Some of those who voted Yes had this to say:
• Absolutely Yes!!! The tragedy and the irony is that the Christian message has not been translated into practical living. On the contrary, reality suggests that it is even tougher to be a TRUE CHRISTIAN in Nagaland. There is hardly anyone (very few) who will stand for the Truth and will dare to live a life of Truth. The implications of taking Christian values seriously are enormous, leading to positive changes in society. However we have failed hands down, in engaging with this great positive potential. What a pity!!!
• No reason needed. It is self evident
• Yes, Nagas are Christians only by name, not through the lives they lead. Its like being a hypocrite. Nagas are Christians only inside the Church, not outside, where we are meant to actually be Christ like.
• We are just a mere Christian by name taking into account of all the unsocial life we follow in day-to-day life. If god was to choose between Naga and stone, he would definitely choose stone over Nagas.
• Because they want to have a mere show of a better outward appearance.
• I totally agree with the view that Christianity has become something like the shawls we have. It is just a form that we have to identify ourselves. We have, beginning from myself, compromised, one step at a time, with the Christian values. And today we have gone far from the TRUTH and produced a generation of 'so called' Christians with unchristian principles and lifestyles.
• The Nagas of today were christens by birth. The values we hold of our religion have no connection with the way we live our lives. But, yes we take it for granted. We are born with that.
• We Nagas have lost their morality when it comes to hunting money. We have too far become materialistic we dont look back and realise how much we have hurt others to get our ways. The Christian doctrines we know are left behind and we are blind for the earthly possessions.
• What values do we Nagas have after all. All said and done, we dont even know what a good Christian ought to be. We are killing each other literally just to grasp our worldly riches.
• That this, all of us go to churches on Sunday. Just because we are Christians. Whether we listen to the sermons or pray or confess to our sins, we never know. We follow the norms just like that. Indeed when it comes to losing our Christian values see around the election times. Even our Pastors ,reverends, deacons and women leaders are at the core of action. So much so, they fight as to who gives the most proxys. Am darn sure we have seen it all and hear it all about the church being a silent spectator to this mela. But it cannot do much, lest their men are involved in the mayhem.
• Not only have Nagas taking their Christian values for granted, they are even going to lost their religion. Because Christianity do not preach pride, tribalism, factionalism, killings, rapes, murders, larceny, ransoms, taxations at will, politikings, hum bhi kisi se kaam nahin attitudes.
• It is important to engage with the faith that one professes. There is a serious need to understand the implications of being a Christian.
• They don't understand the Bible properly, interpreted the Bible according to their sweet wills.
• Christian values are increasingly becoming a rarity (heading for extinction) at every levels of society in Nagaland. No wonder then, our witness even to people of other faiths within Nagaland is a total failure. I suspect we do not even know how a Christian is supposed to conduct ones life. Therefore we are confused, and have taken the Christian values for granted.
• Absolutely Yes. Church in Nagaland have become just a social gathering place where lots of politics are involve. No Reconciliation, No Healing, No Holiness, No Restoration, No Forgiveness, No Revival, No Breakthrough, No Miracle etc... are some of the activities of the churches in Nagaland today. In Short it is a Club/Pub Where drinking/smoking are not allowed. people come to know more people so that one gets more help in finding jobs in the political arena. There are no values to be valued from Naga Christianity.
Some of those who voted NO had this to say:
• I don’t think Nagas take their Christian values for granted. In fact I think they are very serious about it most of the time. But there is a problem. The Naga understanding of Christian values are very limited and narrow. This itself poses a very serious threat to the Christian values. So the problem of Naga Christians is that their outlook is very narrow.
• Most Nagas take Christianity seriously. But what kind of Christianity are we following. Nagas should be following the principles of Jesus Christ, not their own self interpreted Christian values. Because we have taken what we believe so seriously, and without knowing whether they are right of wrong, everyone is justifying their own actions. Nagas need to follow the teachings of Christ; not interpret for their own convenience.
• Naga zealously follow Christian values. One cannot question that. Nagas believe they are seriously keeping the Christian values. What needs to be questioned is what Christian values arewe talking about. It is the Naga understanding of Christianity that needs to studied carefully. Maybe the question should be, Is the Naga understanding of Christian values consistent with the teachings of Christ?
Some of those who voted Others had this to say:
• If we look at the Christian population of the Nagas and the outreach programmed, we can say that the Nagas take Christian values for granted .More than 95% of the Nagas and many Nagas are reaching the gospel even outside India. So we can say proudly that we are doing the good works as Jesus taught us. But, if we look at the present affairs of the Naga Christians, not only in Nagaland but in all the Naga inhabited areas, we cannot take the values for granted. Year by year, increasing stealing. Robbery, money extortion, raping and killing our bothers in the name of fighting for the independence. On the other side, the VIPS elected members and leaders of NGO’s are encouraging the young and ignorant people to go back to the wine culture in the name of preserving our rich traditional culture. Their (VIPs) shows of drinking local brew wine publicly in the traditional festival which was published in the papers are encouraging the young and ignorant Nagas to take wine. The Nagas should know the different between Culture and religion. We should preserve our traditional rich culture in the way of Christian value.
• Even though on paper, majority of the Nagas are Christian, this is not really the case. Most of us are born into a Christian family, that does not make us a Christian. Being a Christian requires much more than that. No one is a Christian by birth, it is by accepting Jesus as the Lord and Savior. What we need are serious and mature Naga Christian, which for now is lacking.
• Nagas still do not fully understand the meaning of being Christian. There are to many lay theologians; and too many of us read the Bible without understand the context nor what is really being said. This is the difficulty of Naga Christianity. Nagas are not sure what real Christian values are, and so we keep on violating them.
