Religious freedom in India?

Religious freedom in India?

Despite a long history of Christian persecution in the country, the
International Religious Freedom, report released this week by the U.S.
State Department, gave India’s central government a fairly high rating
on its religious freedom laws.

“The national government, led by the United Progressive Alliance
(UPA), continued to implement an inclusive and secular platform that
included respect for the right to religious freedom,” claimed the
report.

Unfortunately, whether this is true or not seems to have made little
difference. Don with Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Mission India agrees
that the secular central government has decent laws regarding
religious freedom, but that they seldom step in at the state level.

Don says the situation with religious minorities in India mirrors that
of the caste system. “The caste system was outlawed over 50 years ago,
and yet the caste system remains very strong and is required to be
reported on forms that you fill out for the government. So even though
there’s a law that disbands caste, it’s a part of the system, and it
hasn’t changed.” Don says likewise in India, “There is religious
freedom. In some places that is respected, but in many places it is
not.”

The problem is, when religious freedom is not respected, Don says the
national government tends to look the other way. Even the report
admits that although the central government has good intentions toward
religious freedom, attacks against minorities continue to go
unattended. “This shortcoming was exacerbated by a low police-to-
population ratio, corruption, and an overburdened and antiquated court
system,” notes the report.

“There have been, in my opinion and my experience, some positive
developments in terms of the central government’s attitude toward
persecution, but they have little influence on what happens at the
state level and have not really taken any kind of aggressive step, as
far as I’ve been able to see, to stop the abuse against Christians,”
explains Don.

This may not be such a problem if the abuses were not so frequent. Don
goes as far as to say that “where the Hindu fundamentalist groups have
power or a strong following in the area, Christians are attacked on a
regular basis.”

The report on religious freedom in India took note of some of these
instances from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010, but many were left
undocumented. For instance, the anti-conversion laws present in six of
India’s states were discussed, but the attempts and successes of
Hindus to forcibly convert Christians were never mentioned. Instead,
accusations against Christians to convert Hindus – especially those of
lower castes – by force were discussed. Suffice it to say, this has
not been the experience of most ministries connected with Mission
Network News.

Don says the media in general is often slanted this way though in a
country comprised of 80 percent Hindus and only two percent
Christians. “Even though Christians are often times forced under
threat of life to enact Hindu ceremonies to deny their faith, those
are not deemed as forced, but are acceptable,” explains Don.

There is clearly a disconnect between the national law and the actual
reality for Christians in India, but what can be done? Don says the
situation is unlikely to change any time soon, and the best thing for
Western believers to do is to pray. Remember also that despite the
large amount of suffering felt by the church in India, they continue
to grow in number.

“They’ve been persecuted, and they know what it means to follow Jesus
whole-heartedly. So in spite of – or because of – persecution in many
ways, the church in India is maturing and strengthening.”