The Evangelical Fellowship of India has released its 2023-2024, 56-page ‘Survey of Youth Issues Among Christian Young People’ with data collected by Christ’s Love For All (CLFA) Youth Movement, focusing on the contemporaneous post-pandemic challenges and influences on Christian youth in the country. Data collection for the survey involved getting the views of 416 youngsters aged 15 to 24 between October 2023 and January 2024. Four main themes and 13 sub themes were identified, including gender identity, media addiction and the significance of family and intergenerational discipleship. According to the report, about 356 million people in India are aged between 10 to 24, equivalent to one in every three people. The report’s authors hightlighted the need for churches to invest efforts in “youth centric initiatives” because India “in this sense” is a young country. “More than at any time in the past, the lives of today’s youth from urban areas have become significantly more challenging,” said the report. “There has been a notable shift in terms of socio economic development, lifestyle, technological advancement, and environmental surroundings over the last few decades.“About 87% of young women and men living in developing countries face challenges brought about by limited and unequal access to resources, healthcare, education,

Mumbai: Christians in India are being meticulously denigrated, demonised, and bad-mouthed, said Father Cedric Prakash, a Jesuit priest based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. "Challenges that Christians face in India are tremendous. They will take away our land, properties, and homes," said Prakash on Tuesday evening while speaking at a virtual discussion organised by FIACONA (Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations) on the subject 'Challenges Facing the Christians of India Today'. The aim of the meeting, which was attended by members of the Indian Christian diaspora, clergy, and civil rights activists, among others, was to lay out a path to the challenges in pursuing justice in cases of religious persecution, especially after the recent national elections. Reverend Evangeline Anderson-Rajkumar, who moderated the meeting, said that Christians and people of faith faced a global challenge and needed to map out patterns of violence and its challenges. Prakash spoke about the challenges Christians face in India and how faith communities and civil society work for advocacy in the area. One of the instances discussed was the recent statement by a judge of the Allahabad High Court who said that unchecked and unlawful conversion of religion could lead to the majority becoming tomorrow's minority. The judge had remarked

Church leaders and rights activists have deplored the passing of sweeping changes to the anti-conversion law in a northern Indian state where Christians complain of harassment. The Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which provides for stricter punishment, including life imprisonment for fraudulent or forced conversion, was passed by the state assembly on July 30. Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, is ruled by the Hindu right-wing Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The National Council of Churches in India, in a July 31 statement, said the amended law “violates the provisions of the Indian Constitution” and “adversely affects the harmonious life in India and the basic rights of its citizens.” “Conversion itself is not an offense unless induced by undue influence, misrepresentation, or coercion, which only the victim can claim,” stressed the council, an ecumenical forum of Protestant and Orthodox churches in India. Reverend Asir Ebenezer, council general secretary, said the amended law grants extensive authority to officials and any third parties and can be misused to target specific individuals or communities based on religious prejudice. “The law is a risk… for heightened harassment and criminalization of peaceful religious practices, including baptism in Christianity,” he added. The

A northern Indian state plans to amend its anti-conversion law, aiming to sharpen punishments against religious conversions. On July 29, the Uttar Pradesh state government proposed sweeping changes to its anti-conversion laws, including tightening bail conditions and increasing the maximum jail term from 10 years to life imprisonment. State Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, a Hindu monk-turned-politician, said the law — Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion — needs to be amended to address the problem of religious conversions. The proposed amendment states that a person who violates the provisions of the law can be imprisoned for 20 years or his or her entire life. The law criminalizes conversion by force, inducements, or fraudulent methods, which allows any Christian missionary activity to be construed as force or inducement for conversion. The current law allows a person to file a complaint against illegal conversion only if the complainant is a victim. Blood relatives of such victims can also file complaints. However, the proposed amendment widens the scope of complaints, saying, “Any information related to violation of the provisions of the Act can be given by any person” to police or authorities. In cases related to mass religious conversions, jail terms have been increased to 7-14 years from

People of India yearned to have a better change when they were fed up of rampant corruption that soared up all over the country during the long regime of the Congress dynasty. Then the BJP became the major alternative political party with commitment for innovative development programs. People of India chose the BJP to power with aspiration to get liberated from slavery of poverty, have self sufficiency, economic growth and development. With diligence the Saffron party rose to power in 2014 and got reelected in 2019 with a comfortable majority in Lok Sabha while the Congress was nearly completely decimated. It strengthened position even in the northeast and Nagaland. The slogans and catch phrases, ‘acche din anne wala hai’ and ‘sabka saath sabka vikas’ and good governance were systematically disseminated to attract and connect with the grass root level people. However, when ‘acche din’ arrived, religious minorities had to face persecutions in various places of India. Hidden agenda became open agenda. The Christians were often persecuted, their Churches vandalized and ostracized with false allegations of paid bribery for and forced conversions of Hindu believers into Christianity. The Dalits or SCs(Scheduled Castes)are placed at the lowest echelon of the Hindu society which

INCREASING THE maximum punishment from 10 years to life imprisonment; widening the ambit to allow any person to file a complaint; making bail more difficult — these are among the key changes proposed in the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2024, tabled in the Assembly on Monday. Saying that the existing provisions under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, are “not sufficient”, the government sought to make its anti-conversion law more stringent. “Keeping in mind the sensitivity and seriousness of the crime of illegal religious conversion, the dignity and social status of women, and the organised and planned activities of foreign and anti-national elements and organisations in illegal religious conversion and demographic change, it has been felt that the amount of fine and penalty provided in the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act should be increased and the bail conditions should be made as stringent as possible,” said the Bill’s statement of reasons. “As the existing penal provisions of the Act are not sufficient to prevent and control religious conversion and mass conversion in respect of minor, disabled, mentally challenged person, woman or person belonging to Scheduled Caste or Scheduled

MUMBAI, India – A Pentecostal pastor in India has been accused of “illegal conversion” and then attacked in the central state of Chhattisgarh. Pastor Varghese Chacko was in the town of Dhamtari on 21 July, attending a house-warming prayer meeting at the home of one of his church members.According to a local source, the house is next door to a Hindu temple, from which a group of approximately 20 villagers, mostly young adults, had been watching the Christians gather. After they saw Chacko arrive in his car, the right-wing group barged into the house, making conversion allegations and demanding that they stop the prayer meeting, and proceeding to call the police and accuse the Christians of “illegal conversion.”The police arrived at the house and asked the pastor to leave. According to the 2011 census, over 93.25 percent of the state’s population practised Hinduism, above the national average of 80 percent. The Christian population is about 1.9 percent, below the national average of 2.3 percent. The state government is ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a Hindu-nationalist party. Since 2014, India has been ruled by the BJP, which has strong links to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a militant Hindu nationalist organization. Religious minorities have