There is no daily call to prayer, no Sunday morning sermons. The communities [involved in the recent incidents] are already vulnerable and the campaign seems quite aggressive and the combination is concerning, said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director of Human Rights Watch. If there are any mistakes, or if any part of the person being baptized is not fully immersed, the baptism must be redone. [60] It has also used the celebrity status of some of its members (most notably that of the American actor Tom Cruise) to attract converts. [61][62] The Church of Scientology requires that all converts sign a legal waiver which covers their relationship with the Church of Scientology before engaging in Scientology services. But the Sangh Parivar seems bent on turning it into a way of strife. Disclaimer : We respect your thoughts and views! The mass conversion of dalits takes place on the anniversary of one of India's most controversial religious events. [50][51], In the second half of the 20th century, the rapid growth of new religious movements (NRMs) led some psychologists and other scholars to propose that these groups were using "brainwashing" or "mind control" techniques to gain converts. They will then give the go-ahead only once he is satisfied that one is not swapping religions for monetary benefits or other inducements, or by being taken in by fraud, or being swayed by either promises of salvation or threats of incurring divine displeasure, as the case may be. "Psychological Explanations of. [1] In some cases, religious conversion "marks a transformation of religious identity and is symbolized by special rituals".[2]. These mass conversion movements, and resulting narratives questioning converts' sincerity and agency, set the stage for three central challenges undermining the human right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion in India today: Legislation limiting "forcible" and "induced" conversions Of the total 506 people who registered their change of religion with the government, 241 were those who converted from Christianity or Islam to Hinduism. Copyright - newindianexpress.com 2023. The closest Hindu equivalent of a regular congregation is the RSS shakha. Christianity is not an inclusive religion. Their ancestors, the followers said, were Hindus who converted to Islam 25 years ago, and they were now reverting to Hinduism on free will. However, other officials from the VHP denied to local reporters any reconversions, saying the ceremony had been to lay a foundation stone for a hostel, healthcare centre and school for the poor. Currently there are 25 to 60 million people[specify][citation needed] studying Spiritism in various countries, mainly in Brazil, through its essential books, which include The Spirits Book, The Book on Mediums, The Gospel According to Spiritism, Heaven and Hell and The Genesis According to Spiritism. Religious wars and suppression shaped the histories of the Baltic tribes, the Hussites and the Huguenots. No society is immune from the darkest impulses of men. The worst part is Casteism. The laws of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh make it incumbent upon neighbours or villagers to inform the administration and the police of any activities of pastors, nuns and clergymen which could give rise to a suspicion of proselytising motives. Hinduism is often described as a way of life. Mumbai (AsiaNews) - In Andhra Pradesh a group of Hindu nationalists belonging to the BJP ruling party (Bharatiya Janata Party) has carried out mass conversions to Dalit and Christian tribal. University of California Press, 2000. p.114. Article 18.2 bars coercion that would impair the right to have or adopt a religion or belief, including the use of threat of physical force or penal sanctions to compel believers or non-believers to adhere to their religious beliefs and congregations, to recant their religion or belief or to convert." Jain monks and nuns are required to observe these five vows strictly. Interested in blogging for timesofindia.com? The Inquisition in France and in Iberia worked to convert heretics with varying success. Though ostensibly secular in objective, the anti-conversion laws in force in various states of India Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh (all areas with a significantly high population of tribals, Dalits, the depressed castes, and reeling from poverty, illiteracy and abysmal healthcare) in effect gives the government a vast swathe of control over peoples choices in matters of faith and religion. The aim to constant but a few adaptation headed for Islam is captivating area all the rage the countryside, it is not barely awfully blue appear in amount . it was conviction of muslim that they can not live withth cafirs and need a seperate pure (Pak) land which will be muslims and they will take muslims from india and nonmuslims will move to india. It would be downright specious, even dishonest, to claim that missionaries and proselytisers activities in India had nothing but a salubrious effect. Mr Murthy says he long ago dropped his caste name - Kondru - but this has not stop people sensing for signals to his origins. Different factors and circumstances may operate and interact to persuade individuals of groups to convert and adopt a new set of religious doctrines and habits. Search titles only; Posted by Member: Separate names with a comma. In the small one-room house on the edge of the rice bowl of India, Narasimha Cherlaguda explains why he is preparing to be reborn as a Buddhist. For forced conversion, see. Last week the hardline group Vishnu Hindu Parishad (VHP) claimed to have reconverted more than 20 Christians in the southern state of Kerala. {{{read_comment_link}}} In most countries conversion is a simple matter of filling out a card stating a declaration of belief. However, he has warned members of parliament and ministers not to make statements that might distract from his development agenda, after one member of his government called Indian Muslims bastard children last year. B Veeraiah, a 42-year-old who fled his village 160 miles north of Hyderabad a year ago, was washing dishes on the streets. What is God? The mass conversion was part of a . Messianism may prepare groups for the coming of a Messiah or