INDIA: ANTI-CONVERSION LAW PASSED

J। Grant Swank, Jr.


For a person to convert to Christ, he must have the government sign over that he can convert to Christ. In other words, there is no freedom of religious choice in India, per Compass Direct News. One has to bow down to the government officialdom first; otherwise, he sets himself up for persecution.

Persecution against Christians is a daily occurrence in India. Now it will increase.

In Madbya Pradesh north-central state, the state lawmakers passed the statute "making stricter the ‘anti-conversion’ law that has increased persecution of Christians."

When living in America with its freedom of religion, one can hardly imagine what it is like to live in a repressive regime where even the matters of soul choice must pass through the hands of the secular minds with power. To the Christian, that is another demonic move to work against the Holy Spirit’s love upon an inquiring soul.

"The amendment, introduced in the House assembly on Friday (July 21), requires clergy and ‘prospective converts’ to notify authorities of the intent to change religion one month before a ‘conversion ceremony.’ In its current form, the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act of 1968 requires that notice be sent to the district magistrate within seven days of conversion."

Imagine what all that means for a sincere convert to Christ along with his pastor having to write out forms before the testimony is made public. In America, a person chooses Christ as Lord God. That is it. He and his friends along with spiritual leaders can make known that joyous decision to anyone and everyone.

Not so in India.

"The advance information must state the name and address of the person converting, along with the date and venue of the conversion ceremony, after which authorities will decide whether the conversion was ‘forced’ or ‘by allurement’

"The penalty for failing to notify the administration remains imprisonment of up to one year, or a fine of up to 1,000 rupees (US$21), or both. Presented by state Home Minister Nagendra Singh, the amendment was passed by a voice vote without discussion.

"’This violates the fundamental right of the people, as it is the government which would decide if a person can be converted or not,’ Indira Iyengar, member of the Madhya Pradesh Minorities Commission, told Compass. She questioned the necessity of the amendment.

"’Despite the fact that numerous cases have been lodged against Christians on charges of conversion, not even a single person has been convicted by a court of law,’ she said. ‘It looks like it is to give fundamentalists a tool to batter Christians.’"

When Christ told His own that they would be hated on Earth just as He was hated, that is played out generation upon generation in one country after another around the globe. "He came to His own but His own received Him not." So it is that His followers become spiritual strangers to their own planet, just as He was a stranger to His own property.

Christians in a free country with ready religious expression should thank God daily for that freedom. They also should work hard to make certain that freedom is not whittled away by the anti-God secularists who have a strident opposing spirit against Christ.

If Christians do not keep watch over their freedom of religious expression, it could be taken away from them even in a free nation. Then they would be hampered like the Christians are in India.

When missionaries work hard in India, they are curtailed by the government due to the red tape laid upon their gospel efforts. Hindus and Muslims are not open to persons coming to recognize Christ as God Savior. Therefore, they work through government and police to badger converts so that they will recant.

"Frequently Hindu extremists have invoked the state’s ‘anti-conversion’ law as a means of inciting mobs against Christians or having them arrested without evidence. Two members of the National Commission for Minorities, Harcharan Singh Josh and Lama Chosphel Zotpa, visited Madhya Pradesh and neighboring Chhattisgarh state from June 13 to 18 to inquire into reports of increasing incidents of anti-Christian violence.

"’Obviously, the life of Christians has become miserable at the hands of miscreants in connivance with the police,’ they noted in their report. ‘There are allegations that when atrocities were committed on Christians by the miscreants, police remained mere spectators and in certain cases they did not even register FIRs [First Information Reports].’"

It is the same in Muslim countries. If the new Christian is not murdered, he is harassed while local press and police authorities turn their heads the other way. These authorities thereby encourage the meanness leveled against Christians.

"Among other incidents of Christians arrested under the anti-conversion law, last October a Christian worker was jailed in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, after members of the Dharma Raksha Samiti (DRS or Religious Protection Committee), a Hindu extremist group, surrounded the Heera Nagar police station protesting ‘conversions.’

"John, who ran three schools for children, was accused of converting 11 children between the ages of 5 and 10 even though none of the children had converted to Christianity or complained of attempted conversion."