
Some of those who voted YES had this to say:
• In all its weaknesses and hopelessness, the Naga Churches has most to gain by taking a bold stand against corruption of all kinds. It must first condemn the corruption by the government - whether they are politicians or bureaucrats or police or technocrats - this is important. The Church must take a firm stand against institutionalized corruption, which is rampant in Nagaland. The Naga churches also must boldly question the tax system of municipalities, especially the Dimapur Municipal Council and the likes of it in different districts. The Naga Churches must criticize the rampant corruption taking place in the different Naga underground factions. Various individuals in the Naga underground factions have been misusing their power and have been extorting in the name of the Naga cause from innocent people. This must be opposed by all right thinking people. In the same way, the business community has also been charging over and above the MRP from innocent consumers. The Naga churches must expose this. In short, the Naga Churches needs to do much more against Corruption. Just lip service against corruption will never be enough. If Anna Hazare a Gandhian can bring the Indian government to its knees, why cant the Naga Churches, who put their faith in the Living God, not have the courage to wipe out corruption from Nagaland. The Naga churches must act now.
• Corruption, no unity and progress
• Yes, but against corruption spiritually and morally as did Jesus during this time. Unless the Church cleanse itself or all its members of evil/corruption from ground zero, there can never be the leader/church that we dream all along. It’s an overdue prayer that that church make a u-turn to be spiritual first, rather than being materialistic.
• Yes, our land doesn’t need more prosperity preachers, teaching only what is pleasing to rich ears. Today we are dire of need preachers who spew fire and brimstone, where are they?
• Of course the churches teach us to be honest and live the right way. But, are we learning from it. Thats what you should be asking.
• Yes, corruption can be uprooted to a huge extent from Naga society if the Church start questioning the source of huge money donations it gets from its most obnoxious members.
• So far the role of churches in Nagaland to with respect to corruption mitigation is negligible.
• The church should actually be doing that, corruption in the biggest evil everybody is practicing in our naga society today, but when the deeply corrupted are among the church members and make hefty donations from their theft, the church's mouth are shut! even the high ups of the church try to flock with the rich and the corrupted while he is blind to the poor and oppressed. in the end the church itself has become corrupted!
• Yes! The church should be fighting against social corruption. However our Naga churches are unable to do so simply for one reason: The church itself has allowed the corruption of society to infiltrate its holy sanctuary. This has rendered us powerless. Cleaning up Nagaland must begin within the church. That is the surest way to revive Nagaland.
• What about doing it like Anna Hazare? Or protest and fast to death like the churches did for implementation of Liquor prohibition Act? The church should not remain silent on anti-moralistic issue. It should fight on all evil issues confronting the society just as they fought against liquor Prohibition. Those who don't drink alcohol and active in church are more corrupted.
• Yes because of people listen to the church because of their faith and belief.
• The Church is the only institution that enjoys public faith. Legislations get void in the face of vested interests. Church as a repository of moral values can influence general opinion to treat the issue of corruption that has made our governance weak and crippled.
• Nagaland for Christ means leaders as well as laymen are Christian. Bible don't teach to corrupt.
• Yes, it is time our churches make big plan and programmes far beyond the financial capabilities of the church which indirectly helps corruption. It is time we see at least one church in Nagaland politely turning down a big donation by a member of the church when it knows that the donation is far far beyond the legitimate earning of the donor. Our Church should come out very strongly against corruption before it becomes Naga culture.
• Yes, every politician, bureaucrat, businessman, etc.. is a member in one or the other Church. The Church (body of Christ) should begin fight against corruption from the Church (house) itself. If every Pastor takes care of every member, who is left out??? Then the Church can openly campaign outside its fold.
• It is everyone's duty and as the church is teaching all good things, they must put in action.
• I dont know why the church is silent over the issue of corruption, which has become rampant and degenerated our moral and ethical values. When our society has become like this, it means we have strayed far away from our God.. We have lost our convictions and forgotten our Christian principles.. Nagas are living in a spiritual desert. The church ought to know about its priorities. Is it too focused on the materialistic things rather than spiritual? When many church members are spiritually sick, is it a good idea to build churches, send missionaries etc instead of healing ourselves first? Doesn't it bother the conscience of the Rev., pastors, church workers and Christians about the level of corruption and degradation of moral values in the society? Its the apathy of the leaders that is silently encouraging the members. I heard of a shocking story from a fren about a church which had encroach govt. property and when ask by the dept to evacuate, the church instead decided to sell it back to the dept. at rate of rs.23 lakhs.. (with intention to build a new church) And dept was literally forced to buy it back.( obviously the church had the backing of local politician and influential members) Which led to the secretary of the dept..a non local, non Christian to comment.."you nagas even sell your gods". When the church have become like this how can we fight against corruption? Many Rev. and Pastors are also caught in a dilemma, even if they know a corrupt member they wont point him out for fear of losing a member or embarrassing him. Pastors can only wait to let the member approach him first to give counseling.. But would a shepherd see its flock perish while he silently watch knowing that he could have saved them? Even Jesus drove away the money lenders, thieves from the temple. So its the duty of the Rev and Pastors and Christian members to preach about sins of corruption and to condemn it and do something about it.
