Religious Intolerance :: Missionaries face jail in India
Religious Intolerance :: Missionaries face jail in India: "
Last week Madhya Pradesh became the latest state to pass an anti-religious conversion bill that could leave Christian missionaries open to criminal charges.
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Last month police in Madhya Pradesh raided a Bible study group and arrested worshippers after complaints that they were converting Hindus. Nuns have been raped and several priests have been murdered in the past seven years. Last year 11 members of a Hindu mob that burnt an Australian missionary and his two young sons to death as they slept had their convictions overturned.
Hindu fundamentalists claim missionaries, mostly American and South Korean, prey on the ignorance of lower castes and persuade them to turn against their culture. The missionaries say they provide education and healthcare and teach the Bible to untouchables whose own religion treats them as outcasts.
“In the past 10 years Christianity has taken off in north India. Dalits (untouchables) are asking, ‘What has Hinduism done for us?’” said Richard, who asked for his name and that of his wife to be changed. “We’re authentic followers of Jesus in a country with a range of ideas, but where one section is antagonistic towards all non-Hindus. I don’t think we’re doing anything wrong.”
Last week Madhya Pradesh became the latest state to pass an anti-religious conversion bill that could leave Christian missionaries open to criminal charges.
....
Last month police in Madhya Pradesh raided a Bible study group and arrested worshippers after complaints that they were converting Hindus. Nuns have been raped and several priests have been murdered in the past seven years. Last year 11 members of a Hindu mob that burnt an Australian missionary and his two young sons to death as they slept had their convictions overturned.
Hindu fundamentalists claim missionaries, mostly American and South Korean, prey on the ignorance of lower castes and persuade them to turn against their culture. The missionaries say they provide education and healthcare and teach the Bible to untouchables whose own religion treats them as outcasts.
“In the past 10 years Christianity has taken off in north India. Dalits (untouchables) are asking, ‘What has Hinduism done for us?’” said Richard, who asked for his name and that of his wife to be changed. “We’re authentic followers of Jesus in a country with a range of ideas, but where one section is antagonistic towards all non-Hindus. I don’t think we’re doing anything wrong.”
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