Thepfulhouvi Solo
Sometime ago, a shocking video scene of altercation inside a Church building went viral in the local social media. The scene showed a person in the Church pulpit at the lectern reading out something audible from a sheet of paper to the congregation.
Soon, a well dressed person from the pews stood up and walked towards the steps to the platform irately saying something. The person in the pulpit continued reading aloud as if nothing is amiss.
The man from the pews, on his way to the pulpit broke off a section of the decorative strip of ply board railing that separated the platform from the floor of the building and flaying the strip as if to hit the person on the pulpit. The announcer at the lectern continued reading the written paper without paying any attention to the irate person.
The alarmed congregation shouted: ‘Hey…., Hey…’, as the man tore off a pliable section of the strip of Church decoration, but nobody in the gathering tried to prevent the man from spoiling the Church decoration or made attempt to calm him down or prevent him from menacingly proceeding up the Church pulpit!
Some of the youths in the congregation should have peacefully but instantly escort him out of the House of God; but nobody did!
Can Christians in any Church in Nagaland, during a service inside the Church, allow or tolerate such total disrespect the House of God in the presence of the whole congregation? This is unthinkable, unchristian behaviour, not heard or seen anywhere in Christian Nagaland; it brought great disgrace not only to the whole Naga Christian population but also to the House of God we revere!
Further, quite some decades ago, the dissension in a Church Association of another tribe in Nagaland grew so serious that the story finally went up to the Deputy Commissioner of the district for mediation!
And recently, the local newspaper carried the Report of a serious trouble in a denominational Church in the District capital of a tribe. The case became so aggravated that the Church itself was not able to decide the matter; it took the matter to their tribe level denomination association; but the Tribe Association was unable to bring peace in the groups.
The Church then took the case to the court but the court returned the case back to the petitioners saying it is improper for the court to decide such religious matters and that the Church would do well to settle the matter by the members of the Church themselves.
The Church then went to the state level council of the denomination, but the state council also saw it wiser to express its inability and advised the Church to settle the Issue from among Church members themselves.
Then, some members of the Tribe, unauthorised and arbitrarily drawing supposed power directly from Article 371A of the Constitution of India, formed a new hoho of the tribe; and arrogating themselves the authority of the tribe; de-recognized the town church and the tribe’s church association!
There upon, the existing long standing public organization of the tribe issued a public Statement declaring not only the impropriety of the unauthorised new Tribe Hoho and the unacceptability of the dictates of the Secular unauthorised Body just formed the exercise of Power in Religious Matters and Issues.
How wayward and not careful even many Christians and the Church in Nagaland are: we forget the highly civilized, finely tuned and universally held high principle of ‘the separation of church and state’, one of the main principles of faith that all denominations of Christianity rightly hold.
Many Nagas – ‘Believers & Unbelievers’- quite often, casually seem to directly appropriate the powers of Article 371A of the Constitution of India. Indeed, the Article gives special wide spaces to ‘religious, civil and customary practices of Nagaland’; but a tribe’s name doesn’t directly and automatically, save through Nagaland Assembly, gives any legal authority, the long standing customs and democratic traditions Nagaland State have.
A person earns the experience of shame, embarrassment or honour for his or her own personal actions, but Christians also collectively suffer shame, embarrassment or honour for the actions of his other fellow members; the finer a Christian has this responsibility of graciousness, the finer and grander perhaps his or her Christianity is.
