controversial law prohibiting religious conversions.
The ‘Rajasthan Dharma Swatantrik Vidhayak,’ or Rajasthan Religious Freedom Bill, adopted late Friday, April 7, forbids conversion activities "by allurement" "fraudulent means" or pressure, punishing "violators" with up to five years in prison and a hefty fine.
Evangelical Christians have denied mass conversions and say those who convert do so out of their own will, in part to escape the rigid Hindu caste hierarchy.
Authorities in Rajasthan state, ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), defended banning religious conversions saying they "were weakening communal harmony." Church observers said the real reason behind the law is fear among Hindus over growing Christian influence in tribal areas, especially among Dalits, the lowest caste and "untouchables" in India’s ancient system of Hinduism.
The All-India Christian Council (AICC) told Indian media that the legislation "is not just mischievous, but downright unconstitutional. The right to follow or change to a particular faith can never be unlawful. At least not in a civilized society."
"FORCING" HINDUS
The religious conversions ban comes after Hindu hard-line groups and government officials accused one of India’s largest Christian mission groups, Emmanuel Mission International (EMI) in Kota of "forcing" Hindus to accept Christianity.
Last week authorities rejected an appeal to release on bail Samuel Thomas, the president of EMI and its US-based affiliate Hopegivers International (HI), who was recently detained on charges of "communal disharmony" for his alleged involvement in publishing a perceived anti-Hindu book.
The Christian leader denied the charges and said his detention was part of efforts by Rajasthan’s government to shut down EMI operations, including Hopegivers-supported orphanages, the hospital and leprosy or HIV-AIDS outreaches, printing presses, bookstores, churches, schools and other institutions. On Monday, April 10, a judge was to decide his fate, said HI Executive Director Michael Glenn in a statement to BosNewsLife.
Rajasthan is not the only Indian state with fresh tensions over religious conversions. Last week, April 1, the BJP-run government of Gujarat reportedly declined to renew its contract with Catholic administrators of a leprosy hospital in Ahmedabad, on grounds that the nuns were "preaching Christianity."
ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
Elsewhere in Kottayam district, in the southern state of Kerala, a pastor who converted to Christianity from Islam was reportedly recovering from wounds caused by an apparent assassination attempt. Pastor Paul Ciniraj Mohammed, was riding his motorbike in Kottayam, March 16, when a motorized rickshaw rammed into him, fracturing his knee, a Christian news agency said.
While he was in hospital, two men carrying weapons later tried to break into his house apparently intending to attack his family as well, said Compass Direct. The militants reportedly fled when his wife shouted the name of Jesus, after discovering that the telephone line had been cut. It was unclear whether Hindu or Muslim militants were responsible.
There are concerns these tensions could escalate in violence comparable to 1998 when Christian prayer halls were torched in the western state of Gujarat, and in 1999 when Australian Missionary Graham Staines and his two small sons were burnt to death in a remote tribal area in the eastern state of Orissa.
Hindus account for about 80 percent of India’s 1.1 billion people and Christians under three percent. Muslims make up around 14 percent but conversions between Hindus and Muslims are extremely rare, analysts say. In Rajasthan state Hindus comprise 89 percent of the local population, while Christians represent only 0.11 percent, according to official estimates. (With BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos, BosNewsLife reports, BosNewsLife Resarch and reports from India)
