ICC Note:

India guarantees freedom of religion in its constitution but Hindus are increasingly using anti-conversion laws to prevent Christians from practicing their faith. Anti-conversion laws are supposed to prevent people from forcing others to convert to a religion, but that is generally only applied to Christians. If Hindus think that Christians are forcefully converting Hindus to Christianity, they will harass, attack, assault, arrest, and sometimes kill the accused. Recently, a group of Christians taking children to VBS and a nun have been accused of forcefully converting children, but there is no evidence and Hindus coerce confessions from witnesses. An archbishop is calling for an end to the “conversion bogey” and  a cessation of persecution of Christians practicing their faith.

7/4/2017 India (Crux Now) – Hindu nationalists are using “the conversion bogey” to harass Christians and other religious minorities in India.

Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil, SDB, Archbishop emeritus of Guwahati, spoke to Crux about the situation of Christians in the country on the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, who is believed to have brought the Gospel to India, and to have been martyred near modern day Chennai. Thomas is the patron saint of the country, and the July 3 celebration is a solemnity in India.

Since 2014, India has been ruled by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has strong links to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a militant Hindu nationalist organization.

Incidents of harassment have increased over the past few months, with various Christians being detained or arrested for “attempted conversion,” and places of worship being vandalized.

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