Why the lingering influence of the Gospel in ancient India matters.
From 1990 to 1991, I taught young adult Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and Christians in Sri Lanka—just off the southern coast of India. Even then, the cultural controversy regarding the anglosphere’s influence on the Indian subcontinent was unmistakable. In 2026, that tension has not disappeared; it has become more politicized, and far less informed.
Today’s political battlefield has split into two reactionary errors: the Left’s sneering parody of “Western imperialism,” and the Right’s sometimes careless assumption that Western Christianity is superior to all others. Both approaches strip down history into slogans; both miss what God may be doing on a global and historic scale.
The Left’s error: vilifying Western Culture
Much of the modern progressive critique decries what is sees as centuries of western political, ethnic, and colonial hegemony, as if the West brought nothing of value to the East. That just simply isn’t true.
But ignorance isn’t confined to the Left. Many conservatives who reject anti-white identity politics still fall into a mirror-image error: assuming that Western Christianity is alone the conduit for God’s redeeming love, leading to salvation. That’s not just theologically sloppy—it’s historically false.
(Author’s note: Notice here that I’m discussing the development of relationships with Christ among cultures, not claiming all religions are equal—a view I find nonsensical. There may be many paths, but there is only one Door.)
India’s Surprising Christian Roots
Some reforms introduced to India by the British were objectively constructive. The outlawing of sati—the burning of widows—in 1829,1 and the eventual legal dismantling of the caste system,2 were necessary and humane. But those advances accompany the richness of India’s own spiritual and philosophical heritage.
Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka: The author poses for a gag photo with students
Few Americans know, for example, that Sikhism, the faith of Assistant Attorney General, Harmeet Dhillon, is unapologetically monotheistic, affirming one eternal, formless God.3 Even Diwali, commonly assumed to be a polytheistic celebration, has radically different meanings across Indian traditions.
Sikhs mark it as a celebration of liberation from tyranny, just as Jews celebrate the Maccabean victory during Hanukkah.4
The Gospel likely reached India more than 1,900 years before the British did. Ancient Christian communities in Kerala trace their roots to Thomas the Apostle’s arrival in 52 A.D. a tradition supported by archaeology, liturgy, and writings from the early Church.5
India has never been a spiritual blank slate waiting for the West to enlighten it; God has been working in India for 2,000 years—just not in ways that our culture fully understands.
When Christians behave like Pharisees
If some on the Left are guilty of cultural self-loathing, some on the Right risk the opposite: a triumphalism that confuses Western culture with the Gospel itself. It is entirely possible to stand against globalist Marxism while still recognizing that God is not a cultural nationalist—and has never confined Himself to Europe or America. Since Jesus walked the earth, His Spirit has been at work in quiet corners of the world.
The same God who walked the Hebrews out of polytheism and toward Covenant has been working in Asia for millennia, meeting people at the level of spiritual development they were ready to receive—just as Paul did in Athens (Acts 17). And while Christ is the door to the Father, He may be calling people from other cultures in ways we cannot fully understand.
Acts 15 makes the point unmistakably. When the early Church confronted the question of Gentile converts, the apostles refused to make them adopt the full Mosaic law or become culturally Jewish.
They required only that believers abstain from idolatry, sexual immorality, meat from strangled animals, and blood (Acts 15:19-20). Salvation came through the grace of Jesus Christ—not cultural conformity. (Acts 15:10-11). The Gospel could enter a culture, purify what was sinful, and redeem what was good without erasing the people themselves.
If Christians today refuse to see this, we risk becoming modern Pharisees: defending the Kingdom while missing the King.
Avoiding the false choice
Yes, the Left’s anti-white, anti-Western identity politics are destructive. But the answer is not the equal and opposite error of pretending that God only speaks English, quotes Augustine, and votes Republican. God wills that all people be saved (I Timothy 2:4). The question is whether we will cooperate with that mission—or get in the way of it.
A Christianity that scorns other cultures is not defending truth. It is defending pride. And pride—the oldest sin—is not a virtue western Christianity should embrace.
Kelly John Walker is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of FreedomTalk: The Journal of Truth & Virtue, and a nationally recognized communications and creative strategy consultant. His writing has appeared in The Washington Times, The Epoch Times, Gateway Pundit, Andrew Magazine, Newsmax, Townhall, and other national outlets. A frequent commentator and guest on leading conservative programs, Walker is known for his work in journalism, strategic communications, branding, advertising, and public affairs. He also holds degrees in English and Theology and a Master of Science degree.
[1] British Governor-General William Bentinck outlawed sati in 1829. [2] Indian Constitution, Articles 15 & 17 (1949)—abolition of caste discrimination. [3] Sikhism: Mul Mantar, Guru Granth Sahib, opening verse. [4] Sikh Diwali=Bandi Chhor Divas; Jewish Hanukkah= liberation from Seleucid oppression. [5] Indian Christian tradition of St. Thomas; referenced in Acts of Thomas, Eusebius, Church history.