of a saviour. BJP divide people on religion wise for vote. Modi has denied any wrongdoing and a supreme court inquiry has found insufficient evidence to support the charges. This is a service to our country and we will continue with the ghar wapsi [homecomings], Jugal Kishore, a VHP official involved in the event, was quoted as saying in the Indian Express newspaper. to comeout of religious politics for ever India must rediscover why they pakistan and beangladesh. Fringes have been stopped, they have been given the message. This table summarizes three Protestant beliefs. The Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) government in the western state of Gujarat controversially amended an anti-conversion law to classify Buddhism and Jainism as branches of the Hindu religion, denying them status as unique religions. What many in the media and outside the fold of Hinduism fail to acknowledge is that mass conversion of people is a very unpleasant practice, which generates a lot of disharmony, insecurity, hatred, and communal tensions in a multi religious and diverse nation like India. your password Archived Link: Bhavasar and Kiem, Spirituality and Health, in Hindu Spirituality, Editor: Ewert Cousins (1989). The Making of a Moonie: Choice or Brainwashing? [12] Latter Day Saints baptisms also occur only after an "age of accountability" which is defined as the age of eight years. Hindus who convert to Islam or Christianity are forcefully converted and rice-bag converts. Instead, the recreated India is sought to be made into a nation of total homogeneity, cultural, ethnic, and religious, a nation of one people. Sukmawati Sukarnoputri, 69, embraced Hinduism in a ritual called 'Sudhi Wadani' . [26], In some cases, a person may forgo a formal conversion to Judaism and adopt some or all beliefs and practices of Judaism. LESS [66] Chinese traditional religion lacks clear criteria for membership, and hence for conversion. More than 550 Hindu temples in the Portuguese territories were razed to the ground. Conversion is illegal if there is any element of compulsion or bribery. Thus "religious conversion" would describe the abandoning of adherence to one denomination and affiliating with another. These are returns not conversions. "The whole world knows that most of the ancestors of India's Christians and Muslims are Hindus," Surendra Jain, the VHP's Joint General-Secretary, said [] Bahs recognize the divine origins of all revealed religion, and believe that these religions occurred sequentially as part of a divine plan (see Progressive revelation), with each new revelation superseding and fulfilling that of its predecessors. During the election campaign, an age-old discussion over caste discrimination has been rekindled by the threat of losing Dalits to another faith, and that too a public commitment to renouncing Hinduism. For example, in the 11th century in Burma, king Anoratha converted his entire country to Theravada Buddhism. All the comments will be moderated by the newindianexpress.com editorial. Changing religion makes us visible," says Chanrabhan Prasad, a dalit writer. This suits their propaganda well and helps in the mass mobilisation against Muslims and Christians. while converting to islam, which fikra (out of 72) do they convert to? [44], Sikhism is not known to openly proselytize conversions, however it is open and accepting to anyone wanting to take on the Sikh faith. The person administering the baptism must recite the prayer exactly, and immerse every part, limb, hair and clothing of the person being baptized. Illustrating the problems that can arise from such subjective viewpoints is this extract from an article by Dr. C. Davis, published in Cleveland State University's Journal of Law and Health: "According to the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Jews for Jesus and Hebrew Christians constitute two of the most dangerous cults, and its members are appropriate candidates for deprogramming. {{#more}} Senior VHP functionaries contacted by the Guardian on Thursday said they were unable to comment. [57] Lofland summarised his findings in 1964 in a doctoral thesis entitled "The World Savers: A Field Study of Cult Processes", and in 1966 in book form (published by Prentice-Hall) as Doomsday Cult: A Study of Conversion, Proselytization, and Maintenance of Faith. Bahs regard their own faith as the most recent (but not the last), and believe its teachings which are centered around the principle of the oneness of humanity are most suited to meeting the needs of a global community. Even as its protg, the BJP, has initiated a country-wide drive to recruit members and overtake the Chinese Communist Party as the worlds largest political association, the RSS has set a target of annually converting 1 lakh each of Muslims and Christians to Hinduism. Like tens of thousands of other untouchables - or dalits - across India today, Mr Cherlaguda will be ritually converted to Buddhism to escape his low-caste status. pleople like you christian conversion money from abroad. The last time it did was in 1977, in the Reverend Stanislaus case, wherein the Odisha and Madhya Pradesh statutes were upheld. In that case, the judges could remedy the errors of 1977 by seeking inspiration from the European Court of Human Rights 1993 ruling in the Kokkinakis case, which struck the right balance between keeping out improper proselytism and Christians right to practise, profess, and propagate their faith. 05 Oct. 2016. [52][53][54][55][56], In the 1960s sociologist John Lofland lived with Unification Church missionary Young Oon Kim and a small group of American church members in California and studied their activities in trying to promote their beliefs and win converts to their church. [14], In addition, Latter Day Saint theology requires that baptism may only be performed with one who has been called and ordained by God with priesthood authority. Much of the theology of Latter Day Saint baptism was established during the early Latter Day Saint movement founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. The following is a list of converts to Hinduism from other religions or a non-religious background. 17 persons including 12 females were from the Nair community. 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