Home · Faith · Sep 2 archive
Catholic Church Challenges New Anti-Conversion Law in India
Confirmed
In Short: India's Maharashtra state recently enacted an anti-conversion law, prompting Catholic leaders to call for prayer and a legal challenge, as the bill risks damaging social harmony, according to a joint statement.
India's Maharashtra state enacted a sweeping anti-conversion law on August 28, which prompted Catholic leaders to call for prayer and a legal challenge, according to ncregister.com.
The government shelved the bill after strong protests by the Catholic Church and internal opposition from seven Catholic legislators within the BJP-led government, which holds 26 seats, as reported by The Indian Express.
The proposed bill risks irreparably damaging the social harmony between Christians and other communities, according to a joint statement by the Council for Social Justice and Peace of the Catholic Church and the Catholic Association of Goa.
In response, D'Souza, a spokesperson for the Bombay Catholic Sabha, said, 'The only option before us now is to approach the judiciary as the Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Act infringes fundamental freedom of faith guaranteed under the constitution.
The constitutional validity of similar anti-conversion laws enacted in other Indian states is under challenge before the Supreme Court of India, according to the press note from the civil society press conference.
What's confirmed
What's still developing
- Indiaʼs Maharashtra state enacted a sweeping anti-conversion law on Aug. 28, prompting Catholic leaders to call for prayer and a legal challenge.
- The Indian Express reported that the government shelved the bill after strong protests by the Catholic Church and internal opposition from seven Catholic legislators within the BJP-led government, which holds 26 seats.
- Christians, the vast majority of them Catholic, account for about a quarter of Goaʼs roughly 1.5 million people.
- The proposed bill “risks irreparably damaging that precious inheritance by replacing mutual trust with suspicion and social harmony with surveillance and fear,” said a joint statement by the Council for Social…
- “The only option before us now is to approach the judiciary as the Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Act infringes fundamental freedom of faith guaranteed under the constitution,” said DʼSouza, a spokesperson for the…
- “The Catholic Church is not doing anything of this sort anywhere in Maharashtra,” DʼSouza said.
- The constitutional validity of similar anti-conversion laws enacted in other Indian states is under challenge before the Supreme Court of India, according to the press note from the civil society press conference.