• This is the only institution that will keep us strong and going..if we say we are a nation build on Christ foundation.
• Yes, the Naga churches must do more to fight against corruption in our land. Apart from the prayers we offer we need to do a lot more by addressing the corruptions, talking with the people who are doing it, and warning teaching them from the Word of God.
• Because it is their moral duty
• The church has social responsibilities too not just religious ones
• That's the church's mission -- to preserve the society form corruption. And it should use every means--whatever is moral, ethical and legal. To say that the church has no role in social or political matters is unbiblical.
• Because society is much influenced by the church in the Christian community.
• Corruption in Nagaland has become a disease and so it has social, economic, moral and political implications. Primarily the state and its machinery should be taking adequate steps and precautionary measures to fight and check corruption, but when the state itself is corrupt and weak, it is not possible for them to solve this menace called corruption. The Church has a role in fighting against corruption. The Church itself cannot replace the state or act like the state agent, but it must take steps to deal with the social and moral implications of corruption. In this regard, the Church is not doing enough at all to check corruption. In fact the Church in its silence is only encouraging corruption. In a place like Nagaland, the Church is more than just a religious institution, it is social and political as well and therefore accordingly, the Church must realize this and take steps in the fight against corruption, which is being committed by its own members.
Some of those who voted NO had this to say:
• No and again no. Criminal issues such as corruption is a state’s problem and therefore the state must solve it. Since it is a state’s problem the Church must not interfere with the state’s problem. It is not the duty of the church to tackle corruption or to preach anti-corruption in the state. The duty of the Church is to teach biblical teachings and to produce religious reformation among the people, and to safeguard the soul of the Naga people from misery and distress. The state must ensure that state officials involved in corruption are given befitting punishment ranging from three years imprisonment to capital punishment according to the intensity of the crime committed. – UNDSP Youth Wing
• That’s non of the Church business. Church should stick to what they r meant for.
• Corrupted people should be attending churches!
• Why ..why should we church be involved in this anti corruption. live clean
• In Nagaland, the church is another ground for internal political war. Many church fail to select a spiritual person who will bring souls to GOD. They are more interested in selecting a person has a smart mouth n who can speak sweet words. They think that this will lead them to heaven,,,, my foot!! They them self are corrupted bunch of people. And talking about fighting for corruption,,, i want to start from every aspect of naga society from church to government. And if possible, please do not lift up their spirit by saying about FIGHTING FOR CORRUPTION. They them self are corrupted and so they have no right to fight for corruption.. For Christ sake, please let us not defile our church into this dirty business of corruption and politics. Thank you.
• They should only pray and not to see or fight verbally.
• The first thing should be, the Naga Churches should come together as one.
Some of those who voted OTHERS had this to say:
• When in today’s Naga situation, the politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen with questionable integrity are the ones who are the highest contributors and donors to the Churches, it is difficult to think how the Naga churches can overcome their temptation. The Naga Churches instead of focusing on quality, are too carried away by the quantity, so the needs and requirements of the churches have reached very high figures and on their own, the Churches will not be able to maintain themselves, so they need contribution by wealthy individuals. If the Naga Churches were to focused on quality, than the requirements of the churches will not be so high and it would be easier for them to then take a strong and firm stand against corruption.
• Many of the church members are corrupted so what more can the church do? If it starts fighting against its members, church will have empty seat on Sunday and lesser donations. And if church dont fight against corruption, its just encouraging sin. So i pray the church will have the wisdom on what it has to do.
• Ha…ha..! Just wanna ask you people, can a water stop a flowing water. Now a days all the church and the church leaders they depend on money so who do they turn to when in need, the beggars or those people who barely make it through the day on their hard earned money…nah! They turn to those who have amassed their wealth through corruption. So do you think they would fight those who provide them their daily bread.
