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

Introduction In the memorandum dated July 20, 2024 and signed by the national president of United Christian Forum (New Delhi), Dr. Michael Williams, the Forum submitted its grievances to Minority Affairs minister, Kiren Rijiju, against increased violence and hostility against Christian community in India. It noted that in 2023, a total of 733 incidents of violence against Christians were reported to it, with an average of 61 incidents per month. It said the figures only includes incidents reported to it over the calls, and excludes any incidents from Manipur, which is embroiled in ethnic violence since May 2023. It also said that as of June this year, 361 incidents targeting Christians have already been reported to the Forum. Incidentally, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh have emerged as the leading states in targeted violence against Christians, with 96 and 92 incidents reported from these states, respectively. The memorandum has categorised incidents into four categories, namely, “Violent Attacks”, “Violence against Scheduled Tribes in Bastar Region, Chhattisgarh”, “False complaints and Third-party complaints”, and “Police Complicity and Failure to Verify the Veracity of The Incident”. The memorandum citing the PUCL report, “Criminalising Practice of Faith”, provided details about several reported incidents of targeted violence against the minority

As anti-Christian violence continues in India, Christian leadership there, including the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), has been putting pressure on the national government to address violence against Christians from Hindu nationalists as well as other concerns. A delegation under the ecumenical United Christian Forum (UCF) on July 20 called on Kiren Rijiju, minister for minority affairs, to curb “targeted violence and atrocities against Christians.” The UCF meeting with the key minister in the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government came a week after the entire leadership of CBCI — led by its president, Archbishop Andrews Thazhath, and secretary-general, Archbishop Anil Couto of Delhi — met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 12. “It is with heavy hearts that we express our anguish over the growing attacks on Christians and their institutions by antisocial elements in different parts of India,” the CBCI leadership told Modi, who assumed the office of prime minister for the third in time early June. “There have been several instances of harassment and attacks under false allegations of forced conversions and the misuse of anti-conversion laws. We wish to clarify that the Church firmly opposes forced conversions,” the CBCI pointed out. The ecumenical UCF, which had been consistently monitoring

PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad high court has observed that the right to freedom of religion does not include the right to convert others. The court gave the observation while denying bail to a person accused of religious conversions. Rejecting the bail plea of Shriniwas Rav Nayak on Tuesday, Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal opined that the Constitution of India permits citizens the right to profess, practice and propagate their religion, but does not allow conversion of religion. “The Constitution confers on each individual the fundamental right to profess, practice and propagate his religion. However, the individual right to freedom of conscience and religion cannot be extended to construe a collective right to proselytize,” the bench said and added that the right to religious freedom belongs equally to the person converting and the individual sought to be converted. Nayak, a native of Andhra Pradesh, was booked under the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021 for converting some Hindus to Christianity, promising relief from pain and an improved life. While some villagers accepted Christianity and began praying, the informant, Brijlal, escaped and reported the incident to the police. According to the prosecution, the informant had been invited to the house of a co-accused in UP’s

Naga group National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) cautioned Arambai Tenggol, a radical Meitei organisation, over the treatment of Christians in Manipur. In its statement, the NSCN-IM said that ever since the Meitei-Kuki-Zo ethnic conflict started in May last year, although the group has maintained neutrality, it has been cautiously following day to day developments. The NSCN-IM alleged that those operating Arambai Tenggol hold strong convictions or extreme principles to bring about fundamental socio-political reforms. Saying that violent extremism as allegedly followed by Arambai Tenggol is a threat to peace and tolerance, the NSCN-IM said it would “take the stand to guard the interest and safety of the Christians in Manipur, given the fact that Arambai Tengol bears strong animosity towards the Christians, both in spirit and actions”. This article is originally published on https://indianexpress.com/article/india/naga-group-arambai-tenggol-treatment-christians-manipur-9470789/