Rev. Richard Howell, who served as the Director for Evangelical Fellowship of India, is a prophetic voice to the nation. (Facebook post on 10 April 2026) Greatly disheartened by the practice of the caste hierarchy among Christians of all denominations, he made a theological diagnosis of the Church. A serious theological diagnosis must specify what caste does within Christian life. The principles apply to racism, ethnocentrism, linguistic chauvinism, male chauvinism, etc.
First, caste violates baptism. Baptism is incorporation into Christ, not into a sanctified social hierarchy. When baptised believers remain ranked by birth, the sacrament is contradicted in practice.
Second, caste profanes the Eucharist. The Lord’s Table is the place where enmity is judged, and communion is given. When the church assembly reproduces humiliation, separate honour, or exclusion, the Eucharist becomes a site of contradiction rather than reconciliation.
Third, caste corrupts the ministry. Ordained and lay ministry are meant for service, truth, and the building up of the body. Where ministry is filtered through social pedigree, caste capital, or inherited network, calling is displaced by patronage.
Fourth, caste falsifies church memory. Indian church history is too often narrated through bishops, founders, institutions, and elite communities, while the experience of those who entered Christianity seeking dignity and encountered continued exclusion remains marginal to the official story.
These are not minor distortions. They strike at the heart of ecclesiology.
It is essential to know the biblical truths. All humans are created in the Image of God. Every inhabitant of Earth is a descendant of Adam and Eve. And also, Noah, except for Noah’s eight-member family, all perished in the great flood. Hence, all who live today are his descendants. The Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, died on the cross of Calvary for all human beings. Paul asserts that there is neither Jew nor Gentile nor any other distinctions in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28) God gives the spiritual right or freedom to become His child by receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as saviour and Lord.
Do I have a hierarchical mindset based on caste or other human discrimination?