From Hindu To Catholic-Great Story On Louisiana Governor

Well I should say Louisiana Governor Elect!! Which will change this week as he is to be sworn in. This is a great piece that I hope Catholic Convert blogs pick up. Several Louisiana Catholic bloggers picked up the Picayune Piece yesterday. I have had time just to read it. It is located here at FREE TO BELIEVE.

I think the piece is well done. I am very struck by the comments of Bobby's Hindu relatives in India. It really shows that a young age he was searching.

Jindal's personal path to Christianity, which had politically significant ramifications for Louisiana, was aided by an open-minded attitude among his relatives about theology. Also, he visited India infrequently as a child, giving him little chance to acquire the deeply ingrained appreciation for Hindu culture that comes from exposure to daily life in that country.
His relatives' perspective reflects a tolerant side of a religion that for thousands of years has survived philosophical transformations, rebellious counter-religions and numerous sects, only to claim them all in time as part of the infinitely flexible cosmos of Hindu faith.
"If you find and see that you get more peace of mind, more solace, in that religion, then why not change religion?" said Jindal's uncle Subhash Gupta, a practicing Hindu. "In India, many people change to the Christian religion. And I can understand that some people maybe find Christian religion more satisfying to their needs."
Jindal grew up in Baton Rouge under the guidance of Hindu parents and on a few occasions spent time with Hindu relatives in India. One of his earliest mentors was his multifaceted grandfather on his mother's side, Krishan Gupta, a well-traveled Punjab banking executive who was widely read and believed in the equality of religions.
On those boyhood visits to India, Jindal would spend much of his time in the Gupta home in the Punjab capital of Chandigarh talking to his grandfather, who died 21 years ago. Krishan Gupta had a house full of books and often kept handy the popular Hindu scripture the Bhagavad Gita. He could read Urdu and was familiar with the Quran.
"They had a great relationship," Gupta said.
The young Jindal posed "questions after questions" to the elder Gupta about Indian religion and philosophy, Gupta said. The grandfather "was amazed to see that such a question was coming out from this age of boy." .

The article also shows how the wonderful orders of nuns and Priest are such a witness. His Aunt said:
Jindal's aunt Nirmal Aggarwal of New Delhi also recalls a special bond between Jindal and her scholarly father, Krishan. She said Jindal's conversion to Catholicism was a natural and spiritually healthy move.
"I am happy with it . . . because I think it is his own affair," Aggarwal said. "I really respect his decision. All religions, I think, they believe in one divine power, that is God."
Subhash Gupta's wife, Usha, is a Hindu who spent some of her youth being schooled at a Catholic convent. The nuns instilled in her a philosophy of keeping an open mind toward religion.

Now I know nothing of the Hindu faith. I do get a sense that are far less tolerant Hindus in part of India. The Catholic Press has been filled with tragic stories of what is happening to Christians at the hands of the Radical Hindu sects. However , I suppose that is not the norm. Most Hindus I have met have been wonderful open people.

It is a good read. By the way of interest is that anti Catholic Know Nothing campaign the State Democrat party ran in the Protestant North is mentioned:
He chose Catholicism just before his senior year of high school and was baptized while a sophomore at Brown University in Providence, R.I., a religious sacrament his parents did not attend. When his wife, Supriya, converted to Catholicism after the couple married, Jindal's parents and her parents were present for her baptism.
Much of his thought process and his own validation of his conversion are contained in several self-scrutinizing articles he wrote for New Oxford Review.
Those stories became the fodder of an attack ad launched by the state Democratic Party about two months before the fall election. The ad used quotes from the stories to make it appear as if Jindal had criticized Protestants, but the Jindal campaign and some Protestant ministers said Jindal's writings had been misconstrued.

In the public relations backlash, even a number of Democrats regretted the ads, which were branded as unfairly impugning Jindal's Christian faith and were generally considered an embarrassing campaign failure for the party.

Let me note that the embarrassment was felt a great deal by Protestant and Evangelical elected Democrats in North Louisiana who recieved criticism from Evangelical congregations that they dare do this.

Anyway good read.