Bishops’ conference rubbishes claims of rampant conversions

Rejecting the charges of large-scale conversion of Hindus into Christians, the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) has accused the Sangh Parivar of using the “bogey of conversion” to unleash an attack on the Christian community in the country.

Speaking to reporters after a two-day meeting of Catholic Bishops from across India, which concluded in Bangalore on Friday, the CBCI President Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil wondered how the number of Christians in the country would remain a mere 2.3 per cent of the total population if the churches were involved in rampant conversion.

Though speaking about one’s faith was a right guaranteed under the Article 25 of the Indian Constitution, conversion by allurement or force was against the basic principles of the Catholic Church, Vithayathil said.

The attacks on Christians and Christian institutions in several states across India were being carried out by “trained agents of radical Hindutva organizations” to build up a vote bank for the Lok Sabha elections, due to be held next year, he said.

“The Catholic Bishops Conference of India has resolved to seek a ban on the fundamentalist groups, which train terrorists under the banner of Hindutva or any other name”, Rev. Vithayathil said.

Archbishop Raphael Chinnath from Bhubaneshwar said the National Minorities Commission had clearly stated that there were no instances of forced conversion booked anywhere in India. “The Sangh Parivar was using the ploy of giving a dog a bad name before killing it”, he said.

The Federal as well as the State Governments had failed to take stringent action against the persons and organizations responsible for the attacks on churches. “As a result of reports of violence continued to pour in from states like Orissa”, he said.

The attacks on Christians in Orissa were closely linked to the rise of the Dalit communities in the state’s Khandamal district because of the educational and developmental initiative of the church.

Most of them were earlier “no more than slaves under the upper caste people” and the educational activities of the church had questioned this caste hierarchy.
Secretary General of Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) Stanislaus Fernandes said about 30,000 people, who had fled to the forests in Orissa after the attack, were not returning to their villages fearing attacks. “They are still in the forests fearing attacks and no compensation had reached them. They were not safe even in the refugee camps”, he said.