Dear Editor,
I commend Sherlina Nageer and Chris Persaud on their letters to the editor under captions “Who gave an American missionary permission to preach in Georgetown schools” and “Roopnaraine should investigate matter of missionaries preaching in Georgetown schools” ; and “Missionary at Central High School” (Guyana Times, March 23).
I first learnt about this missionary when I encountered on YouTube a documentary against Hinduism titled “The truth about Hinduism” by Pastor Steven Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church. I viewed the said documentary and other videos of the Church’s works, and realised some of the preaching was actually held in several public schools in Georgetown. I then made some comments, and issued a call on the authorities, particularly the Ministry of Education, on social network to look into the matter.
Editor, having viewed the documentary and other talks held at these public schools, I am of the conviction that this missionary’s objective is to discredit and demonise Hinduism. The documentary presented a crude, vicious and disrespectful image of Hinduism. The producer of the documentary basically recorded the practices of a remote forest tribe in India and declared such practices to be Hindu Religion. The pastor then quoted biblical ideologies to demonstrate the so-called superiority of his faith. There was also a relentless attack on the Bhagavad Geeta.
I later learnt that after the uploading of the documentary on YouTube, it was removed within six days as a result of it reaching 65,000 viewers. The church has ordered thousands of DVDs of the said documentary to be distributed, particularly among Indians, who are their targets.
I call on every right thinking person to condemn this hate mission, and ask that the Ministries of Education and Social Cohesion look into this matter. Discipline all authorities who allow these people to enter public schools to discredit Hinduism. Guyana is a secular state.
Yours sincerely,
Pt. C. Nandalall
