*** No you don't. But HOW does a FORCED CONVERSION stick? That IS my question.
Similarly it is extremely easy to abandon a faith converted into by
material allurements, as you proved with examples ( we won't even get into
the circumstasnces of re-conversion ). So what would be the rationale to
JUSTIFY conversion ban.
Allegorically, I might add, "Why do we need a law to deter religious discrimination in India?" If the admission official turns down your application for some college/university just because you are a Muslim, won't it be simple to drag him down to the highway and stone him to death ?! And then we can all replace him with an Agnostic who doesnot care and live happily ever after.:-)
The intuitive reaction is that we cannot do so because of various social and political effects that such an action would result in. Similarly, once converted forcefully, an individual or a group might not be able to re-convert due to various reasons...For example, after a serf is converted under the sword, I do not think it is irrational to surmise that after conversion, the same landlord will sit him under the proverbial "sword of Damocles": ready to fall as soon as he reconverts.
The law presumes that an average individual is (1) incapable of defending himself, (2) unintelligent and (3)and if he retaliates, he might retaliate with a force way superior than the threat. If we could have grabbed every pickpocket and crook by the scruff and chop his hands off and if such an action were considered ethical, then there would have been no need for any law or regulation !
The law is there to make sure that obvious evils, even though they might be remedied, donot happen. Didn't someone say, " Prevention is better than cure"?
Forceful conversions has always been the order of the day. Charlemagne once said," If there is anyone of the Saxon people lurking among them unbaptized, and if he scorns to come to baptism and wishes to absent himself and stay a pagan, let him die." The REAL problem with religious conversions in India is expressed beautifully in the following article by Dr Justice P. Venugopal (Retd). The conclusion, even though said from the point of view of a zealous Hindu, is perhaps very true.
Syamanta
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Why the need for anti-conversion law
By Dr Justice P. Venugopal (Retd)
Formidable forces operating in the field of conversion warrant anti-conversion law. The phenomenal financial wherewithal available for Christian missionaries for proselytisation and evangelistic activities to facilitate conversion of people of other religions to Christianity is indeed mind-boggling. Their annual financial budget for proselytisation and evangelic activities in foreign countries is 145 billion dollars (Rs. 7,50,000 crore). Looking at the infrastructure facilities they have on role four million full-time workers numbering larger than the combined military strength of United States of America and Europe. This is the largest single army of workers save the red army of China to propagate Christianity. They run 13,000 major libraries. They publish 22,000 periodicals and print four billion tracts every year. They operate 1800 TV and radio stations propagating Christianity. These are the statistical figures published in the year 1989 as evidenced by an article of S. Gurumurthy published in New Indian Express in October 2002.
What about their strength in India? They have more than 1,00,000 Pastors evangelists and preachers. They have set a goal of building 2000 new churches by the year 2000 and to build in Tamil Nadu alone 1000 churches in the far-off villages. These are the plans of just one sect of Christianity. The full-time Indian missionary society of one denomination has increased from 420 in 1973 to 2941 in 1983, an increase of seven times in just 10 years. These are the figures given by Gurumurthi in an article published in October 2002 by New Indian Express. The generals of this army set-up for conversion state: �All over India numerical conversion was on regular increase for nearly 100 years and in the period between 1961 to 1971 there was a decline in conversion. The only major exception is the North-East where the traditional trend is continuing particularly in Arunachal Pradesh.�
Looking at the meticulous planning, preparation, documentation and follow-up action Arun Shourie in his seminal work Missionaries in India states that it is more like pentagon strategy to conquer than a spiritual scheme to serve. The United States Commission on international Religious Freedom is �monitoring very closely� the legislation against religious conversions enacted in Tamil Nadu. This only shows how foreign missionaries are evincing keen interest and their meticulous follow- up action on conversion activities in India. Globally supported and funded Christian missionaries are functioning with unabated zeal and enthusiasm to spread their tentacles to find out victims for conversions to Christianity.
