The Naga people do not exist in a vacuum; its existence is located within a historical and political reality of a given context. The dilemma that Nagas are facing is perhaps best represented by the fable of the caravan. In this tale, the Naga caravan is peacefully meandering towards its own destination under the stars of history. One night, a major interruption takes place. The Naga caravan is overcome and strangers from another caravan use force and impose its control over it. The strangers then divert the Naga caravan from its original route, taking it into an alluring but alien destination.
The strangers have brought the Naga caravan some considerable distance from what seemed to be its natural route. The question arises should the Naga caravan continue in its path of diversion? Should it seek to discover the precise point at which it was hijacked and diverted, and from there once again seek its destiny? Or is it possible to locate its bearing from this point without necessarily going to its original point of diversion? It is this difficult dilemma that most struggling people face in the process of nation-building.
One needs to contextualize the truth to understand the caravan and the consequence of contextualizing the truth would mean to put the question of power in its historical context. Considering that faith is central to the Naga people’s existence, it is essential to locate the Naga Church within this journey of the Naga caravan and its struggle and history. It is in the context of this struggle for dignity that the Naga Church needs to take its stand to ensure that it is a living entity that is relevant to the daily lives of ordinary people. It is essential that the Church rises above the state system.
Cone reminds us that “the ruling class promotes religion because it justifies the present material relation and also because it serves as a pacifier for the oppressed, making them remain content with their humiliation and suffering. As long as the oppressed believe that their future is found in a heavenly world, they will not focus on the needed revolutionary praxis to change this world.” Do we also not see a connection between the powers that be and the dominant theological ideas in our own context? It is fundamental that the Naga Church provides a prophetic voice of reason.
O’Brien tells us “Evil is not to be located in the person but in the structure. Removing the person does not remove the evil. When we locate and identify evil in persons rather than in their actions, we prepare the way for crimes, but when we locate evil in structures, a way is opened to bring about change that will also liberate the person from their own bondage, not eliminate them.” Therefore it becomes all the more important for the Naga Church to engage with unjust systems that results in injustice that causes and gives rise to violence.
People do not simply happen to be poor and oppressed, their oppression and poverty is largely a product of how the way society has been organized and hence it is important that the Naga Church critiques these structures that perpetuates and justifies violence, oppression and inequality. The Naga Churches should be in consistent pursuit of justice, mercy and righteousness so that it makes possible the basic changes in society that is needed for transformation.
Archbishop Tutu once stated ‘If one says that religion cannot be concerned about politics, then we are really saying that there is a substantial part of human life in which God’s writ does not run. If it is not God’s then whose is it?’ He goes on to say that ‘the prophets are deeply involved in politics because politics is the sphere where God’s people demonstrate their obedience or their disobedience.’ Indeed the whole of life is important because no aspect of human life is untouched by God’s mission and hence it is imperative that the Naga Church restore the wholeness of life: the political, the economic and the social.
