ASIA/INDIA - Bishops to the government: "To support a secular India and respectful of the rights"

Friday, 30 January 2015

New Delhi (Agenzia Fides) – It is important to support the secularism of the Indian nation and together build a nation in which the rights and freedoms of every person are respected: is what the Bishops write to the Indian government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and by his nationalist "Bharatiya Janata Party". At the conclusion of a special meeting, held in recent days, and chaired by the President of the Episcopal Conference of India (CBCI), Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, the Bishops issued a statement, sent to Agenzia Fides, which recalls that "the Indian Constitution guarantees that all citizens of our country can profess and practice a religion of their choice". "India is a land where different religious faiths have existed for centuries" and "Christianity has had its roots in Indian soil for over two thousand years", placing itself at the "unselfless service of the people in the field of education, health, without any discrimination of caste, creed or religion".
"The incidents which have occurred in recent months in various parts of our country - the text continues - against churches, priests and lay people in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, have caused great concern. The ceremonies of 'religious reconversion' give a negative image of India. The polarization among communities and attempts to conform India are a threat to all minorities, including women, Dalits and all linguistic, cultural and religious minorities".
The Bishops note that the programs of "Ghar Wapsi" (which means "return home" and is a ceremony of mass conversion to Hinduism, ed) and "saffronization" of education and culture (ie, educational and cultural programs according to the Hindu nationalist approach, ed) "pose challenges to the secular ethics of our beloved country". While "religious conversion is an exercise of ones own free will and of ones constitutional rights and conscience", "Ghar Wapsi is a political process, brought forward by powerful members of religious nationalism", the Bishops said.
"The Christians of this country - concludes the text - need certainty from the government" and ask to be "protected and feel safe at home", hoping that "this great secular nation remains a place where people of different religions and cultures can live freely and practice their faith without fear or threat and in harmony". (PA) (Agenzia Fides 30/01/2015)


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