Reverend Asir Ebenezer, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), releases a statement on the 73rd Republic Day to come together and face the difficulties that lie ahead.
“Today, the 73rd Republic Day of our country, is one more occasion to celebrate our prowess and proficiency in different sectors of our journey together. Traditionally, it has also been an occasion to take stock of the strides that we have taken in-country and in the world,” said Rev. Ebenezer.
We are said to have performed well in several aspects of our nation's history in the recent year. We haven't performed as well as we would have liked in a few other areas, he continued.
However, unequal income distribution, differential access to rights and privileges, and threats to religious minority' dignity, culture, and history, as well as socially disadvantaged ethnic communities and economically disadvantaged individuals, continue to plague our destiny's journey. Today is yet another chance for us to band together and handle the challenges that lay ahead of us.
The priest went on to say that the Christian Gospel instructs us to shape ourselves and our surroundings in accordance with the conditionalities of "the least, the last, and the lost." This method will, among other things, ensure that shared resources be further developed and that public assets are not transferred for personal advantage or private profit.
“The Gospel also requires that we network with all those who are similarly oriented irrespective of faith and belief. There are several activists, academics, economists, civil servants, politicians and concerned citizens belonging to all faiths and beliefs who are working on these lines orienting our thinktanks, our planners, also the executive and the enforcement on the terms and conditionalities of the persons pushed to the bottom of the ladder,” he added in the statement.
He urged there is a pressing need to instill this core ethos in all peoples, and to guard against alternatives that promise prosperity for everyone but foster it otherwise – when there is increased destitution as a result of organized looting and hence unequal growth.
It is also necessary to keep each other and all branches of our government responsible. It is past time to educate ourselves on our civil and political rights so that arguments about the rights and privileges of distinct and different people, groups, and communities are not sidetracked by affirming 'majoritarian' entitlements of the unjustly privileged.
“Let us as members of nationally networked historic and traditional churches in this country along with all related agencies, regional ecumenical councils and christian organisations, individually and together as the National Council of Churches in India, renew afresh our commitment ‘to discern, be informed and be dictated’ by the agenda of the masses, their dreams and aspirations. And let our good work, along with those of all other like-minded individuals, groups and communities, continue to be a light to the nation,” Rev. Ebenezer concluded the statement.
Let us rise to bless India. God bless India.
Read the original statement here.
