Samuel Kamalesan - my thoughts on the dishonourable discharge of officer Samuel from the Indian armed forces

       India is unique as a country, it is a country where people from all religious backgrounds live alongside each other in peace and have always been free to act in line with their personal conscience and convictions as long as they harm none physically or verbally slander people of other faiths. Such is the uniqueness of our nation that we can sum it up with the statement "Unity in diversity". Diversity among other things refers not just to the cultural, linguistic and ethnic differences that vary from the North to the South and from the East to the West of our great country but it also entails diversity in faith. This was the original heartbeat of those who fought for our Independence. Many a time, we Indians tend to get too embroiled in the idea of our freedom fighters fighting with the British for our country's independence that we fail to realise that the India that they envisioned would not just be free from the shackles of foreign powers' exertion of their political powers on our land thereby giving our country full autonomy and freedom to act in the welfare of our citizens but also from all social ills.

 

      Mahatma Gandhi and other great freedom fighters like Subrahmani Bharathiyar sincerely believed in such an India and they also held onto the hopes and the view that true Independence (freedom from the social ills plaguing our country) will come soon. Their dreams cannot come to fruition as long as our country is divided on sectarian lines especially on the religious front where people of 1 religious group which is dominant can oppress the others in the name of defense of traditions against something as simple and harmless as sharing one's views with another person to which anyone can say "no" to. Savarkar and his Hindutuva ideology vilified minorities in India in his works published in the 1920's and this has led to the current scenario where North Indians are mostly consumed by their hatred for minorities like Christians on the grounds of missionary activity which is a part and parcel of Christianity that no true Christian is exempt from as per Jesus' own words in the Bible in Matthew 28:19 and Mark 16:15. Jesus' core message was about God's kingdom and about Himself being the only Way (John 14:6, John 10:9-11).


i) Sharing the Gospel message and its deeper implications for the Christian:
       
    It is therefore the responsibility of every Christian wherever he/she lives in the world to share the message with those around him/her who can agree or disagree as they see fit but Jesus' order is for us to share this message and make disciples of all men. The exclusivity of Salvation in Christ alone implies that there is no other Way to heaven but Jesus Christ, irrespective of how people of other faiths feel about the message per se. This also implies that the Christian, if at all he/she is a Christian lives out his/her life in the light of the truth of Jesus being the Only Way to Heaven meaning that if he/she were to partake of any ceremony related to another religious system that deifies anyone or anything else as God under heaven, the Christian is basically denying his/her belief in Jesus Christ being the Only Way and is concurring with the world's views and other religious views to mean that there are other gods/goddesses beside Jesus' Christ which is blasphemous and is an act of apostasy of the Christian's own Christian faith.

          Basically to get involved in religious ceremonies of other faiths that glorify someone other than Jesus Christ is to spit on Jesus' face and on the core message of the Gospel "I am THE Way, THE Truth and THE Life (John 14:6)". Also, if Jesus had stated that there were many truths beside Himself, Jesus would not have sent His disciples far and wide from Israel to preach the message everywhere in the world and make disciples of all people. Hence a Christian cannot but be a Christian both in belief, convictions and actions, one cannot expect a Christian to be a menpleaser if it implies that he/she goes against his/her own beliefs. Moreover, the Bible makes it abundantly clear that Christians are to submit to those who rule over them generally (Hebrews 13:17) but the only area where we are free to flout their rules and regulations is when they try to tell us not to talk about Jesus with others (Acts 5:29), this means that anti-conversion laws promulgated by any country in the world, which stipulate that sharing the Gospel with anyone is a crime in many places will not be taken seriously by any true Christian living there, even if it means being thrown into prison, facing persecution or being killed for the sake of the Gospel just as the apostles of Jesus died preaching the Gospel and Jesus Himself was crucified for Jesus' sake (John 15:20). Now we will see where Samuel Kamalesan stood in all of this.

ii) Samuel Kamalesan's position with respect to the above framework as a Christian:

