Televangelism and the Hindu community

BY Subarno Chattarji| IN Books | 27/01/2011

James focuses on the ways in which American style preaching, presentation, and media practices are either disseminated directly or repackaged for Indian audiences.

His analysis brings to the fore comparisons and contrasts between Christian and Hindu televangelism, says SUBARNO CHATTARJI

The Hoot excerpts a second passage from Jonathan James’ McDonaldisation, Masala McGospel and Om Economics.

Interpreting Media

January 2011

The media explosion in India over the past two decades has been the subject of popular and academic scrutiny. For much of this period The Hoot has been at the forefront of media analysis in India (and South Asia in general). The book section on The Hoot brings to the fore recent debates and studies related to this exciting and constantly changing field. New extracts are posted on the site every month and we invite readers to send in comments, book recommendations, and reviews.

Jonathan James’s study of televangelism in India looks at the networks of religious discourses in television and cable channels. It is an aspect of media not often examined and James focuses on the ways in which American style preaching, presentation, and media practices are either disseminated directly or repackaged for Indian audiences. James’s analysis is valuable not only in its recovery of global frames that influence Indian televangelism but in bringing to the fore comparisons and contrasts between Christian and Hindu televangelism. The excerpt below highlights differences in responses from Christian and Hindu leaders to a televangelism programme, Solutions. The comparative analysis reveals interesting divergences in terms of social attitudes often emanating from class, caste, gender, and prejudice rather than religious beliefs. While emphasising difference the feedback also gestures towards possibilities of syncretic acceptance of Christian narratives by Hindus.

Jonathan James. McDonaldisation, Masala McGospel and Om Economics: Televangelism in Contemporary India. New Delhi, Thousand Oaks, London: Sage, 2010. http://www.sagepub.in/browse/book.asp?bookid=1508&Subject_Name=&mode=1

Jonathan James. McDonaldisation, Masala McGospel and Om Economics: Televangelism in Contemporary India. New Delhi, Thousand Oaks, London: Sage, 2010.

MCDONALDISATION, MASALA MCGOSPEL AND OM ECONOMICS
Televangelism in Contemporary India
JONATHAN D JAMES, Edith Cowan University, Perth

2010 / 268 pages / Cloth: Rs 595 (9788132104735)

SAGE Publications

Excerpted with permission of Sage Publications

‘Glocal’ Televangelism and the Hindu Community: A Case Study of Solutions

The ‘glocal’ televangelism programme Solutions (produced by CBN India) was the subject of a case study with pastors [...]. The same episode of Solutions was viewed by Hindu leaders with the following findings.

Seventy-five per cent of the Hindu community leaders felt the production quality of Solutions was good, with 25 per cent stating it was excellent (15 per cent more than the church leaders). Not one of the Hindu leaders felt the programme needed improvement in the technical or production aspects unlike the Church leaders.

Twenty-five per cent of the community leaders found elements in the programme that were culturally appropriate (see Table 7.2). When asked what was culturally appropriate, about 40 per cent of the respondents listed the story of Nila the widow, whereas only 10 per cent listed the Indian compere. In the Indian context, the concept of Karma (or the law of transmigration) is strong and there is an aversion for marrying a divorcee or a widow. Hence the widow story was ‘highly emotional’ and ‘attention getting’ according to one of the respondents (HL, 2006). With respect to the Indian compere, it was noted that Christians still take leadership from ‘the Europeans’ and so it is refreshing to see an Indian compere leading the programme ‘not in conjunction with a white man’ (HL, 2006).

Whereas 40 per cent of Church leaders saw elements of cultural inappropriateness in Solutions, a total of 75 per cent of the community leaders deemed aspects of the programme culturally inappropriate (see Table 7.3). Of these, 30 per cent felt the issue of widows was not fairly handled as not all Hindu widows are treated this way in India. It was pointed out that there are Hindu agencies in India, like the Ramakrisha Mission, which undertake social and rehabilitation work for the marginalised in society. Three of the leaders felt the broadcaster was negative about widows and this negative image would not help young people in this generation. A replay of the Solutions programme showed that the leaders had misunderstood the intent of the programme (it was to describe the negative views about widows prevalent in India, not to prescribe such views).

Table 7.2: Culturally appropriate and inappropriate elements in Solutions—Hindu leaders

Appropriate	Inappropriate
Story of Indian widow (Nila)	Issue of widows reported unfairly
Indian compere	Presentation of Jesus as the ‘only Saviour’
Helps one to be a ‘better Hindu’ in terms of improvement	Taliban (Afghanistan) mini documentary

Source: Author.

However, the fact that such misunderstandings could easily take place was noted as significant. The same three leaders expressed doubt over the sincerity of Nila’s conversion, alluding to the fact that if the Christians had so much funding to produce such programmes; Nila might have been offered money to convert.

