Christianity, the Platform to Unite Nepali People

Nepal is a country that looks intact but fragmented within. There exist divisions created by caste-system, ethnicity, gender, and economic and educational disparity. Many such divisions are raising their voices against the discrimination, injustices against them from the dominant group of people. Politically, there have been many efforts to address the issues raised by various people groups by reserving a certain percentage of political offices for the underprivileged, and unrepresented peoples from society. As a result, now there are representations from the ethnic, lower-caste people, and women than before in many levels of government of Nepal. However, the rifts between people groups are ever evident than before. The suffering of women from the hands of men is not disappeared, rather evolving in various physical and economic dimensions. There is no sign of the disappearance of the caste-system. Various ethnic groups seek to differentiate themselves from other people groups in the name of promoting their own ethnic cultures. though the country was geographically united by Great King Prithvi Narayan Shah, who declared the nation to be a united garden of multiple flowers. The declared oneness has always been superficial and one-sided never felt by the people in general. Nepal has the constitution that seeks to undo the injustices and discrimination due to the existing difference in the society, it lacks the love, respect, and cooperation between various people groups in society. Apparently, Christianity is able to bring people from various levels into the same identity as Nepali Christians. Nepali Christianity represents people from many ethnic groups, castes, and genders. Many times, people from lower caste find respect and love which is not available in the society. Christian women can avoid discrimination that came from traditional beliefs and customs. However, can Nepali Christianity be called the unifier of the Nepali people?

Presently, by the majority of non-Christian people, Nepali Christianity is considered as an imported division of the society, and there are many calls to block its presence in the country. Many Christian organizations act in a similar fashion with the various organizations representing the various castes, ethnic groups, and women in society. They demand political representation, recognition of their customs, and political justice. However, other than people’s voluntary migration to Christianity, we do not see Christian effort to mend the division in society. It’s true that Nepali Christians do not promote or systematically practice any discriminations in society. However, we cannot say that Nepali Christianity works for the unification itself. They are the silent observer in the society who speak nothing against the injustices of the caste system and injustices against women and other people groups in Nepal. Nepali Christian need to be proactive for the cause. It may cause some scandals, but Jesus was not the nice guy in the town in his ministry. His presence was scandalous in society (1. Cor. 1:22-23).

In Nepal, Christianity not only preaches the gospel of love and peace, but it also imports the denominational division created in/for the west. the divisions are imported in the name of donations, support, or various projects within Christianity. Now people do not identify themselves as Christian alone, but they want to emphasize whether they Catholics, Protestants, Baptist, Pentecostals, Presbyterians, Methodists so on. None of these identifications were created in Nepal and for Nepal. This division entered Nepal as donations from their respective foreign counterparts. When greed (money) is involved, these divisions expedite rifts within Christian organizations. These fragmented identifications do not help unite the fragmented society, rather become hindrances in the process. Even within Nepal, Nepali Christians and Christian leaders are grouped into various organizations. These organizations seek to create rifts within the Churches than create intra-church or inter-denominational cooperation. We cannot envision such unity in Nepal unless we see that God wants Christianity to be a model for a unified community in Nepal (1. Cor. 1:10). The existence of various organizations and denominations may not be the main problem if they exist for the service of the whole Christian community. For now, Nepali Christian organizations and denominations are functioning as an independent unit, isolating certain Christian groups from the whole Christian body and work alone.

Even for their own existence Nepali Christians do not have any other option left then to be united. To make their presence meaningful for the larger Nepali society, Nepali Christians should be proactive.

-Pabitra M. Bhandari