India) for Christ.

Hinduphobia of Ben Zeisloft

Ben Zeisloft is the editor of the US conservative magazine The Sentinel and former author of Daily Wire. A cursory look at his Twitter profile and the articles written by Zeisloft makes it clear that he is a Christian fundamentalist. Christian fundamentalists and supremacists harbour nothing but deep-seated hatred for Hindu Dharma and non-Abrahamic faiths.

This hate is evident in Zeisloft’s tweet where he wants Bharat to be ‘conquered’ by Christianity and subsequently, Hindu mandirs to be destroyed or converted into Churches. Just like Islam, Christianity also believes in the superiority of the Christian faith and deems Dharmic faiths ‘Satanic’. No matter how much Hindu and Dharmic faiths profess the oneness of humanity, both Christianity and Islam would at best tolerate Hindus.

Christian fundamentalism and its Hinduphobia

Two important points stand out in Zeisloft’s tweet – the project to convert Bharat to Christianity and the Christian hatred for Hindu Dharma. Joshua Project uses various strategies to convert Hindus. The rampant conversion is threatening janjatis and vanvasis. Missionaries have also used deceptive inculturation by donning Hindu symbols.

While speaking during the zero hours in the parliament on 3 December 2021, Raigarh MP Gomati Sai drew the attention of the members to rampant conversion activities in her constituency in Chhattisgarh and highlighted that Christian Missionaries were a threat to internal security. She referred to the communication made by Sukma SP to his subordinates about the activities of Christian missionaries and said that it clearly shows “the dangerous situation pertaining to conversion prevailing in Bastar and Chhattisgarh at large”.

The SP had sent a letter asking his subordinates to keep track of Christian missionaries and recently converted tribals for illegal conversion activities. He had sent that letter after a church was removed for encroaching on government land in a village in Kondagaon and to prevent violence as a result of conversion. He had written that “missionaries are trying to entice and encourage local tribals for religious conversions in interiors areas” and “disputes between local tribals and converts’ community cannot be ruled out in future”.

Venkat Vutukuri, the founder of Daana Dharma, an organization working towards Ghar Vapsi, in a talk on ‘The Uncrossing’, revealed how the evangelists make their way into the tribal hamlets of India to lure them to Christianity. OpIndia says missionaries use tactics such as maligning the priest and desecrating the Grama Devata to enforce Christianity.

Zeisloft’s contempt for Hindu Mandirs and bhagwans is shared by his fellow missionaries who poison the minds of the converts. The poisoning causes these converts to desecrate Hindu mandirs and murtis. On 20 October 2022, Shiva temple located in Assam’s Dibrugarh close to Chabua Samshan was set afire. The area has seen high rates of conversion to Christianity. Locals have alleged that the incident is a result of post-conversion radicalization.

Similarly, an ancient Hindu temple was demolished in Gujarat’s Tapi and a church was constructed on the site. Hindus have also been prohibited from offering prayers. The temple was located in a village in the Songarh taluka where local Christians built a church named Mariam Mata’s Temple. These are just some of the incidents but it would suffice here to say that missionaries encourage converted Christians to desecrate and break murtis. This is because of the jaundiced lens with which Abrahamic religions view murti puja.

“Hindus think that idol is just a translation of Pratima or Murti, but this is not the case. A lot of hostile association comes automatically to Muslims and Christians when they hear this term, thanks to indoctrination in childhood. For Muslims and Christians worshipping idols is the greatest sin”, wrote Maria Wirth explaining how Islam and Christianity dehumanise Hindus by targeting murti puja.

Despite the fact that awakened Hindus are fighting back against the conversion mafia to save Dharma, Zeisloft’s statement should be viewed in terms of how Islam and Christianity decimated Africa’s traditional religions. Hindus must remain vigilant, instil Dharma among the younger generation and be a Dharmic warrior standing up to the conversion mafia.