Two of the leaders found the Taliban story too out of place culturally for India pointing out that such fanaticism as experienced in Afghanistan is generally not seen in India and therefore should not be associated with India. The communal tensions between Hindus and Muslims in the north Indian pilgrimage centre of Ayodhya in 1984 and 1987 were noted by the leaders in their assessment of this

viewpoint (van der Veer, 1998).

Two other leaders took exception to the closing comments by the compere, that we should accept Jesus as ‘the only Saviour’. ‘All gods are equally valid therefore to name Jesus as the only God doesn’t go well in Hindu society’, remarked one leader (HL, 2006).

An interesting discussion took place on the aspect of how the Hindu community would respond to Solutions. Fifty per cent of the community leaders felt that the response among Hindus would not be positive based on the issue of the exclusive claim of Jesus Christ. Four of the community leaders felt the programme would be positively received by Hindus. Yet, two out of the four felt that, even though this programme would be accepted by Hindus, it may not necessarily lead to conversion to Christianity. The programme makes you ‘a better Hindu’ and ‘improves your situation’ (HL, 2006). ‘What happened to the widow can happen to me’, said one female respondent ‘... regardless of caste or religion, I know I am more in touch with God and his love’ (HL, 2006). These Hindu leaders have obviously interpreted Christianity from a syncretistic point of view.

Table 7.3: Summary and weighting of responses to Solutions

			How Church members would respond?*		How Hindus would respond?*
	Culturally appropriate	Culturally inappropriate	Positive	Negative	Positive	Negative
Christian leaders N = 30	60%	40%	50%	40%	30%	40%
Hindu leaders N = 30	25%	75%	--	--	25%	50%

Source: Author.

Note: *These do not amount to 100% as all participants did not answer the question.

When this finding was presented to the Christian leaders, they responded that this is not surprising as basically Hinduism is a religion that accepts other faiths. Indian business and marketing companies today are using the Indian syncretistic propensity as a positive value. This is revealed in the writings of Shivakumar who says:

Marketers who understand and address the Indian knack of uniting conflicting values in their lives are the ones who will succeed with the changing Indian consumer…The Indian way of managing change is to find the ‘and’ in every potential conflict. (Shivakumar, 2006: para 1)

Rapaille, author of The Culture Code, agrees with this view when he says ‘India has a different cultural code to China. The collective unconscious of India has a way to integrate the outside world without losing its soul’ (Rapaille, quoted in Shivakumar, 2006: para 11). India’s foremost psychoanalyst and social commentator, Sudhir Kakar, also supports this view when he talks about the cultural ideal of Indian society as ‘a receptive absorption rather than an active alteration and opposition’ (Kakar, quoted in Shivakumar, 2006: para 18).

Ten per cent of the Hindu community leaders answered ‘cannot say’ to the question of Hindu responses to the programme, whereas the remaining 10 per cent said it may be positive for some and negative for others depending on the following factors: the strength of the individuals’ faith; how strong their Hindu family network is; what economic class they belong to and the amount of Western influence they have experienced. These leaders highlighted the complex nature of Hindu society, pointing out that the cultural networks and social practices are part and parcel of life. Some of these practices were listed as oral tradition, folklore, symbols and rituals. Because the Hindu is imbedded in a culture, there are social practices and arrangements that constitute the ethos of a person. It was estimated that 20–25 per cent of Hindus would be resistant to Christian television including Solutions. These, according to the Hindu leaders, are Hindus from the high caste as well as the high class. The middle to lower level class Hindus would be the ones more open to Christian televangelism.

Another significant finding raised by the Hindu leaders was the level of need of a person: ‘when your level of pain exceeds your level of fear (fear of community reprisals, etc.) you will change’ (HL, 2006). In other words, when people have needs and they are not getting answers or relief from their temples or priests, in desperation they turn to other faiths. Examples were given of Hindus and Muslims who go to Porta Church (Catholic) or to Novena Catholic Church at

Mahim (a suburb in Mumbai) for healing and miracles. When asked whether the 20–25 per cent resistant Hindus with deep needs would turn to Christ on the basis of Christian televangelism, 30 per cent of the Hindu leaders indicated that this might take place among a small minority depending on the level of their needs.

When Hindu leaders were asked who among the group of less resistant Hindus would be watching Christian televangelism, they indicated the middle to lower class and some Western educated Hindus. Out of these groupings it was thought that women would be more open to Solutions. ‘Women are more open and honest about problems and also they are the "culture-carriers" who make plans for family celebrations, gatherings and rituals in the Indian context’ (HL, 2006). This corresponds with Moorti’s findings that women are the primary viewers of secular primetime TV programming in India even though the producers seem to target the male audiences (Moorti, 2004). Interestingly enough, the 2001 census report reveals that there are more female Christians than male Christians in India unlike the Hindu and Islamic communities where males are in the majority. The Christian population has the highest female to male ratio of 1009 females per thousand males at the 2001 census, compared to 936 females per thousand males for the Muslim population and 931 females per thousand males for the Hindu population (Amalraj, 2004).