An ordinance banning conversions by "force, allurement, or fraudulent means" could put Christian relief work at risk in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
The decree introduced last week is expected to be ratified into law when the Tamil Nadu assembly convenes later this month. The Tamil Nadu state government claimed the measure was aimed at preventing attempts by "some religious fundamentalists and subversive forces to create communal disharmony in the name of religious conversion." Under the law, all conversions must be reported to a district magistrate.
The legislation follows the conversion of 250 Dalits (members of India's lowest economic and social class) to Christianity in August by evangelists of the Seventh-day Adventist church at Madurai, Tamil Nadu's second-largest city. Tamil Nadu is a Southern Indian state with a strong Christian community that dates back 2,000 years. The capital city is twelve percent Christian with some 2,000 congregations and hundreds of Bible schools.
Hindu groups in the state welcomed the emergency legislation, which provides for a punishment of up to three years in prison and a fine. VHP international president Ashok Singhal said that freedom of religion does not cover conversion, but only the practice, propagation, and protection of it. But Christian organizations are strongly opposed to the immediately effective ordinance.
The All India Christian Council (AICC) has threatened to challenge the law in court. It has also called for a national day of prayer and fasting tomorrow and a day of non-violent protest next week.
In a press release, AICC president Dr Joseph D'Souza writes:
This ordinance puts severe curbs on the peoples right to religion as enshrined in the Indian Constitution, and is targeted mainly against the Christian and Dalit community. It announces a stiff penalty for anybody engaged in converting a person through force, fraud, and allurement. The ordinance does not define [those] words. It is common knowledge that such ambiguous terminology has been used to harass and intimidate Christians in the States of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, and Arunachal Pradesh.
The National Council of Churches in India, which consists of 29 Protestant and Orthodox churches, said the law threatens to undermine constitutional rights and creates mistrust between religious communities.
"The law will also make it difficult for the churches in Tamil Nadu and religious NGOs [non-governmental organizations] to work for social and economic justice and even for humanitarian relief," the Council said, calling on the state government to repeal the measure.
"We are concerned about this. This [law] could be misused to curb the genuine exercise of freedom of conscience which is a fundamental right," Archbishop Vincent Concessao of Delhi, senior vice president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, told journalists.
K. Rajaratnam, the executive secretary of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of India and the National Council of Churches in India's chairperson for national issues, said the law was "unconstitutional, undemocratic and opposed to secularism."
Rajaratnam said a meeting of church leaders will decide on "concerted church action" against the legislation.
Nearly 70 per cent of India's 24 million Christians are Dalits. Rajaratnam said many of them had converted from Hinduism in protest of the discrimination they face from upper-caste Hindus. Said Rajaratnam: "The upper-caste Hindus do not want the Dalits to be liberated. They want to keep intact their hegemony over the Dalits."
Previous Christianity Today articles on religious tensions in India include:
Hounded, Beaten, Shot | What you can do to help persecuted Christians in India. (June 11, 2002)
Critics Assail Dialogue with Hindu Radicals | But some Christians see talks as an opportunity to build bridges in times of persecution. Critics Assail Dialogue with Hindu Radicals. (May 14, 2002)
Christianity Today'spersecution archive has more articles on religious discrimination and violence from around the world. The World Report section allows readers to search for past articles by country (see articles on India).
For more articles, see Yahoo's full coverage on India.
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