Merry Christmas Explained

Barry Nirmal , December 14, 2002.

(Feedback of readers are at the end of this essay.)

A few days ago I sent a message to some 400 people on my mailing list wishing them merry Christmas and a happy new year.

One Hindu recipient of this message sent me the following terse reply:

"Wishing for Christmas is offensive to any non-Christian . I will suggest to take my name out of this wish list please."

I wish to explain this issue in detail. I am the director of Hindu Prayer Society Inc. which publishes the web site, www.hindutemplehouston.net. Our philosophy as published on this web site is as follows:

We believe in the validity of all peace-loving, tolerant religions. But this does not mean that we agree with all the beliefs, practices, and principles of the various religions.
We believe that there is only one God named differently by different religions. This God is named and interpreted differently by different religions. Let us give an analogy. Just as water is called "agua" in Spanish, "jala" in Sanskrit, "pani" in Hindi, "aab" in Urdu, God is called "God" by the Christians, "Allah" by the Muslims, "Krishna" or "Rama" by the Hindus. If visitors from different countries were to assemble in a city in the hot summer, some would ask for "pani" some would ask for "aab" and so on. But they would all be asking for the same thing. In the same way when people need God in times of need, Hindus pray to Brahman, or Rama, or Krishna, Christians pray to God through Jesus, and Muslims pray to God whom they call Allah. All are praying to the same one God.

In keeping with this philosophy, we think that people should participate in the religious festivities of their friends of other faiths. This is what was taught to me when I was growing up in secular India right after India’s independence from Britain in 1947. In my village our Muslim friends used to visit us during our festivals to congratulate us and we used to visit our Muslim friends to congratulate them on the occasion of their festivals.

It is a fact that there are Christians extremists who think that Hindus and Muslims believe in false gods. Similarly there are many Islamic extremists who believe that non Muslims have false religious beliefs. And we also have Hindu extremists who hold extremist and bigoted views.

But this does not means that we enlightened and educated Hindus should start saying that Christians or Muslims believe in false gods.

This kind of extremist thinking does not solve any problem.

Religious tolerance is a hallmark of American society. It is the utmost duty of every person who lives in America to foster in their children respect for other religions and for other races. The only correct thinking is to judge a person by his merit and not by his race, religion or gender.

A person does not become superior due to his race, religion or gender. A person who has respect for all religions and who is an opponent of racism is far superior to one who is bigoted or who believes in the superiority of his own religion, gender or race.

Apart from the above message of tolerance and mutual understanding, it is a known fact that the Hindus are a small minority in the U.S. The minority community should be careful not to antagonize the majority community. It is easy for the majority community to persecute the minority community, as happened during the reign of Adolph Hitler in Nazi Germany.

*** The End ***

P.S. Please send your feedback on this essay to me at nirmalb@hotmail.com

*** The End ***

Feedback from some readers are as follows:

Ms. Beaty Lewis writes from Houston:

I personally appreciated your kind holiday message and realized the spirit in which it was sent. As a lifelong Christian, I still explore other beliefs and look for the ideas there that will expand my thinking and enhance my life. Much in the Hindu beliefs has proven of value in my everyday living, and yes, there is one God - Beaty

Ms. Pat Hebert writes from Houston:

thank you for sending me this essay. I believe you have explained your beliefs in an very heart warming way. I also believe tolerance of all religions is vital to our world peace and wish more people felt like you do. Please continue to spread your good will. Pat Hebert

Rathna and Anil Kumar write from Houston:

Dear Mr. Nirmal, I am surprised that in this day and age, and with a solid education behind him (or so I gather, because he is in this country), this person can be so bigoted and narrow minded. I am so glad my parents raised me liberally. Some of my closest friends have been Christians, and I have attended many a Midnight Mass with them, at Easter and Christmas. This not only helped to strengthen my belief in my own religion, Hinduism, but also taught me religious tolerance and understanding. I feel sorry for this man with such a closed mind.

Rathna anil and rathna kumar

One person, who did not give her name, wrote as follows:

This is regarding the email about someone that was offended for having been sent a christmas greeting. While I dont agree with their stand, I also dont agree with several comments about Hinduism in your response. As a second generation Hindu in this country it is hard enough explaining to non-Hindus that we dont believe in many gods. When you state the muslims ask for "allah" and Christains for "God" and then say that Hindus ask for "Rama" or "Krishna", you are futher spreading the misconception that we believe in many gods. It is true that our religion does not fit into the strict "rules" of western theology, but it is also true that we firmly believe in one God. We believe that they are different reincarnations of "God".

I have learnt a lot from your emails before but I was very dissappointed from your response. You cannot imagine how difficult it was for me to explain to my world history class in high school the fact that we believe in one God but our religion is open to whatever form of "God" anyone wants to believe in. While our textbooks claimed that we are a polytheistic religion, I had to explain that it was only because Hinduism did not fall into the rigid rules of western theology. Someone as knowledgeable as you about our religion should not make such comments to further perpetuate such misconceptions about our religion. I would also ask you to actively try to change the textbooks about Hinduism in schools that describe it as a religion based around cows and thousands of gods. Sending emails to Hindus about Hinduism is great but since you are aware that minorities should not antagonize the majority, it would also help if they did not think our religion was a joke. I would also appreciate a response back from you.

A very concerned second-generation Hindu

One Hindu teenager writes from Houston.

This article has changed my view a bit on religion. I'm sure there is one god but is ackowledged by several names and such. The only thing that confuses me is that how some Hindus worship only one god like Rama, Shiva, Krishna, etc. and some worship many gods. Isn't there only one supreme being?

I'm glad to see that in your village a long time ago, there were Muslims that would acknowledge your religion and congradulate you on your Hindu festivals.

In this day and age, it seems as though only the negative, violent side of Islam has been seen my me and my friends. That is sad, and I only seem to have the view that Islam is a religion of war and killing other "infidels" that do not follow Islam.

I'm glad you wrote this enlightening article and that many more can enjoy it if you post it in the Journal of Indo Americans.

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