    Samuel was discharged dishonourably from the Indian Army because he, being a Christian, never participated in a non-Christian ritual or ceremony that his regiment's fellow soldiers participated in and was further condemned verbally by the supreme court when he appealed to the same stating his innocence. Now, the question arises, what did Samuel Kamalesan do that he was given such a dishonourable discharge from the Indian army without any pension?. Did Samuel preach the Gospel to get into this situation? - NO. Did he speak ill of the deities of his fellow soldiers to incur their ire leading to this consequence - NO. Samuel merely kept himself aloof from the religious ceremonies of his fellow soldiers in his regiment. Did Samuel do it to get into trouble? - NO, did he intend to offend his comrades and higher officials in the Army? - NO. If Samuel's wish to not get involved in other religious ceremonies not relevant to his beliefs, is willfully seen badly by them and as a point of offence to his comrades, the Indian legal system or the ruling party in India, Samuel as a Christian and the rest of us Christians would care less.
   
    This is because Samuel's intention was not to offend anyone but if his choice to act in perfect harmony with his beliefs without offending Jesus and His conscience. Nonetheless, this was seen as a point of offence to others who expect Christians like himself and I to compromise on our beliefs failing which they feel that it is their right to get offended, however, no true Christian would care about what they thought of it in such a situation since our original intent was not to offend anyone but walk in line with our conscience, hence Samuel's indifference in the face of his dishonourable discharge and the accusations leveled at him by the Indian legal system. What would have happened, if Samuel had participated in the religious ceremony? - sure, he would have got brownie points with his fellow comrades and would have been lauded greatly by the Army, the ruling party or even the Supreme Court of India, he would have even got promoted or a hike in salary and retained his pension but he would have offended his own conscience and above all Jesus Christ. 

iii) Some clarifications - was Samuel's decision not to get involved in the religious ceremony something that a pastor a preacher preached or is it from the Bible: 

   The Constitution of India ensures that people of all faiths are free to practice, preach and walk in line their beliefs with respect to themselves. Samuel was acting well within his boundaries as a Christian because his very decision to stay aloof from the non-Christian religious ceremony of his comrades is very much Samuel acting on his faith and following it. To dismiss his refusal to partake of the action of his regiment's comrades as his "religious ego" is to show apathy to his right to act in line with his conscience not just as a citizen of our country but also as a human being who was in the service of the nation as a soldier. Another point in question was whether it was Samuel's church pastor who told him not to participate in the ceremony, I would ask those who asked him to look at his situation from his shoes as a Christian and through the lens of the Bible because no pastor is required to show Samuel that this is how he ought to behave and live his life as a Christian in keeping with his own conscience as a believer in Jesus Christ.

iv) Does working in the Indian army require a Christian soldier to compromise on his Christian beliefs:

   As per the Indian Constitution, people of all faiths can practice, preach and live out their faith freely without having to face persecution in any way. There is no such rule stating that soldiers must be willing to compromise on their respective faiths and their respective conscience to participate in any practice in contravention of their personal convictions on God based on whichever faith they belong to. In the light of this, it is unjust for Samuel to have been expected to do something that would hurt his own conscience in the name of cohesion with fellow troops or camaraderie failing which he would have to face consequences the likes of which he has been subjected to based on the excuses of cohesion and camaraderie. If such were the case, no Christian would want to serve in the Indian armed forces or whichever country's armed forces they are eligible to join and work in.

v) Unlawful expectations of the law and armed forces in Samuel's case are shameful and setting a bad precedent:
 
     Our freedom fighters like Gandhi et al wanted harmony between people of various faiths and people of different backgrounds and they also felt that all who were born and raised in India irrespective of their religious background were children of the motherland and this is indeed how Christians like Samuel and myself feel about India, we are proud of our country and love her for receiving us as babies and raising us as her very own children, this does not mean that we agree with other religious beliefs just as those of those beliefs would not agree with ours, however, people of all beliefs can agree on the point that we can live peacefully alongside each other despite our differences. However, the current ruling party's Hindutuva views originating from the writings of Savarkar (who claimed to be a freedom fighter but spread hate amongst North Indian Hindus for minorities through his writings in the guise of protecting India's Hindu identity but was not respected by Gandhi and the other freedom fighters who got us independence from the British) that are opposed to religious minorities like Samuel's Christian worldview means that more public bodies around India especially in the North do not see things the way that our freedom fighters saw them.

