For those not well acquainted with Christianity, there is a misguided notion 
that a "ritual" can convert people into Christians. The sacrament of baptism is 
one such rite, that is often thought to convert, hence images of people being 
dragged off to baptism ceremonies and "forcibly" converted are easy to create. 
The truth cannot be further from the fiction. One can no more turn Christian 
overnight than one can turn purple. Becoming a Christian is an act of 
exploration, a life-long process of doubt and questioning and then embracing 
the Truth, wherever it may lead.

Even at the height of the Inquisition, when State and Church were almost 
synonymous and when the Church wielded the full weight of the State machinery, 
the one thing the Church knew was they could not forcibly baptize people. They 
could induce, cajole and threaten; banishment, have children taken away, have 
property confiscated but ultimately they could not force one to convert merely 
by preforming a ceremony.

It is now the 21st century, and we turn our attention to Indian. A land of 1 
billion people. Can we truly believe the argument that forcible conversions are 
taking place in a country where minorities do not exert significant political 
power? Are we to believe that somehow the Catholic Church malevolently 
exercises its influence, when it fails to do so in predominantly Catholic 
countries? This must be a great contradiction of numbers.

Perhaps people who are poor, oppressed on account of their caste or just 
forgotten by society are being lured through monetary assistance. Perhaps one 
makes a choice to convert depending on how destitute their situation is in 
life. This does not mean their choice is to irrelevant to society nor does it 
mean we need to rob them of their right to make that choice. They are adult 
human beings who have every functioning capability of choosing for themselves, 
and then they have the freedom to undo their choices. 

The bogeyman of conversions is the most vile lie perpetrated in India, because 
its premise is a falsehood. I only wonder why it becomes so easy to believe 
lies.




      

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