{
  "bookName": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials",
  "authorName": "M. K. Kuriakose",
  "publisherName": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge",
  "publicationYear": 2011,
  "chapterNumber": 155,
  "chapterName": "c.1920. Gandhi’s Attitude to Christianity: Polak Interview",
  "pageFrom": 321,
  "pageTo": 321,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 321,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n321\n155. GANDHI'S ATTITUDE TO CHRISTIANITY: POLAK\nINTERVIEW (c. 1920 A.D.)\nIn an interview with Mrs. Polak, conducted some time around\n1920, Mahatma Gandhi explains why he himself did not become a\nChristian and his attitude towards conversion. From Gandhi, The\nMan, p. 40. Cited in A. T. Hingorani, ed., The Message of Jesus Christ,\npp. 23-25.\nGandhiji: I did once seriously think of embracing the Christian\nfaith. The gentle figure of Christ, so patient, so kind, so loving,\nso full of forgiveness that he taught his followers not to retaliate\nwhen abused or struck, but to turn the other cheek-I thought it\nwas a beautiful example of the perfect man.\nMrs. Polak: But you did not embrace Christianity, did you?\nGandhiji: No. I studied your Scriptures for some time and\nthought earnestly about them. I was tremendously attracted to\nChristianity, but, eventually I came to the conclusion that there was\nnothing really in your Scriptures that we had not got in ours, and\nthat to be a good Hindu also meant that I would be a good Christian.\nThere was no need for me to join your creed to be a believer in the\nbeauty of the teachings of Jesus or to try to follow his example.\nMrs. Polak: Of course, it is what a man is that counts, not what\nhe calls himself. But, tell me, do you believe in conversion, in\nchanging from one form of faith to another ?\nGandhiji: What do you feel yourself?\nMrs. Polak: It does not please me, some how. I could not\ndo it.\nGandhiji: I think that is right. If a man reaches the heart of\nhis own religion, he has reached the heart of the others, too. There\nis only one God, but there are many paths to Him.\nMrs. Polak: If Karma and re-incarnation be true, we are born\ninto the faith to which we belong, and the one most suitable at\nthe moment for our development. So, we should not change.\nTeaching of Christianity\nGandhiji: What do you think is the essential lesson for man in\nthe teaching of Christianity?\nMrs. Polak I could think of two or three but the one that\nstands out strongest in my mind at the moment is Love, which is\nexpressed in the words: One is your Master, Christ, and all ye\nare brethren.'\nH.C.I.-21",
      "status": "completed"
    }
  ]
}