India's Christians Face New Century with Confidence

India's Evangelicals Want to Tone Down 'Spiritual Battle' Languages

by Michael Fischer

HONG KONG (Compass) -- The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) has issued a statement urging Christian leaders to tone down "spiritual battle" language, hoping to prevent Hindu fundamentalist groups from taking advantage of inflammatory words to paint Christians as anti-national.

In a statement released on October 7 in Bangalore, EFI cautioned churches and missions against using secular terms and over-extended military metaphors from the Bible because it was "unloving, inappropriate and counter-productive." The statement refers to Christian jargon used in letters, reports, songs, prayers and material on the Internet.

Richard Howell, EFI's general secretary, told Compass that the purpose of the statement was to clarify the church's policy that the Bible does not teach aggression towards any culture or group. He said some Christian leaders in India had welcomed the statement, but others still had doubts about it.

"While we want to avoid inappropriate military language, we profit from biblical metaphors that call us to respect and obey God and those in authority," Howell said.

The statement said "warfare vocabulary" -- army, advance, attack, battle, campaign, crusade, conquer, commandos, enemy, foes, forces, marching order, mobilize, soldier, tactical plan, target, victory, weapons -- have been wrongly used as motivational tools for missions.

The statement also listed other words as potentially offensive: pagan, darkness and heathen.

"Although the gospel calls us to follow Christ and be opposed by some, we must continuously examine both our attitudes and our language," the statement said.

The statement added, "We share Christ because we experience the love and grace of God, leading us to worship and proclamation. As God loves all people without discrimination, so should we. We respect and serve all in words, attitudes and actions, regardless of caste, race, class, creed and gender."

It called on Christians to take care not to offend other groups with words. It also said churches and missions outside India that use inappropriate mission language not only offend people of other faiths, but also bring harm to Christians in India.