Opposition needs to understand that right to religion is not a right to convert

When the missionaries came to Africa, they had the Bible and we had the land. They said 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land - Desmond Tutu

New Delhi, Sep 16: The Karnataka Legislative Council on Thursday passed the anti-conversion bill by a voice vote. The Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021 popularly known as the anti-conversion bill was passed following a heated debate between the ruling BJP government and Congress.

The new laws aim at stopping conversion by allurement or fraud and also imposes a heavy penalty of up to Rs 1 lakh and a jail term of up to 10 years.

While the Opposition continue to criticise the bill, the fact is that the problem or menace of conversion continues to take place in a huge manner in several states. In South India, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka are witnessing this problem in huge numbers. The problem is also immense in the north-eastern states.

In her book, 'The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classic World', Catherine Nixey gives an account of how Christianity systematically destroyed the Pagan temples. The conversion of native Temples to Churches is seen all across South America.

In 2018, the Chandwak police in Uttar Pradesh filed cases against 271 persons on charges of promoting conversion to Christianity. The charge was that they were spreading misinformation about Hinduism and luring people into their fold.

Officials OneIndia spoke with say that these missionaries have a pattern and tend to enter areas which are disaster hit. In 2018, a high number of cases were reported from Kerala and Kodagu in Karnataka when floods ravaged several places.

"Evangelisation in India appears to be part of a uniform world policy to revive Christendom, to re-establish Western supremacy and is not prompted by spiritual motives. The objective is to disrupt the solidarity of the non-Christian societies, with danger to the security of the State. Enormous sums of foreign money flow into the country, and it is out of such funds that the Lutherans and other proselytising agencies were able to secure nearly four thousand converts. Missions are in some places used to serve extra-religious ends. As conversion muddles the convert's sense of solidarity with his society, there is a danger of his loyalty to his country being undermined," a seven-member committee formed by the Madhya Pradesh government to look into the activities by Christian missionaries had said.

In this context we must also visit the Lavanya case in Tanjavur, Tamil Nadu who had committed suicide by consuming poison after she was unduly pressurised by school authorities at the Sacred Heart Higher Secondary School to convert to Christianity.

Several legal experts that we caught upset said that the Indian state is not permitted to interfere with religious matters as such, but is empowered to regulate matters incidental to religion or secular activities associated with religious practises.

In the Digyadarsan Rajendra Ramdasssji vs State of Andhra Pradesh, the Supreme Court said that the right to propagate religion means the right to communicate a person's beliefs to another person. However, that would not include the right to convert another person to the former's faith. This makes it clear that propagating religion enjoys constitutional protection, but converting does not.

In the Rev Stanislaus vs State of Madhya Pradesh case, the Supreme Court held that it should be remembered that Article 25(1) guarantees 'freedom of conscience' to every citizen, and not merely to the followers of one particular religion and that, in turn, postulates that there is no fundamental right to convert another person to one's own religion. This is because if a person purposely undertakes the conversion of another person to his religion, as distinguished from his effort to transmit or spread the tenets of his religion that would impinge on the freedom of conscience guaranteed to all the citizens of the country alike.

Hence, to conclude the Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of religion, but no where mentions the right to conversion.