Is religious conversion a criminal issue?
Addressing cases of incentivised conversion will require a holistic approach The Church is against any form of incentivised conversions. Even in the case of inter-religious marriages registered under the Special Marriage Act, the non-Christian partner is counselled to practise his or her own religion. There is no compulsion to convert to Christianity as religious tolerance is a part of Indian ethos. However, if there are cases of incentivised conversion, is criminal law the solution? In an address to the All Karnataka United Christian Forum for Human Rights (AKUCFHR) on November 19, Peter Machado, the Archbishop of Bangalore, said it was a sin to force anyone to convert. Any conversion had to be from the heart as the Church wanted to increase the quality and not quantity of its faithful. In a letter to the Karnataka Chief Minister, Dr. Machado says, “Thousands of schools, colleges and hospitals are run and managed by Christian community across the State. When lakhs of students are graduating from these institutions year after year and thousands of patients irrespective of caste, creed or colour receive the best medical attention from our hospitals and care centres, let the government prove that even one of them has ever been influenced, compelled
Bengaluru Christians rally against anti-conversion bill
Bengaluru, Dec 4, 2021: The United Christian Forum of Karnataka on December 4 organized a peace rally in Karnataka capital of Bengaluru against a proposed anti-conversion bill and survey on Christian institutions in the southern Indian state. The rally was initiated by the Archdiocese of Bangalore in collaboration with all Christian denominations and other Catholic dioceses in the state to condemn the government move to enact the bill and harass the minorities. The proposed anti-Christian bill “is nothing but a license given to Hindu radical groups to attack Christians, and persecute them,” bemoaned Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore while addressing the rally. The archbishop, who is the most vocal against the bill, said the minority Christians will never bow down before the government, nor remain afraid of its scare tactics. He called all Christians to unite and fight against the injustice meted out to their community, a tiny minority in the state. Several political leaders, religious heads, Muslim leaders, priests, religious, pastors, and lay people attended the ally held in front of the St. Xavier’s Cathedral in Bengaluru. The gathering, which was initially planned for 25,000 people, was reduced to less than 2,000 people because of the Coronavirus pandemic Margaret Alva, a veteran Catholic leader
Why India is witnessing spike in attacks on Christians, churches
Rights groups record more than 300 attacks on Christians and their religious places in the first nine months of this year. New Delhi/Roorkee, India – In late October, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi met and invited Pope Francis to India, the country with the second-largest Christian population in Asia. However, in a speech about two weeks earlier, Mohan Bhagwat, head of the far-right Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological mentor of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), warned Hindus about religious conversions and alleged “demographic changes” in India’s northeastern states, which have a large Christian population. In his annual speech on October 14 to mark the Hindu festival of Dussehra (also known as Durga Puja), Bhagwat said: “Rising population and demographic imbalance need to be addressed and population policy is to be redesigned. And that policy should be applicable to all irrespective of caste and creed. Illegal immigration in bordering districts and conversions in [the] northeast have changed the demographics further.” The RSS aims to create an ethnic Hindu state out of India. As the head of Sangh Parivar, the umbrella group of Hindu nationalist organisations including the BJP, Bhagwat’s Dussehra speech is considered an agenda-setter for the year. Rise in attacks on Christians across India As
Karnataka’s Church ‘Surveys’: Anti-Conversion Bill Will Fuel Right-Wing Violence
ANALYSIS: December 1, 2021: As of 31 October 2021, Karnataka ranks fourth in the country for its targeted violence against Christians Once upon a time, say, up to the turn of the century, Bangalore city was known as the ‘Catholic Capital of India’. It was also known as the cleanest city in India, and its tree-lined roads were an envy of the country. And Karnataka was just getting to be known as the gateway to south India for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS). As of 31 October 2021, Karnataka ranks fourth in the country for its targeted violence against Christians. Of the 320 or so cases recorded by the United Christian forum, the Evangelical Fellowship of India and Persecution Relief, Uttar Pradesh topped with 99, Madhya Pradesh had 45, Chhattisgarh recorded 39, and Karnataka 23. Orissa, which had in 2008 witnessed the most vicious pogrom against the community ever, had 15 cases. National capital Delhi recorded four. Bengal had a near clean record, with one case. Karnataka is Simmering: Bangalore city has been the scene of protests by a very concerned, almost frightened, Christian community, which fears that the BJP government’s plan to bring an anti-conversion law on the
Media’s failure to be watchdogs worries Catholic journalists
Mumbai, Dec 1, 2021: The Indian Catholic Press Association (ICPA) on December 1 expressed deep concern over the media’s failure to become the watchdog of governance in the country. Media, the fourth pillar of democracy has failed in its sacred duty of scrutinizing the government’s policies and programs. Instead it has turned out to be a pliable institution trying to live out of the ‘favors’ dished out by the government, bemoaned the association at its 26th national convention held at St. Paul’s Media Complex at Bandra in Mumbai. The theme of the convention was “Hit the Streets: Listen, Encounter, Engage” based on Pope Francis’s message this year for the World Communications Day that focuses on “Come and See (Jn 1:46): Communicating by Encountering People Where and as They Are.” Speaking at the inaugural function, Justice Aloysius Aguiar, a former Judge of Bombay High Court, said, “A good journalist is one who hits the street in pursuit of truth despite all the hardships and threats to life. But unfortunately the fourth pillar of democracy in the country has failed in its sacred duty of scrutinizing the government’s policies and programs. Instead it has turned out to be a pliable institution trying to live out
Hindu activists intensify attacks on Indian Christian prayer meets