As stated earlier, the annual financial budget for proselytisation and evangelistic activities by foreign countries is of the order Rs. 7,50,000 crore and a substantial portion of this amount finds their entry into India as seen from the following three circumstances. After the Meenakshipuram conversions of Hindus to Islam that took place in February 1981 the Ministry of Home Affairs presented evidence of the extent of foreign support and funding of Christian missionaries for conversion of people to Christianity and advised the state Governments and Union Territory administrations to enact Anti- conversion legislation on the lines of the existing Acts in Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Arunachal Pradesh. In the Mandaikadu Commission of inquiry there was ample evidence to suggest that foreign money that flows into the country to maintain educational and medical institutions of Christian missionaries is being diverted for the use of professional proselytisers for effecting conversion to Christianity. The commission suggested amendment of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act to plug the loopholes and prevent diversion of funds for proselytisation activities. In this connection, it may be significant to note that also reported that Christian missionaries are getting substantial contribution from foreign countries for their conversion activities.
Conversion attempts leads to social tension
In January 2003 tension prevailed near Deva Raja market in Mysore when a religious congregation led by Christian missionaries made derogatory references against Hindu gods and made attempts to convert people from the economically weaker sections and the local MIA went to the police station and lodged a complaint and the police are investigating the case.
The recent attempt at mass conversion in Selaiyeur (Chennai) should open the eyes of Hindus to the objectionable modus operandi used by foreign missionaries to collect a crowed for their ambitious programmes to convert 3000 Dalits to Christianity. The Dalits were told that the meeting was being convened to celebrate Ambedkar�s birthday and they were unaware of the real purpose for which the meeting was held. When the Christian missionaries started preaching and made efforts to convert the Dalits to Christianity there were loud protests and confusion and the meeting abruptly ended resulting in the conversion of few Dalits to Christianity. This is an instance to show the fraudulent means adopted to convert Dalits to Christianity. This appeared as a news item in the New Indian Express published two months back.
US Missionary Joseph William Cooper came to India on a tourist visa and was directed to leave India before 26.1.2003 on the charge of preaching Christianity and indulging in religious conversions near Trivandrum in Kerala. Cooper violated a 1955 Central Government order restricting foreign Christian missionaries from making speeches at religious conventions while visiting India on a tourist visa. Hence he was directed to leave India. Evangelistic activities by foreign Christian missionaries in India are prejudicial to the interest of the country, affect social harmony and are a threat to maintenance of public order. The Joseph William cooper incident must be an eye opener to other States in India.
Convert an inevitable extremist and a potential terrorist
Marvin Geonzon, a Christian, was converted to Islam in 1997 and joined a terror factory where his instructors taught him subjects like �Jihad� the holy war by Muslims against person of other religious and bomb making. Marvin has matured into a terrorist. He set off a bomb in a restaurant in Southern Philippines killing six people and within four years after conversion he became a terrorist. The magazine Far Eastern Economist published an article under the heading �How a convert turned into a terrorist� and cited a number of instances of terrorist activities committed by the new converts to Islam and concluded by stating �that many of the zealous young converts to Islam are prepared to die for the new found faith�. And anti-terror official of the Philippines recently declared: �The new wave of converts to Islam could prove more dangerous than established Muslim guerilla group.� According to him, �Converts are ideal terrorists and they are eager to prove themselves worthy of their new faith�. In his article on �Converts to Violence� in New York Post Editor Daniel Pipes states the link between neo-converts and violent terrorists and concludes by saying that it was no surprise that the prime suspect in the Washington DC area sniper attack that took place on November 11, 2000 was found to be John Allen Muhammad, a convert to Islam seventeen years back.
