Uncomfortable Conversations

“The only reason Dalit (untouchables) become Christian is because you people give them free meals and education,” spat the man in the front seat of the car. I looked out the smeared window at the Kansas-like wheat fields of Uttar Pradesh. Aside from the pavement, my car, and the occasional passing truck or bus, there were no signs of the twenty-first century. The sides of the dusty road were crowded with hundreds of skinny, rag-clad peasants.

For the past three hours, the speaker, an employee tasked by my husband to escort my driver and me to an official function, had ranted about all the non-Hindu people in India. I tried to feign sleep while he raged against Muslims, who should “go back where they came from.” He hated Buddhists. They were “spies.” Christians were disrupting the correct order of society by offering a way out of hereditary suffering. Christians bribed people to follow Jesus by giving them food!

1 Peter 3:15 tells us to “Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy.” (The Message). But did this verse apply right then, to me? Was I supposed to defend the gospel to an angry Hindu employee when I was stuck in a car with him several hours from our destination?

“You know, you might be right,” I finally said to the man. “Food and education are very attractive. People probably first come into church for the free food.” At my own home church in Mumbai, that was definitely the case. Crowds of lepers with twisted limbs, their nose-less faces looking like melted wax candles, gathered outside All Saints every week for the short Hindi worship service followed by lunch.

He muttered something about knowing he was right – the Dalit were brainwashed, or just pretending to convert for the food. Dalit existed to serve other people, suffer, and die undignified, early deaths.

It struck me that this was a whole lot like Jesus’ life. I decided to be brave. From the back seat I piped up, “The thing is, we people—Christians—believe that every life is valuable. This is not some form of mind control. Jesus helped the lowest, poorest people. He taught anybody who wanted to learn. We try to be like Jesus. That’s why we offer food and education.”

My escort glared at me suspiciously. My meek reply did not satisfy his desire for a fight.

I wish I could report that he instantly repented of his angry accusations and asked to learn more about our Savior. Unfortunately, his next words were, “Is it true that the Jews really control everything in America?”

No, sir, I thought. God is in control. He'll get me to my destination. Praise Him for that!