From: "Carvalho" <[email protected]
--- On Fri, 12/19/08, Dr. U. G. Barad <[email protected]> wrote:
Selma, Right to convert is NOT a basic right in a civil
society at least in
India. This reply is based on following facts:
Article 25(1) of Constitution of India guarantees
''freedom of conscience to
every citizen, and not merely to the followers of one
particular religion''.
-------------------------------
I'm glad we can atleast agree that the Indian Constitution guarantees the
right to free speech in, so that everyone with an opinion is free to
express it.
Selma
***1) India is a secular state, namely it is not anti-god or
anti-religion, but there is separation between the state and religion. All
religions have an equal place in India. But we cannot say that all
religions are equal. All religions are different ways to God. Each citizen
has the right to profess, practise and propagate any religion. The
Article 25 of the Indian Constitution deals with the Freedom of
Religion. It states that: "Subject to public order, morality and health and
to other provisions of this part, all persons are equally entitled to
freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and
propagate religion". While dealing with the aspect of conversions, the
Supreme Court felt "the right to propagate one's religion means the right to
communicate a person's beliefs to another person or to expose the tenets
of the faith, but would not include the right to 'convert' another
person to the former's faith, because the latter person is equally
entitled to freedom of conscience (AIR 1977 SC 908). Of course, the latter
person is free to adopt another religion, but nobody has the
fundamental right to 'convert' him/her to another religion if s/he does
not do it out of his/her free choice. This verdict was delivered by a
constitution bench of five judges headed by Chief Justice A.N.Ray in the
case of Rev.Stanislaus vs State of Madhya Pradesh.
2)There are no conversions by force in Christianity today. But it is an
irony that dalits and tribals are being forcibly converted to Hinduism.
Dalits turn to Buddhism and neo-Buddhism movements as a social protest.
The process of 're-conversion by force' to Hinduism is going on. The
government itself functions as a "missionary agent" to assimilate scheduled
castes and tribals into Hinduism. The ill-treatment by caste people
forced many dalits to join Chritianity--in the process many changed
their way of life and took on European names, dress and ways. Social
upward mobility, search for social equality, economic and political
factors and opposition to Hinduism are cited as causes by
sociologists. The 'untouchables' were in search of equality and
betterment of their status by escaping from the tyranny, rigidity,
exploitation and oppression. Conversion has become a form of social
protest. It is a complete break with their past and with all its painful
memories.
3)Hindutva fanatics have raised the bogey of "forced conversions"
by allurements or foreign funds, in order to conceal their real
targets. If there are cases of conversions by force or fraud, there is the
Law to take stock of these abnormalities. Can they prove even one of such
"forcible conversion"?
There have been cases of conversion "by force" in the 16th century,
but that was never an official policy of the European missionaries who
worked in India. The First Provincial Council of Goa, held in 1567,
forbade the use of force, by decreeing that "it is not lawful to bring
anyone over to our faith and baptism by means of force with threats or
terror, because no one comes to Christ by faith, unless he is drawn by the
heavenly Father with voluntary love and prevenient grace" (Bullarium
Patronatus APP I, p.6). The enthusiasm of the European missionaries and the
exclusive mentality of the gone times may attenuate the reality, but will
not excuse every violence... We need not be defensive about the colonial
past. Mistakes were made and we must apologize for the past...
But let the truth prevail: Today there are no conversions by force. The
Church does not accept "forced conversions". Vatican II provides clear
guidelines for the work of evangelization: "The Church strictly forbids
forcing anyone to embrace the faith, or alluring or enticing people by
unworthy techniques. By the same token, she also strongly insists on a
person's right not to be deterred from the faith by unjust vexations on
the part of others" (Ad Gentes, Decree on the Missionary Activity of the
Church, n.13).
4)This right to religious freedom has its foundation in the dignity
of the human person itself, in the light of the revealed Word of God and
the reason itself.
This right of the human person to religious freedom is to be recognized in
the constitutional law of the society. Thus, it is to become a civil right
(Dignitatis Humanae Personae, Declaration on Religious Freedom, n.2).
"Religious bodies have the right not to be hindered in their public
teaching and witness to their faith, whether by the spoken or by the
written word" (Ibidem, n.4). If Dalits have joined the Christian
religion, it is because they have seen and experienced that Christianity is
a religion of love. Theologically, conversion is God's work in the deepest
chambers of the hearts of the human beings.
Regards.
Fr.Ivo
