Amritsar
villages tense as church converts locals
Author: Asian News International
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: March 5, 2003
URL: http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_204683,000900010001.htm
Not
everyone in Nagoke, a small hamlet on the Indo-Pakistan border of Punjab's
Amritsar district, is happy with the new village church.
The
church, it seems, has divided the residents of Nagoke and many other villages in
the district after alleged conversions by its missionaries.
Residents
of these Hindu and Sikh dominated villages said the missionaries were enticing
the people to change faith by promising them a better life.
However,
the converts say their gains have been more on the spiritual plane than on the
material level.
"It
was only after the construction of this church that I got to know about
Christianity. There has been a lot of change in my work after the conversion.
Now I do not drink alcohol, don't lie and try and complete my duties
properly," said one of them.
At least
six churches have come up in the region in the past few months, leading to a
sudden increase in the number of Christian converts, a majority of them
economically and socially impoverished Sikhs.
Tension
between Sikhs and Christians has mounted following the surge in the number of
churches.
"In
our (Sikh) religion, we have no preachers but the Christians do. And because of
this, people get influenced easily and convert themselves and this is bad for
the Sikh religion," said Jaimal Singh, a local Sikh resident.
Religious
conversions by Christian missionaries has so far been a major sore point with
India's Hindu groups who question the motive behind converting the economically
and socially backward people.
Last
year, Tamil Nadu banned religious conversions by "fraudulent means" or
"forcible allurement". An ordinance issued by the Tamil Nadu
government said any person guilty of bringing about forced conversion would be
punished with a fine of Rs 50,000. All religious conversions must also be
reported to district authorities, as per the ordinance.
Pro-Hindu
groups, including India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, have demanded stringent
laws against conversions to be adopted by all the states.
Missionaries
deny the charges of forced conversions saying they are working for the economic
uplift of the poor and the tribals.
Christianity
and Islam constitute 2.4 percent and 12 percent of the secular but largely Hindu
India.
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