The repeated attacks hint at systematic targeting and official bias against the minority community Hindu activists in India are stepping up disruption of Sunday prayer services under the guise of exposing forced religious conversions. Two such incidents were reported on Nov. 28. In national capital Delhi, activists of Bajrang Dal (Brigade of Hindu deity Hanuman) vandalized a newly inaugurated church in the Dwarka area. Minakshi Singh, general secretary of Unity in Compassion, told UCA News: “The church was inaugurated on Tuesday and was holding its first Sunday service. It was started by Ankur Nirula Ministries based in Jalandhar.” Singh alleged the police were biased against the minority community. They merely detained one of the attackers for about an hour or so and let him go after questioning. News website The Quint quoted a police official saying: “We received information at 9.30am on Nov. 28 that a quarrel had broken out at Matiala Road and on inquiry it was found that a group of residents and local miscreants had vandalized the board that read ‘church’.” The official said the police have registered two reports of offense, one against those who vandalized the church and another against those present inside the church for violating the Delhi Disaster Management
Delhi: Church in Dwarka vandalised allegedly by Hindutva group members, one arrested
11/29/2021: The attack reportedly took place when the warehouse-turned-church was holding its first Sunday prayer. A warehouse-turned-church in Delhi’s Dwarka area was vandalised on Sunday allegedly by members of Hindutva group Bajrang Dal, reported the Millennium Post. The attack reportedly took place when the church was holding its first Sunday prayer. “Police received information at 9.30 am on 28 November that a quarrel had broken out at a godown-turned-church on Matiala Road,” a police officer told The Quint. “On inquiry, it was found that a group of residents and local miscreants vandalised the board that read ‘church’.” The police have registered two first information reports – one against those accused of vandalism for causing public nuisance and another against those present in the church for violating Delhi Disaster Management Act guidelines – at the local Bindapur police station. The guidelines prohibit large gatherings in view of the coronavirus pandemic. The Delhi Disaster Management has allowed religious places to reopen for devotees, but the warehouse-turned-church had not been designated as religious premises, a police officer told Millennium Post. One person has been arrested in connection with the vandalism, reported The Indian Express. “Some people had gathered at a warehouse where they had put a board with word
The rise of ‘Godi Media’ in the U.S.!
(This article was originally published in the Indian Panorama) There is an urgent need for honest journalism to speak the truth to power in India and within the Diaspora. The primary function of journalism is to connect, inform and educate the public. Unless the media stands firm and refuses to be stifled and intimidated, there is very little hope in preserving freedom and justice and demanding accountability from power centers. The Indian ethnic press in the U.S. bears an even bigger responsibility in creating open space and helping to stop the spread of division and hatred within the community. Anything less would be tantamount to a total abdication of their moral responsibility to the public!” In a recent exchange with a leading publisher of an ethnic Indian newspaper, I inquired why he hasn’t carried a news item on the Indian Americans protesting before the United Nations where Prime Minister Modi was addressing the General Assembly. The answer came swiftly back in a query whether the demonstration was anti-India! I responded in kind, saying protesting Modi policies does not constitute taking an anti-India stand. Unfortunately, that is the sad reality that the ethnic Indian media has fallen into. A respected journalist recently told me that management chastised him for inviting
16 pastors falsely accused of disturbing peace after 40-strong Hindu mob storms church
Sixteen pastors have been falsely accused of disturbing the peace because they met with an official regarding the case of another pastor who had also been charged with “disturbing peace” after radical Hindu nationalists attacked his church. Police filed a case against the 16 pastors on Nov. 13, the day they went to the local magistrate’s office in the southern Indian state of Karnataka for peace talks on behalf of the Christian community and Pastor Chandrakanth, who had been told to appear before the official that day, according to the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern which didn't disclose the exact location. On Nov. 7, about 40 radical Hindu nationalists had attacked Pastor Chandrakanth and his congregation during a worship service. After the mob stormed the worship hall, church members formed a human barrier between their pastor and the radical Hindus. “The congregation stood before me as a human fence,” the pastor was quoted as saying. “Otherwise, they would have killed me. The radicals want to wipe out Christianity from this area and they think it is easy under the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) government, presently ruling the state.” However, after the police arrived on the scene, they filed a case against Pastor Chandrakanth,
Hindu extremists storm Christian gathering in Jhabua, in the Central Indian State ruled by the Hindu nationalist party.
Violence against Christian gatherings are becoming routine in a Madhya Pradesh district. Hindutva-inspired militants held a rally calling for a ban on Christian meetings. “At the start of the Advent season, we are concerned for the Christian community in Jhabua,” said Sayan K. George. Bhopal (AsiaNews) – In Jhabua, a district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, Hindu extremists are again putting more pressure on Christians. On Monday afternoon, militants inspired by Hindutva, a Hindu-centred nationalist ideology, held a rally with hundreds of activists "denouncing" alleged conversion activities among tribal people in some of the district’s rural areas. The incident comes after nine people were seized during an organised prayer in the village of Manpur on 10 December last year. As usual Hindutva activists broke into a building where the religious service was underway and called the police. A case was filed against the Christians under the state’s toughened up anti-conversion law. Pictures of the incident show Christians, their hands tied, held under guard by a Hindu nationalist activist. After they were taken to prison, they were released on bail. Now the rally has further heightened tensions. Hindu extremists handed a memorandum over to the local police superintendent and the local magistrate. In their 13-point petition,