• If the Church organizations like NBCC, CNBC, NCF, CAN and others spoke up when people needed them most to speak out, the situation today would not be so bad. The more the Church remains a silent spectator to the situation in Nagaland, the worse the situation will only get. I dont want the Church to react negatively, but to understand where and how and why the problem is there in the first place. The Church should listen to the lay person and empathize with them. The Naga Churches need to radically change and take some concrete steps, instead of remaining a silent spectator.
• I strongly believe that that the root of corruption and malpractice has its root in the church, because of its encouragement to corruption by seeking donation from Ministers and Government Servant. Under pressure to donate beyond their means and to gain acceptance in the church (and society), they resort to corruption. By and large, Naga people are God fearing and if the societies and churches stop the practice of seeking favours and donation which is beyond the means of their congregation and starts preaching on the Love of God and equality, the practice could be arrested. Honoring Government Servant donating beyond their means should be stopped forthright.
• If the evil of corruption has deeply entrenched on every sphere of life in Nagaland, then there is a big cause for concern for church too. But it seems to me that the hands of the church are tight by its own hypocrisy, double standard and fishiness, whereas the church clearly foresees that once the taxpayers money stops flowing into its coffer, what kind of sad state of affairs it may turn to be in consequence of dependency mentality prevailing in our Naga psyche which we mostly now beginning to struggle to dispel it for the better is still yet to be in a transitional period all the way to firmly stand on our own feet. Thus though the church can do much to curb the menace of corruption, as of now, its hard to imagine an angelic reverend or pastor of impeccable integrity impassionately addressing this ever-burning issue with courage and conviction at the church pulpit, for we all live in glasshouses and scared of throwing stones at others even by accident.
• Can we even imagine that the Church can do a thing to remove corruption, it is not possible. In Nagaland Churches are just another business institution where clergy men consider it as a means of earning one’s livelihood, pride and reputation and disunity among church leaders led to breaking up of churches into small groups by some religious degree earners. The church is no more a spiritual institution rather it is more like a syndicate where corruption, dishonesty and craving for worldly goods is the trend. It is no more an institution of charity, grace and missionary but an institution wallowing in murky and superficial doctrine which is against the manifestation of Christ teaching. May God forgive us and show us true holiness and faith to preach the gospel to every nations and to those who did not believe in the gospel of Christ. Church is not an organization nor a platform to fight corruption.
• In all its weaknesses and hopelessness, the Naga Churches has most to gain by taking a bold stand against corruption of all kinds. It must first condemn the corruption by the government - whether they are politicians or bureaucrats or police or technocrats - this is important. The Church must take a firm stand against institutionalized corruption, which is rampant in Nagaland. The Naga churches also must boldly question the tax system of municipalities, especially the Dimapur Municipal Council and the likes of it in different districts. The Naga Churches must criticize the rampant corruption taking place in the different Naga underground factions. Various individuals in the Naga underground factions have been misusing their power and have been extorting in the name of the Naga cause from innocent people. This must be opposed by all right thinking people. In the same way, the business community has also been charging over and above the MRP from innocent consumers. The Naga churches must expose this. In short, the Naga Churches needs to do much more against Corruption. Just lip service against corruption will never be enough. If Anna Hazare a Gandhian can bring the Indian government to its knees, why cant the Naga Churches, who put their faith in the Living God, not have the courage to wipe out corruption from Nagaland. The Naga churches must act now.
• Corruption, no unity and progress
• Yes, but against corruption spiritually and morally as did Jesus during this time. Unless the Church cleanse itself or all its members of evil/corruption from ground zero, there can never be the leader/church that we dream all along. It’s an overdue prayer that that church make a u-turn to be spiritual first, rather than being materialistic.
• Yes, our land doesn’t need more prosperity preachers, teaching only what is pleasing to rich ears. Today we are dire of need preachers who spew fire and brimstone, where are they?
• Of course the churches teach us to be honest and live the right way. But, are we learning from it. Thats what you should be asking.
• Yes, corruption can be uprooted to a huge extent from Naga society if the Church start questioning the source of huge money donations it gets from its most obnoxious members.
• So far the role of churches in Nagaland to with respect to corruption mitigation is negligible.
• The church should actually be doing that, corruption in the biggest evil everybody is practicing in our naga society today, but when the deeply corrupted are among the church members and make hefty donations from their theft, the church's mouth are shut! even the high ups of the church try to flock with the rich and the corrupted while he is blind to the poor and oppressed. in the end the church itself has become corrupted!
