Union of Evangelical Students of India-Delhi

By Aakar Patel, Mint, July 4, 2009 Some characteristics unite Indians. The most visible is our opportunism. Why don’t we worship Brahma? We know he’s part of the Hindu trinity as the creator, but we worship Vishnu, manager of the cosmos, and Shiva, its eventual destroyer. The answer lies not in religion, but in culture. But in what way does our religion shape our culture? Weber explained the success of capitalism in the US, Germany and Britain as coming from their populations’ Protestant faith. This ethic, or culture, was missing from the Catholic populations of South America, Italy and Spain. Protestants, Weber said, extended Christianity’s message of doing good deeds, to doing work well. Industry and enterprise had an ultimate motive: public good. That explains the philanthropists of the US, from John D. Rockefeller to Andrew Carnegie to Bill Gates. What explains the behavior of Indians? What explains the anarchy of our cities? To find out, we must ask how our behavior is different. ...

I’m ready to be a “fool” for the cross, the resurrection, the Virgin Birth and may be many more other reasons. But I can not afford to be a fool by interpreting the initial chapters of the Genesis as a Science text book and thereby hinder many brilliant scientists from accepting the God of the Bible. The more and more I read, I’m more and more convinced that these scientists became agnostics or atheists not because of the sciences but because of the way Christians interpret the Bible and the way they live. Definitely what we believe and what we profess has a bearing on other peoples’ beliefs. I don’t really bother whether Darwin’s theories stand or fall. Neither am I going to rejoice or lament if it is proven to be false. A Christian who has accepted the theory of evolution by properly understanding the Bible and the theory (of evolution) and come to the conclusion that they do not necessarily conflict one another has nothing to lose even if the theory (of evolution) is proven to be w...