Catholic bishops demand repeal of India state’s anti

NAGPUR, India — Catholic leaders in one of India’s most populous states are demanding the repeal of a new law that criminalizes religious conversion — the 13th such measure enacted across the country under the ruling Hindu-nationalist government. “We protest this move. We have urged the government to repeal this law. Copies of our [Western Regional Bishops’ Council] statement have been sent to the chief minister and governor of the state,” Archbishop Elias Gonsalves of Nagpur, chairman of the Western Regional Bishops’ Council, told EWTN News on March 23. “Far from safeguarding religious freedom, this law, in its present form, effectively undermines the very right it claims to protect, i.e., the freedom to choose and profess one’s religion, as guaranteed under Articles 19, 21, and 25 of the Constitution of India,” the Western Regional Bishops’ Council said in its March 19 statement. Expressing “deep disappointment and strong protest” against the bill, the bishops’ council said sections of the legislation “amount to a direct and unjustified interference in the legitimate religious practices of the Catholic Church, particularly its Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults program. It is equally disheartening that the ruling party has passed this bill [on March 16] without adequate consultation with the communities most affected by it.” A threat to conscience The statement pointed out that sections of the legislation “mandate that any individual intending to convert must submit a notice 60 days in advance to the competent authority. ... This provision intrudes deeply into the personal domain of conscience and belief, opening the door to scrutiny, suspicion, and harassment.” “This section, like most sections in the bill, is manifestly arbitrary and violative of individual’s right to privacy protected by Article 21 [under Fundamental Rights],” the statement cautioned. Given the serious concern, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India distributed the statement to media across the country. Laity and civil society “We are very disappointed that the Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Bill was passed in haste and rammed through the Assembly owing to the brute majority of the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] government,” said Dolphy D’Souza, spokesperson of the Bombay Catholic Sabha — a lay forum of the Archdiocese of Bombay. “One of our demands was to give opportunity to discuss the provisions of the bill, some of which are draconian, which has the propensity to be misused against minorities, women, and interfaith marriages, as is evident from states where this law has been implemented,” D’Souza said in a March 21 statement. “This law will be a tool used to harass minorities, women, and interfaith marriages and those who want to convert out of their personal choice voluntarily. While the bill is titled Freedom of Religion Act, it curtails this fundamental right,” D’Souza told EWTN News. “This bill also criminalizes all charitable works including imparting education under the vague terms of ‘allurement.’ It will give unbridled power to [Hindu] vigilante groups and ‘suo motu’ powers to police to harass and intimidate citizens, encouraging violence and attacks,” he cautioned. A week before the legislation was passed, a coalition of 35 civil rights, social action, Muslim, and Christian groups had condemned the bill as a “threat to constitutional freedom.” “Article 25 guarantees the freedom to profess, practice, and propagate religion, which includes the right to adopt and change one’s faith,” the groups asserted. “The political agenda behind this legislation is to polarize and divide communities on religious lines,” said Irfan Engineer, who heads the Center for Study of Society and Secularism, one of the groups that signed the statement. Hindu nationalists, Engineer said, are using the propaganda of “love jihad” — marriage for the purpose of conversion — to defend the legislation. He pointed out, however, that “the committee appointed by the state government studied 152 interreligious marriages and found no conversion motive.” The proposal comes amid growing concerns about Canada’s widespread euthanasia program called medical assistance in dying (MAID).