Letters

Support religious freedom in India

Scott Schittl

Contents - Dec 2015 Religious freedom: Catholic bishops face more than prosecution over marriage leaflet - Pat Byrne Education: Religious education: parents' responsibility or school's? - Fr Pat Stratford Apostolic voyage: Pope Francis supports Catholic church during Africa visit - AD2000 Report Genocide: US religious leaders condemn ISIS genocide against Christians - Nahal Toosi Germany: Pope Francis deplores decline of Catholicism in Germany - AD2000 Report China: New clampdown on believers in China - Bernardo Cervellera Religious freedom: Am I My Brother's Keeper? (Genesis 4:10) - Anne Lastman Has the Messiah come or returned? - Andrew Sholl Ordinariate Missal: "Divine Worship: The Missal" preserves Anglican patrimony - Fr James Bradley St Clement's revealing Letter to the Corinthians - Peter Westmore Letters: Euthanasia: letter to a PM - Arnold Jago Letters: Synod outcome "led by the Holy Spirit" Letters: Support religious freedom in India - Scott Schittl Reflection: Christmas: a time of light, peace and joy - Archbishop Mark Coleridge

Recently, the Indian Government announced plans to introduce so-called "anti-conversion" measures, which are unjust laws designed to prevent their citizens from leaving the Hindu faith.

Since then, the Indian government has been forced to face its rising intolerance, as nearly 200 of the country's leading intellectuals have released a scathing statement condemning the "resolute silence" of the Indian Government to acts of violence against cultural and religious minorities.

Specifically, the intellectuals' manifesto said that the Government's "negligible response" on such matters amounts to the "encouragement to greater hostility and aggression, especially against religious and caste minorities."

This was huge news in India. And, perhaps, this national outcry on religious intolerance has delayed the governing BJP's plans to introduce "anti-conversion" measures on the national level.

Although "anti-conversion" measures already exist in 6 of India's 29 states, this would be the first time a national or federal law would seek to restrict an individual Indian's religious liberty, which, theoretically, has protection under the Indian Constitution.

As the US State Department's International Religious Freedom Report 2014 shows, "anti-conversion" laws, at the state level in India, have been used by local authorities to harass religious minority populations – usually with trumped-up charges.

One of the proponents of the new law is quoted as saying: "The bill will advocate for a non-bailable warrant to be issued against the person found engaged in the act [of conversion], along with a ten-year jail [sentence]".

In fact, India has a huge population of religious minorities. And, these groups are all made up of individual people.

But a delay is not good enough. We now are, therefore, calling on the BJP to not just delay, but decisively scrap plans for the introduction of these "anti-conversion" measures which are principally directed against Christians.

Please sign here:

http://www.citizengo.org/en/pr/30948-please-help-religious-liberty-india-under-threat-right-now

The proposed measures are clearly not in keeping with fundamental human rights and human dignity. And any BJP attempt to nationalise these bad laws should be firmly rejected.

SCOTT SCHITTL,
CitizenGO, USA

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 28 No 11 (December 2015 - January 2016), p. 11