The Great "Conversions" Lie

Just How Many 'Forced' Conversions Are Taking Place?

An AICC Leader Finds Out

"Forced conversion" remains the number one unproven allegation Hindu fundamentalists level against Christians in India. Using it as a Goebbelsian propaganda (repeat a lie loud enough and often enough, it will soon be believed as truth), anti-conversion laws have been enacted, under the guise of 'freedom of religion' acts (enforced in Orissa and some other States).

Interestingly, the "Freedom of Religion Act" passed in the state of Himachal Pradesh (and proposed in some other States too), without prescribing a time limit for the conduct of such an enquiry or defining its modalities, prescribes that a person intending to convert from one religion to another must give a notice of at least thirty days to the District Magistrate who then "shall get the matter enquired into by such agency as he may deem fit". However no such notice is required of a person reverts back to his "original religion".

Thanks to the Right to Information Act 2005, Samson Christian, a leader of the All India Christian Council (AICC), unearthed just how many "forced" conversions were taking place that called for such stringent anti-conversion laws. Compass Direct News has this story:

The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party government in Gujarat state has disclosed that there were only three complaints of alleged "forcible" conversions in the state in the last 10 years, and only two of those concerned Christian conversions.

The state Home Department made the embarrassing disclosure after Samson Christian, a leader of the All India Christian Council, sought the information under the Right to Information Act of 2005. The Act makes it mandatory for government authorities to furnish information concerning public matters sought by any citizen.

"The Home Department said two of the three complaints were concerning Christian conversions," Christian told Compass. "One was filed in 2007, and the other in 1997."

The BJP government's reluctant admission coincided with the notification of the rules under the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act of 2003 on July 10. The rules were framed on April 1, and their notification was the last formality in the implementation of the law.