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HomeVarietyCulture and HistoryChristian Evangelism and The Joshua Project: An existential threat to Hinduism

Christian Evangelism and The Joshua Project: An existential threat to Hinduism

There is no end to this cycle. And the Indian government needs to do something urgently to put an end to this menace and safeguard the nation from the perils of demographic instability.

Recently, the death of the Christian missionary who risked the existence of the entire Sentinelese tribe to ‘establish the kingdom of Jesus’ on the North Sentinel island revealed the extent of zealotry that prevails among the missionaries and the lengths they are willing to go to convert people to their faith.

In India, evangelism has always been a cause for concern as it poses a severe threat to the demographic stability of the country. In this report, we would elaborate on the zealotry of the missionary and the extent of their efforts to convert people to the worship of their ‘One True God’.

The Joshua Project is a ‘research initiative’ that seeks to ‘highlight the ethnic people groups of the world with the fewest followers of Christ’. They further state, “Accurate, updated ethnic people group information is critical for understanding and completing the Great Commission. Revelation 5:9 and 7:9-10 show that there will be some from every tribe, tongue, nation and people before the Throne.” The Great Commission refers to Jesus’ instruction to his apostles to spread Christianity among all nations across the world.

As per their website, “Joshua Project gathers, integrates and shares people group information to encourage pioneer church-planting movements among every ethnic group and to facilitate effective coordination of mission agency efforts. Joshua Project compiles the work of numerous missions researchers to develop a list of all ethnic peoples that is as complete as possible.” Thus, it’s aimed at coordinating the work of the numerous missionary organizations that exist and provide them with a one-stop shop for information on the demographics of any group.

The entire ‘about us’ section of the missionary website is filled with zealotry and disdain towards the non-Christian faiths. They state, “Our desire is to help focus the Church on the most spiritually needy ethnic people groups.”

The Joshua Project declares that they are not a ‘formal research organization’ and that the margin of error varies from data point to data point according to their sources. They have various sources across the world and they claim that their data is the ‘best available’. In Asia, their source is the Asia Harvest and in India, it is the Omid/South Asia Engineer.

For India, the Joshua Project says that there are 2,554 people groups of which 2,289 are ‘unreached’. 94.6% of the Indian population lies in the ‘unreached’ groups. The percent of professing Christians is pegged at 2.1%. The Evangelical Annual growth rate is pegged at 3.9% which is significantly above the global rate of 2.6%.

People group is defined as, “A significantly large grouping of individuals who perceive themselves to have a common affinity with one another.” For evangelical purposes, “a people group is the largest group within which the Gospel can spread as a church planting movement without encountering barriers of understanding or acceptance.” ‘Unreached group’ defined as, “a people group among which there is no indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize this people group without outside assistance.”

The website lists every ‘people group’ under the Sun and even states the estimated number of workers needed to convert the community to Christianity. It’s a very organized effort to undermine the dominant Pagan faith in India.

From their database, it’s clear that the tribes with the most minuscule population have the highest proportion of Christians. The Adi Bori people group which has a population of merely 300 has a 37.15% of Christians. The Adi Ramo people group which has a population of merely 1400 people has a 45.49% of the Christian population. The Aimol group which has a population of only 3000 has over 98% Christian population. The Christian population of the Bangni group who number at 700 is at 46.97%. The proportion of Christians among the Bokar group who number at 4,700 stands above 67%. The Bori group with a population of 3,400 has a Christian population above 78%.

The Halam Chorei, Halam Kaipeng, Halam Kaloi, Halam Molsom and Halam Rupini which have a population of 3300, 5700, 3100, 5500, 4700 respectively have a Christian population of 52.39%, 49.53%, 46.39%, 49.16% and 44.93% respectively. The Havi Tangsa group which number at merely 900 have a Christian population at 46.98%. The Hualngo group with a population of 200 has been completely converted to Christianity. The Jugli, with a population of 300, has an 86.39% Christian population. The Kalya Kengyu, with a population of 400, has been completely converted to Christianity. The Keralamuthali with a population of 9,100 has a Christian population at 34.79%. The Kuki Chin Amre with a population of 500 has a Christian population of 93.75%. The Bujur group with a population of only 2500 has Christians at over 99%.

It’s pretty clear from their database that Christian missionaries has had far better success with groups with critically low populations. Among groups with larger populations that have a high rate of Christian population, there are the Kuki Chin with a 91% Christian population among its 153,000 people. The Ao, a Naga tribe, with a population of 233,000 has a Christian population over 99%. The Angami, another Naga tribe, with a population of 159,000 has over 98% Christian population. The Chakesang, another tribe among Nagas, who number at 157,000 has Christians at over 99%. The Arasar group with a 77,000 population has Christians at 77.60%. The Bharathar group with a population of 73,000 has Christians at over 81%. The Hmar tribe in the Northeast with a 98,000 population has Christians at 98.87%.

From the database, it appears that Christian missionaries really believe that for Judgment Day to arrive, they must convert at least some people from every single group on Earth. Thus, it appears that John Allen Chau’s bid to convert the Sentinalese tribe to Christianity is consistent with their effort to have Christians across all groups that exist in the world. And it’s really no wonder that evangelicals are calling him a ‘martyr’.

Given the infinite resources at the Vatican’s disposal and the huge resources available to other Christian denominations to evangelize and taken into consideration the Joshua Project with its extreme level of coordination, it appears that there’s an international conspiracy against Hinduism.

They have had very little success among other monotheistic faiths but given the huge diversity of India, it makes it much easier for them to further their agenda. And they won’t stop until there are Christians in every group that exist today. By the time they have representation in every existing group, more groups would have popped up naturally or they might simply invent them and their conversion agenda would continue. There is no end to this cycle. And the Indian government needs to do something urgently to put an end to this menace and safeguard the nation from the perils of demographic instability.

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K Bhattacharjee
K Bhattacharjee
Black Coffee Enthusiast. Post Graduate in Psychology. Bengali.

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