{"id":520,"date":"2012-07-12T10:07:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-12T10:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/christianity-changing-lives-of-indias-untouchables\/"},"modified":"2012-07-12T10:07:00","modified_gmt":"2012-07-12T10:07:00","slug":"christianity-changing-lives-of-indias-untouchables","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/07\/christianity-changing-lives-of-indias-untouchables\/","title":{"rendered":"Christianity changing lives of India’s ‘untouchables’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Bangalore, India, Jul 12, 2012 \/ 04:07 am (CNA<\/a>).- A human rights group in India says Christianity has brought slow but lasting change to the country's Dalits or \u201cuntouchables,\u201d especially for the community's women who are often victims of prostitution and human trafficking.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThe Dalits are told that they are less than animals and we tell them they are not,\u201d non-profit director Jeevaline Kumar told CNA, \u201cbecause they are made in the likeness of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tKumar \u2013 who heads up Operation Mobilisation's Anti-Human Trafficking Project in Bangalore, Karnataka \u2013 explained that the simple message that every person created in God's image has transformed the lives of India's Dalits.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThey are crying out for a change now that they know they can live differently,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\tAt roughly 250 million people, Dalits make up close to one quarter of the country's 1.2 billion member population but, according to the caste system, are seen as inherently impure and worthless.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt is not normal in our world for how these people are treated,\u201d Kumar said.<\/p>\n

\tAlthough caste discrimination, not the caste system itself, was technically outlawed in 1950 after India won its independence from Great Britain, law enforcement is still lacking.<\/p>\n

\tDalit women bear the brunt of caste discrimination, Kumar added, since women are looked upon even more unfavorably in Indian culture as they will need to be married off at the expense of their parents.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThe women are the Dalits of the Dalits,\u201d Kumar said, explaining that many of them are forced into lives of prostitution, cleaning human waste or being aborted as soon as their gender is learned.<\/p>\n

\tProstitution, either in a brothel or as a temple \u201cdevadasi,\u201d is among one of the greatest risks that threaten Dalit girls and women.<\/p>\n

\tEven though the caste system teaches that they are impure, Kumar said that \u201cwhen it comes to sex, no one thinks of them as untouchable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThree million people in India are forced into lives of sex-trafficking, 1.2 million of whom are children and 250,000 of whom are enslaved for \u201critualized temple prostitution,\u201dAccording to the Dalit Freedom Network.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cA little help can change the lives of these girls,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\tHer organization, which is just \u201cone of many that works towards the same goal,\u201d is striving to promote the message that \u201cthere is value in every human being\u201d by responding to \u201cJesus' mandate\u201d to \u201clove thy neighbor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHer work with the Tarika Institute, a school that trains women who have rescued from prostitution in tailoring, spoken English and computer skills, has been especially inspiring, she said.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI have known God like never before after I got involved in acts of justice,\u201d she said. \u201cIt really brings meaning and fulfillment in anyone's life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tRecently, Kumar helped organize a graduation ceremony for 106 women who completed courses with the Tarika Institute.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cMany of them have come and tell me, 'We have never been treated like this, we were treated like rubbish before and you honored us on stage,'\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\tMost of the women Kumar has worked with never had a \u201cproper childhood\u201d due to caste discrimination, but the message of the Gospel \u201cgives them so much dignity and worth,\u201d she said, \u201cthey just feel they are regaining their childhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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Bangalore, India, Jul 12, 2012 \/ 04:07 am (CNA).- A human rights group in India says Christianity has brought slow but lasting change to the country's Dalits or “untouchables,” especially for the community's women who are often vict…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asia-pacific"],"yoast_head":"\nChristianity changing lives of India's 'untouchables'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bangalore, India, Jul 12, 2012 \/ 04:07 am (CNA).- A human rights group in India says Christianity has brought slow but lasting change to the country's Dalits or “untouchables,” especially for the community's women who are often vict...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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