• Yes! The church should be fighting against social corruption. However our Naga churches are unable to do so simply for one reason: The church itself has allowed the corruption of society to infiltrate its holy sanctuary. This has rendered us powerless. Cleaning up Nagaland must begin within the church. That is the surest way to revive Nagaland.
• What about doing it like Anna Hazare? Or protest and fast to death like the churches did for implementation of Liquor prohibition Act? The church should not remain silent on anti-moralistic issue. It should fight on all evil issues confronting the society just as they fought against liquor Prohibition. Those who don't drink alcohol and active in church are more corrupted.
• Yes because of people listen to the church because of their faith and belief.
• The Church is the only institution that enjoys public faith. Legislations get void in the face of vested interests. Church as a repository of moral values can influence general opinion to treat the issue of corruption that has made our governance weak and crippled.
• Nagaland for Christ means leaders as well as laymen are Christian. Bible don't teach to corrupt.
• Yes, it is time our churches make big plan and programmes far beyond the financial capabilities of the church which indirectly helps corruption. It is time we see at least one church in Nagaland politely turning down a big donation by a member of the church when it knows that the donation is far far beyond the legitimate earning of the donor. Our Church should come out very strongly against corruption before it becomes Naga culture.
• Yes, every politician, bureaucrat, businessman, etc.. is a member in one or the other Church. The Church (body of Christ) should begin fight against corruption from the Church (house) itself. If every Pastor takes care of every member, who is left out??? Then the Church can openly campaign outside its fold.
• It is everyone's duty and as the church is teaching all good things, they must put in action.
• I dont know why the church is silent over the issue of corruption, which has become rampant and degenerated our moral and ethical values. When our society has become like this, it means we have strayed far away from our God.. We have lost our convictions and forgotten our Christian principles.. Nagas are living in a spiritual desert. The church ought to know about its priorities. Is it too focused on the materialistic things rather than spiritual? When many church members are spiritually sick, is it a good idea to build churches, send missionaries etc instead of healing ourselves first? Doesn't it bother the conscience of the Rev., pastors, church workers and Christians about the level of corruption and degradation of moral values in the society? Its the apathy of the leaders that is silently encouraging the members. I heard of a shocking story from a fren about a church which had encroach govt. property and when ask by the dept to evacuate, the church instead decided to sell it back to the dept. at rate of rs.23 lakhs.. (with intention to build a new church) And dept was literally forced to buy it back.( obviously the church had the backing of local politician and influential members) Which led to the secretary of the dept..a non local, non Christian to comment.."you nagas even sell your gods". When the church have become like this how can we fight against corruption? Many Rev. and Pastors are also caught in a dilemma, even if they know a corrupt member they wont point him out for fear of losing a member or embarrassing him. Pastors can only wait to let the member approach him first to give counseling.. But would a shepherd see its flock perish while he silently watch knowing that he could have saved them? Even Jesus drove away the money lenders, thieves from the temple. So its the duty of the Rev and Pastors and Christian members to preach about sins of corruption and to condemn it and do something about it.
• This is the only institution that will keep us strong and going..if we say we are a nation build on Christ foundation.
• Yes, the Naga churches must do more to fight against corruption in our land. Apart from the prayers we offer we need to do a lot more by addressing the corruptions, talking with the people who are doing it, and warning teaching them from the Word of God.
• Because it is their moral duty
• The church has social responsibilities too not just religious ones
• That's the church's mission -- to preserve the society form corruption. And it should use every means--whatever is moral, ethical and legal. To say that the church has no role in social or political matters is unbiblical.
• Because society is much influenced by the church in the Christian community.
• Corruption in Nagaland has become a disease and so it has social, economic, moral and political implications. Primarily the state and its machinery should be taking adequate steps and precautionary measures to fight and check corruption, but when the state itself is corrupt and weak, it is not possible for them to solve this menace called corruption. The Church has a role in fighting against corruption. The Church itself cannot replace the state or act like the state agent, but it must take steps to deal with the social and moral implications of corruption. In this regard, the Church is not doing enough at all to check corruption. In fact the Church in its silence is only encouraging corruption. In a place like Nagaland, the Church is more than just a religious institution, it is social and political as well and therefore accordingly, the Church must realize this and take steps in the fight against corruption, which is being committed by its own members.
Some of those who voted NO had this to say:
• No and again no. Criminal issues such as corruption is a state’s problem and therefore the state must solve it. Since it is a state’s problem the Church must not interfere with the state’s problem. It is not the duty of the church to tackle corruption or to preach anti-corruption in the state. The duty of the Church is to teach biblical teachings and to produce religious reformation among the people, and to safeguard the soul of the Naga people from misery and distress. The state must ensure that state officials involved in corruption are given befitting punishment ranging from three years imprisonment to capital punishment according to the intensity of the crime committed. – UNDSP Youth Wing
• That’s non of the Church business. Church should stick to what they r meant for.
