Professor T.K. Oomen, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, in his article titled "Evolving the Real Nation", published in The Hindu dated July 18^th, 1999, writes,

"…there has been unprecedented violence against them in the last one year. It is not true that there was no anti-Christian violence in the past. But they were few and far between. In the last 50 years there have been only 50 instances of physical violence against Christians. But in the last one year there have been 110 cases of atrocities against them, the ostensible reason being that they are indulging in coercive conversion…."

We all remember the brutal murders of missionary Staines and his sons. Professor Oomen also writes,

"…a section of Hindu nationalists, particularly those who belong to the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Shiva Sena and the Bajrang Dal consider some 140 million Indian citizens who follow faiths of alien origin, as outsiders to Indian society, not merely denizens…"

Recently the alliance of the present ruling party in Tamilnadu with the BJP has raised concerns that these communal elements would use this opportunity to strengthen themselves in the state. Wasting no time these forces organized a full day meeting on July 17^th, 1999 in the Naradha Gana Sabha on TTK road in Mylapore, Chennai, India. Major Hindu religious and political leaders attended it and the key theme presented was, ‘Conversion is Violence on Hindus and Hinduism’. Interesting!

On hearing about this, I decided to distribute my tracts (Avatar and Sanskrit) in the evening on TTK Road outside Naradha Gana Sabha. As expected within 30 minutes I was taken into Police custody and my tracts were confiscated. They questioned me for some time while they discussed the situation with their superiors. I was then taken to E3 Police station in Teynampet where I was asked to give a statement (given below) and I was released. The following statement was given addressed to the Inspector of Police,

Sir,

On 17/7/99 at around 8:30 pm I was distributing my tracts on TTK road outside Naradha Gana Sabha. At that point I was stopped by the Police and brought to E3 Police Station. I am a Christian Missionary and my key intention is to share with Hindus the great influence of Christianity on Hinduism. I have heard that many feel that Christianity is a threat to Hinduism, whereas Christianity has greatly influenced Hinduism. This is reflected in my tracts. My only intention is to prevent communal strife by education. This statement was taken at 10 pm and I was sent home.

Sincerely
Alexander Harris

This was an interesting and educational experience for me. Certainly the communal forces are wasting no time in infiltrating Tamilnadu and are unquestionably jittery of Christians and the Gospel. Without Christian syncretism, Hinduism is nothing but superstition, meaningless philosophy and idolatry, and for centuries these communal elements have deceived the world that these doctrines have been there in Hinduism before Christ and thus Christianity was birthed from Hinduism. However today God has equipped His people to tear down these strongholds.

This experience on the 17^th has given me some leading for the future, and for this I covet your prayers. One of the thoughts on my heart is to confront these communal elements in their public meetings when they falsely speak obscene things. For example Jesus Christ is described as a prostitute’s son. Another example is that Christians spread AIDS through their activities in Church, etc. I intend to use the principle of my arrest on the 17^th and the laws of the land in this effort to confront these elements.