     The outcome of this is the unjust treatment of Christians like Samuel for acting on his convictions like his refusal to join in with his regiment in the non-Christian ceremony, which was blown out of proportions by those who do not see things the way Samuel does and he got vilified and suffered the loss of his job in the military and was discharged dishonourably without pension. This mistreatment of Samuel sets a bad precedent for non-Hindus wanting to join the Armed Forces in defense of our country, which in turn stems from the idea that if people who are not Hindus want to serve in the Armed Forces, what are the odds that if they would not be free to act on their conscience as Christians that they would not be treated by the Armed Forces the same way as Samuel was?, is it then really worth it besides suffering reproach for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord for whom we would gladly be mocked, hated, rejected and humiliated by those who see us as foes than fellow Indians simply for standing faithfully for Jesus and our Christian beliefs?. Also, I was telling everyone how superior our Indian Armed Forces are in that people of minority backgrounds stand a greater chance of getting a promotion in rank to a superior position compared to Christians and people of other faiths in Islamic theocracies, now after having read about Samuel's plight, I really am led to question whether Christians in government positions are free to act as per their conscience as Christians to stand up for their own beliefs without being judged or condemned.

    Finally, as Christians our faithfulness is to whichever country we were born and brought up in but our allegiance is to first to Christ irrespective of which countries we are born in because while we are faithful and true to our respective countries and would never betray them as this is not what Jesus would want us to do to our countries but the Bible makes it very clear that we are not bound to rules, laws and legislations around the world that try to curb, limit or totally outlaw the will of Jesus Christ for the world which is getting His message across to the masses who are free to accept or reject Jesus' Gospel as they see fit but preach we shall in obedience to our God and nothing or nobody can ever hinder us from doing so. In a similar vein, while we accept peoples' rights to their respective beliefs, we can and will never allow ourselves to be forced or coerced into participating in any religious ceremony that does not glorify our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to whom we owe our hearts, souls and our lives forever for it was He alone who grants us Salvation and guarantees the same for all mankind as per the Bible, irrespective of whether people accept or reject His Salvation. Moreover, our faithfulness to our country does NOT mean that we are to agree with other religious belief systems that are in our country, expecting Samuel to participate in his regiment's non-Christian religious ceremony, is as preposterous as Hindus in Islamic countries being forced to recite the Shahada (One's declaration of Islamic conversion) against their will. This by no means is what our Freedom fighters like Gandhi, Bharathi, Patel, Ambedkar etc wanted, they wanted an India where everyone was free to follow his/her own faith and walk in accordance with the same while being at peace and harmony relationally with others of other faiths despite our differences in beliefs.

    In short, Samuel Kamalesan deserved a more honourable discharge than what was meted out to him by the Armed Forces of India. As a Christian, I commend his action as he did justly and in perfect obedience, faithfulness and love to Jesus Christ as a Christian, he did this without flinching even when the odds were stacked against him legally and militarily as a soldier who served in defense of India. Samuel did not care for the legal system's views or what his superiors or fellow soldiers thought of him for being a Christian in word and in deed, this is in fact how any Christian irrespective of which country he/she lives in, should act. The first commandment in the 10 commandments is always "Thou shalt have no other gods before me (Exodus 20:3)", similarly the 2nd commandment is "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth (Exodus 20:4)." and Samuel never bowed his knee to any other god in the guise of a religious ceremony under whatever excuses that others could have presented in support of the same and expected him to conform himself thereunto, even when others expected and wanted Samuel to do so making him an exemplary Christian and a follower of Jesus Christ, although the Indian army and legal system would have condemned his action of not participating in the non-Christian religious ceremony of his fellow soldiers. Had Samuel obeyed his superiors and given into the whims of his fellow soldiers and performed the rites of the non-Christian religious ceremony, he would have been in the good books of his superiors, been lauded and given the highest of honours in the military, paraded about and even given many promotions and raises besides having avoided the dishonourable discharge that he was given but he would have hurt and offended Jesus Christ and his own conscience as a Christian believer and therefore he chose to stand for Jesus and be hated by the world for the same. He may have been treated dishonourably by the Army but Jesus will bless him abundantly and cause him to prosper exceedingly besides taking care of his entire family, God bless you brother!, Amen!  

References:

Original article - https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/supreme-court-dismisses-christian-army-officers-plea-against-termination-of-service-samuel-kamalesan-nov-25-2025/article70321067.ece