Discrimination against Dalits in India a "sin" and "shame"

(October 28, 2010) Discrimination against Dalits in India is a "sin" and "shame" according to the national ecumenical conference on justice for the Dalits, held October 22 to 25 last and organized by the National Board of Churches in India (NCCI) at New Delhi. About 80 members of the Indian Church, theologians and social activists took part in this conference with an aim to explore strategies to eradicate caste in society and implore the role of Church in this relevant mission engagement. "This conference is to express our Indian Churches position on caste based discrimination irrespective of denomination and theological affiliation," said Rev. Raj Bharat Patta, the executive secretary of the NCCI - Commission on Dalits. Conference participants set themselves many goals: to reiterate that the caste system and the continuing violence and discrimination against the Dalits is against the will of God that the Church's vocation is to fight injustice wherever it occurs; review strategies to address the cause of the Dalits; discover new paradigms and new modules, to build solid bridges between churches and social movements working for the same cause. Fr. Ajaya Kumar Singh, a social activist at the conference explained that the caste system inherited from Hinduism and in which Indian society is still steeped is 'inhuman'. Because of this, millions of Dalits in India suffer from social, political and economic discrimination. The NCCI has 13 million members with 30 churches, 17 regional Councils of Christians, 17 All India Christian organizations, 7 related agencies and 3 autonomous entities