Although an apparent deterrent to Christianity, a proposed national anti-conversion law replicating ones already in place in some states in India, points to growing Christian influence in that country, according to the International Mission Board (IMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Christians in India have suggested that such laws could even serve to fuel the movement.
“Typically these are states where a good number of people have been converted,” the IMB source said, “so they feel threatened.” For example, Orissa, one of the states getting attention for its anti-conversion law and recent murders of Christians, is an area where Christianity is gathering strength, according to the IMB.
Anti-conversion laws, like those in place in Orissa — as well as Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu — require a person to petition local government officials for permission to change religions. Named the Religious Freedom Act, the national law also demands that aspiring converts have a secondary education, according to Religion News Service. This requirement may effectively disenfranchise the country’s 350 million illiterate population from formally changing religions.
Christians challenge law
The law was passed last March but has not yet been enacted because of a challenge from a Christian group, according to World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News and Analysis. A similar law also has been proposed in Sri Lanka, causing concern among missionaries there.
Failure to abide by state law is punishable by up to two years of imprisonment and a fine. If the person who has converted is a minor, a woman, a member of a tribal group or low caste, the penalties increase.
Radical Hindus tend to believe that those converting to Christianity, especially the low caste, are being coerced, or even bribed, to come to Christ, according to the IMB. The World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News and Analysis quotes Previn Togadi, head of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of the Bharatiya Janata Party and author of the new anti-conversion law, as labeling Christian witness “nothing but religious terrorism.”
Police recently arrested a non-IMB missionary and four church leaders in Arunachal Pradesh after Christian groups in Nagaland were accused of forcing people of other faiths to convert to Christianity, reported Compass Direct news service.
Beyond implementing and enforcing anti-conversion laws, there has been another notable backlash against Christianity. Thirteen Hindu extremists were found guilty last September of murdering Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons in 1999.
A mob set fire to the vehicle in which Staines and his sons, accused of converting tribal people, were sleeping. Catholic priest Orul Doss of Balasore diocese also was murdered in the tribal region of Orissa, allegedly for the same reason.
Yet nationally the people of India do have a significant level of religious liberty, according to the IMB source. While anti-conversion laws may force churches to adapt the way they operate, Christians in India have reported that conversions are still taking place.
And enforcing such laws on a broad scale might prove difficult. “India’s so big I don’t see how they can really police this. Sure, it will be just another obstacle, but the gospel keeps spreading there.”
More than 1 billion people live in India. Only 3 percent are Christian. Of that 3 percent, 1.9 percent, or 19 million, are evangelical Christians. There are more Hindus there than anywhere else in the world, according to the IMB, and India has the second highest Muslim population in the world. Some 390 million Muslims live in South Asia.
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