In another inhumane incident from Tamil Nadu, a Christian man was denied burial space because he didn’t pay church subscriptions regularly. His corpse was buried after authorities intervened and ‘advised’ his family to pay subscription regularly. Recently there was another similar incident in which a Christian man wasn’t allowed to be buried in a church cemetery as his son married a Hindu girl.
Sengol, a 75-year-old Christian man from Thondi, Ramanathapuram was denied burial as fellow Christians opposed it. They alleged that Sengol didn’t pay the subscription amount for festivals conducted at the St Sebastian Church in the village regularly. A Dinamalar report says that they cited this as the reason for stopping his burial at the ‘public cemetery’ in the village.
Deputy Tehsildar, Thondi Inspector, Revenue Officer, Village Administrative Officer and other government authorities held peace talks with the villagers to allow Sengol’s burial. They ‘advised’ Sengol’s family to pay the subscription regularly in the future. As they agreed to it his corpse was allowed to be buried in the ‘public cemetery’.
Curiously there are no other reports about the incident. The mainstream media which would have had a field day if it was a Hindu being denied access to burial or cremation has hardly reported this incident. It would have attributed the inhumane act to Hindu Dharma calling it a regressive incident with leftists and Abrahamists taking it to international forums. While Christians outcasting families for not paying church subscriptions or marrying Hindus isn’t a new phenomenon, (if the Dinamalar report is to be believed) denying access to even public cemeteries shows how Christianity has fanaticised converts.
Recently, a Christian man and his family were banished from their village after he helped an altar boy, who was sexually assaulted by the parish priest, file a complaint against him. He had to petition the collector to seek relief from constant harassment from fellow Christian villagers.
In another incident, a Christian man was denied burial space in the church cemetery as his son married a Hindu woman. They were secluded from society, denied entry into the local church and were asked to fall at the feet of ‘elders’ of the village in public to reconcile. When the father died, the church committee refused to allow a funeral saying that the son violated their code by marrying a Hindu girl.
Only after the son threatened to take a legal course, did police and local authorities got involved and ‘solved’ the issue through ‘peace talks’. Even then ‘elders’ who constituted the church committee said that allowing the father’s burial didn’t mean the family could reconcile. The concerned family and others including the Hindu daughter-in-law belong to a Scheduled Caste.
In other news, ‘Dalit’ Christians of a village in Trichy district have been protesting against untouchability in their parish church for decades with no respite. They aren’t allowed to take part in festivals or be a part of the church administration. When they complained about not being included in festivals, priests and other Christians claimed to the Collector that they assumed that ‘Dalit Christians’ won’t have enough money to pay for subscriptions. In this issue also the district collector held talks with both parties instead of taking action against the church for practising untouchability.
Readers should recall how the DMK government took over, closed temples and stopped festivals on accusations of being denied entry into temples. The temples were closed even before proper investigations were held and the media announced the other party guilty. Debates raged on for weeks following such incidents. But there is hardly any peep from the media about systematic oppression in the Christian community.
With more and more such news coming to light thanks to social media, church apologists like Thol Thirumavalavan, a Lok Sabha MP and an ally of DMK, have started to claim that jati has crept into other religions and spoiled them. Despite being the chief of a ‘Dalit’ party VCK he strives to save the church instead of working to ensure equal rights for converted Christians facing oppression. Thirumavalavan and DMK have been insisting on listing ‘Dalit’ Christians as SCs when even among Christians of the same caste there is no equality.
