{
  "bookName": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials",
  "authorName": "M. K. Kuriakose",
  "publisherName": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge",
  "publicationYear": 2011,
  "chapterNumber": 167,
  "chapterName": "1929. Gandhi’s Dialogue with J. R. Mott",
  "pageFrom": 344,
  "pageTo": 344,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 344,
      "ocrText": "344\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\n167. GANDHI'S DIALOGUE WITH J. R. MOTT\n(1929 A.D.)\nA conversation between Mahatma Gandhi and John R. Mott\non the subject of conversion was reported in the March 21, 1929, issue\nof Young India. Cited in A. T. Hingorani, The Message of Jesus\nChrist, pp. 58-59.\nDr. Mott: Do you disbelieve in all conversion?\nGandhiji: I disbelieve in the conversion of one person by\nanother. My effort should never be to undermine another's faith,\nbut to make him a better follower of his own faith. This implies\nbelief in the truth of all religions and, therefore, respect for them.\nIt again implies true humanity, a recognition of the fact that the\nDivine Light having been vouchsafed to all religions through an\nimperfect medium of flesh, they must share, in more or less degree,\nthe imperfection of the vehicle.\nDr. Mott: Is it not our duty to help our fellow beings to the\nmaximum of truth that we may possess, to share with them our\ndeepest spiritual experiences ?\nGandhiji: I am sorry I must again differ from you, for the\nsimple reason that the deepest spiritual truths are always unut-\nterable. That Light, to which you refer, transcends speech. It\ncan be felt only through the inner experience. And experience. And then the\nhighest truth needs no communicating, for for it is by its ve\nself-propelling. It radiates its influence silently as the rose its frag-\nrance without the intervention of a medium.\nvery nature\nProphets Speak through their Lives\nDr. Mott: But even God sometimes speaks through His\nprophets.\nGandhiji: Yes but the prophets speak not through the tongue,\nbut through their lives. I have, however, known that in this matter\nI am up against a solid wall of Christian opinion.\nDr. Mott: Oh, no. Even among Christians there is a school\nof thought, and it is growing-which holds that the authoritarian\nmethod should not be employed, but that each individual should\nbe left to discover the deepest truths of life for himself. The\nargument advanced is that the process of spiritual discovery is\nbound to vary in the case of different individuals according to their\nvarying needs and temperaments. In other words, they feel that\npropaganda, in the accepted sense of the term, is not the most\neffective method.\nGandhiji: I am glad to hear you say this. That is what\nHinduism certainly inculcates.",
      "status": "completed"
    }
  ]
}