• Corrupted people should be attending churches!
• Why ..why should we church be involved in this anti corruption. live clean
• In Nagaland, the church is another ground for internal political war. Many church fail to select a spiritual person who will bring souls to GOD. They are more interested in selecting a person has a smart mouth n who can speak sweet words. They think that this will lead them to heaven,,,, my foot!! They them self are corrupted bunch of people. And talking about fighting for corruption,,, i want to start from every aspect of naga society from church to government. And if possible, please do not lift up their spirit by saying about FIGHTING FOR CORRUPTION. They them self are corrupted and so they have no right to fight for corruption.. For Christ sake, please let us not defile our church into this dirty business of corruption and politics. Thank you.
• They should only pray and not to see or fight verbally.
• The first thing should be, the Naga Churches should come together as one.
Some of those who voted OTHERS had this to say:
• When in today’s Naga situation, the politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen with questionable integrity are the ones who are the highest contributors and donors to the Churches, it is difficult to think how the Naga churches can overcome their temptation. The Naga Churches instead of focusing on quality, are too carried away by the quantity, so the needs and requirements of the churches have reached very high figures and on their own, the Churches will not be able to maintain themselves, so they need contribution by wealthy individuals. If the Naga Churches were to focused on quality, than the requirements of the churches will not be so high and it would be easier for them to then take a strong and firm stand against corruption.
• Many of the church members are corrupted so what more can the church do? If it starts fighting against its members, church will have empty seat on Sunday and lesser donations. And if church dont fight against corruption, its just encouraging sin. So i pray the church will have the wisdom on what it has to do.
• Ha…ha..! Just wanna ask you people, can a water stop a flowing water. Now a days all the church and the church leaders they depend on money so who do they turn to when in need, the beggars or those people who barely make it through the day on their hard earned money…nah! They turn to those who have amassed their wealth through corruption. So do you think they would fight those who provide them their daily bread.
• If the Church organizations like NBCC, CNBC, NCF, CAN and others spoke up when people needed them most to speak out, the situation today would not be so bad. The more the Church remains a silent spectator to the situation in Nagaland, the worse the situation will only get. I dont want the Church to react negatively, but to understand where and how and why the problem is there in the first place. The Church should listen to the lay person and empathize with them. The Naga Churches need to radically change and take some concrete steps, instead of remaining a silent spectator.
• I strongly believe that that the root of corruption and malpractice has its root in the church, because of its encouragement to corruption by seeking donation from Ministers and Government Servant. Under pressure to donate beyond their means and to gain acceptance in the church (and society), they resort to corruption. By and large, Naga people are God fearing and if the societies and churches stop the practice of seeking favours and donation which is beyond the means of their congregation and starts preaching on the Love of God and equality, the practice could be arrested. Honoring Government Servant donating beyond their means should be stopped forthright.
• If the evil of corruption has deeply entrenched on every sphere of life in Nagaland, then there is a big cause for concern for church too. But it seems to me that the hands of the church are tight by its own hypocrisy, double standard and fishiness, whereas the church clearly foresees that once the taxpayers money stops flowing into its coffer, what kind of sad state of affairs it may turn to be in consequence of dependency mentality prevailing in our Naga psyche which we mostly now beginning to struggle to dispel it for the better is still yet to be in a transitional period all the way to firmly stand on our own feet. Thus though the church can do much to curb the menace of corruption, as of now, its hard to imagine an angelic reverend or pastor of impeccable integrity impassionately addressing this ever-burning issue with courage and conviction at the church pulpit, for we all live in glasshouses and scared of throwing stones at others even by accident.
• Can we even imagine that the Church can do a thing to remove corruption, it is not possible. In Nagaland Churches are just another business institution where clergy men consider it as a means of earning one’s livelihood, pride and reputation and disunity among church leaders led to breaking up of churches into small groups by some religious degree earners. The church is no more a spiritual institution rather it is more like a syndicate where corruption, dishonesty and craving for worldly goods is the trend. It is no more an institution of charity, grace and missionary but an institution wallowing in murky and superficial doctrine which is against the manifestation of Christ teaching. May God forgive us and show us true holiness and faith to preach the gospel to every nations and to those who did not believe in the gospel of Christ. Church is not an organization nor a platform to fight corruption.