RSS slams Pope for remarks against Indian anti-conversion laws >From Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi, June 6 (IANS) A powerful Hindu body linked to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday slammed the Vatican for criticising anti-conversion laws in some Indian states. Taking strong exception to Pope John Paul II's reported remarks terming India's anti-conversion laws as unfortunate and unjust, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) asked the government to register a formal protest. "The utterances of the Pope (John Paul II) question India's sovereignty and are a direct challenge to our pluralist tradition," RSS spokesman Ram Madhav told a news conference here. "We urge the government to register their strong protests to the head of the Vatican for his intemperate remarks on Indian laws." According to Madhav, the Pope's statements confirmed fears that there was a "sinister design" behind conversion activities by Christian missionaries and they were not just sporadic. Madhav quoted the Pope as telling some Indian bishops: "Unfortunately, in some regions the state authorities have yielded to the pressures of these extremists and have passed unjust conversion laws..." The Pope reportedly urged the bishops to courageously continue evangelisation, Madhav said. Laws against religious conversions are in place in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Arunachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. The RSS spokesperson sought to make a distinction between conversion and the aggressive campaign to "re-convert" people to the Hindu religion in parts of India. "Re-conversion is not against the law. It is just homecoming." Stating that India's pluralist culture was under threat from exclusivist religious dogmas such as Christianity, Madhav said his organisation wanted similar anti-conversion laws in other states to prevent missionaries from converting more people to Christianity. He cited reports of tension over reports of Muslims converting to Christianity in Jammu and Kashmir and Sikhs doing it in Chhattisgarh. "Under Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi (of the Congress party) the state has become a safe haven for proselytisation activities." Quoting what he said was a Vatican document put out after the World Peace Summit in 2000, Madhav said the papal doctrine was based on the intolerant belief that the Roman Catholic religion was superior to all others and non-Christians had grave deficiencies as they did not believe in Jesus Christ. --Indo-Asian News Service ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