Abdullah-EI-Faisal, aged 39, was converted to Islam and came to Britain in the nineties and was arrested in 2000 after questions were raised in British Parliament about his activities. He was accused of going around the country inciting �impression-able� Muslim youths to kill �non-believers�. Tapes of his inflammatory speeches were played before the Jury. In one tape recorded before the well known September 11 attack that took place in the United States he was heard telling his followers to �learn to shoot �fly planes and use missiles�. In another speech recorded in tape he justified use of nuclear weapons against a country, which has 100 per cent non-believers. Holding that the extremist Muslim Cleric Abdullah-El- Faisal guilty of inciting racial hatred by urging his followers to kill non-believers including Hindus and Jews a British Court at Old Bailey sentenced him to nine years imprisonment and recommended that the accused should be deported to his native country, Jamaica after completing his sentence. This is another instance of how a convert becomes an extremist indulging in terrorist activities.
The natural psychology of disgruntled convert is to turn against his religion by birth and it is easy to make him an extremist and a terrorist. A convert to Islam is a naturally motivated person and an ideal candidate for �Jihad�. The converts in India are driven by the same psychology. Christian converts in Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Tripura have demonstrated the same psychology. Some Islamic terrorists in Tamil Nadu are new converts to Islam. Thus there is nexus between conversion and terrorism and between converts and terrorists.
*Conclusion *
Foreign Christian missionaries should understand that freedom to propagate religion under the Indian Constitution is confined to only Citizens of India and do not extend to foreign Christian missionaries. Further freedom to propagate religion does not mean the right to convert people of one religion to another religion. After examining the different meanings of the word �propagate� in Article 21(1) of the Constitution Chief Justice A.N. Ray of the Supreme Court held that what Article 21(1) grants is not the right to convert another person to one�s own religion by exposition of its tenets and ruled that propagation does not mean conversion of one person to another religion. Rev. Stainslaws v. State of Madhya Pradesh (AIR 1977 SC 908). From this decision of the Supreme Court it is clear that the right to propagate religion granted in Article 21(1) of the Constitution does not include the right to convert a person to another religion.
Globally supported and funded and with meticulous planning, preparation and follow-up action the converters have exterminated hundreds and thousands of native Americans and turned the United States into a Christian nation. Whole of Europe has been turned into a Christian nation leaving no native element. Latin American Countries have become Christians. 92 per cent of the Philippines 32 per cent of Africa and Korea have embraced Christianity. The ancient Rome and Greek Civilisations have gone into the archives after the advent of Christianity. Should this happen to India? Should Hindu civilisation and culture to be a thing of the past? In the world there are 52 countries for Muslims and 88 countries for Christians. For Hindus there is only one country and that is India. Should Hindu India be allowed to be exterminated and wiped out as happened to other countries of the world?
Christians came to this land with Bible and preached their religion. Muslim invaders came to India with the sword and spread their religion. Spiritually liberated, as Indians are, we accommodated both and also assimilated their religions as we were confident that Hinduism would not be impaired by such accommodations and assimilations. But Hindu generosity and liberal hospitality should not be allowed to be exploited to spread other religions and convert Hindus to other religions as it would amount to debasing and sabotaging Hindu religion which does not believe in conversion or go to other countries to market their religion. Hinduism does not preach conversion. Hinduism is the only religion in the world that does not go for conversion. Should Hinduism be penalised for following this ideology by converting Hindus to other religion?
-------------------- Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said:
That eliminates the last vestiges of excuses for abridging as fundamental an individual right as to the choice of a faith -- or to change to one other than the one born into, doesn't it? Since EVEN the superstitious 'jaat-mora' cannot be an excuse.
As to your remark, regarding the Dimasa's complaint, I wish, I did not have to repeat the words, 'force', 'allurement' etc, over and over again.
*** No you don't. But HOW does a FORCED CONVERSION stick? That IS my question.
Similarly it is extremely easy to abandon a faith converted into by
material allurements, as you proved with examples ( we won't even get into
the circumstasnces of re-conversion ). So what would be the rationale to
JUSTIFY conversion ban.
And if CONVERSION could be prohibited, why can't re-conversion be similarly prohibited?
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