A Tour of the Missions: Observations and ConclusionsStrong, Augustus Hopkins
Religion
A Tour of the Missions: Observations and Conclusions
Strong, Augustus Hopkins
East Asia -- Description and travel; Missions
The renaissance of learning is not enough. A new spirit of love is
needed to solve the problems of India. For there is no country of the
world where racial antagonisms are so felt. Entirely apart from the
distinctions of caste, which are racial in their origin, there is the
distinction of Hindu from Mohammedan, which has its origin in religion.
Remember that, of India's population, sixty-five millions are Moslems,
while one hundred and eighty millions are Hindus. The Hindu men of caste
cannot help paying some respect to the Mohammedans, for they are
compelled to acknowledge their financial and executive power, just as
they acknowledge, without admiring, the power of their British rulers.
They cannot treat Moslems as outcastes, but they will not associate
with them; and they cherish a settled antipathy to them. All this the
Mohammedans heartily reciprocate. English policy has in times past
cultivated this mutual dislike, lest union between the two religious
sects should lead to the formation of a party too strong for British
rule to keep in subjection. One religion has been used to defeat the
influence of the other. Of late years only has it been true that both
have been forced to recognize the impartial justice of British rule;
and this recognition has been gained by the gradual admission of able
men from both parties to many important judicial and administrative
positions in the Indian government. But the antagonism of religions
still remains, and it constitutes a most serious bar in the way of a
united India.
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Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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