HOW TO CIRCUMVENT ANTI-CONVERSION LAW
CLEVER GUIDE TO CHRISTIANS !!

The Government of Tamil Nadu has promulgated an Ordinance recently
banning conversions by `force, fraud or allurement'. Ever since the
Ordinance was promulgated there was a lot of commotion and
restlessness in the Christian Missionary leadership. A few days ago,
Minority Gospel Rights Protection Forum in Simmakkal, Madurai,
Tamilnadu have brought out a booklet in Tamil captioned "Approach to
combat Anti Conversion Law". This booklet of 56 pages, whose sole
objective is to offer tips to the Missionaries in the art of
deception of circumventing the Ordinance and continuing with their
conversion activity, outlines in 13 chapters the methods to be
observed for this purpose by individual Christian members. It is
mentioned in the booklet that this is being published with a view
to "educate the Christian Missionary involved in conversion on the
legal aspects of the law".

Some excerpts from that booklet are given below.

In the article under the headline `Position of Indian Christians
today', the following are the facts accepted by them.

"The position of the Indian Christians in the beginning of the 21st
century is in contravention of the basic Christian Principles. It is
a common practice nowadays for Christians to pass by another
Christian even without wishing him. The reasons that can be
attributed for this are, lack of unity, disrespect to others, lack
of tolerance, economic disparity, casteism, greed for money,
division of rich and poor, different churches for different castes,
desire to capture power of clergy, exercising hired muscle power,
talking ill of other Christian sects, churches engaged in amassing
wealth, luxurious life, misbehaviour, misconduct etc."

By this Booklet, they have themselves demystified the common belief
that Christianity is pure, lovable and service-minded.

Another chapter headlined "Today's position of churches and
Christian missionaries", discloses the fact that instead of
preaching the teachings of Christ, speeches degrading other churches
are made, and more time is spent on minor rituals and functions.
This is advised to be avoided as this dampens the enthusiasm of the
people to come to churches.

In Western countries, churches are being sold for the simple reason
that they have lost the godliness and are turning into recreation
clubs and money-earning organizations. Disgusted by this, people
have stopped attending the church. It is felt that this position is
spreading here also.

The following are a few of the tips given in the chapter with the
headline "Methodology for rapid spread of Christianity":

1. No church should act or encourage any caste.
2. No caste rift should be there in clergy elections
3. There should not be any caste segregation in cemetery.
4. No church or missionary should collect any money either from
its own members or from new converts or from other religion members
by coercion or threat, as this will antagonise the public and give
an impression that churches are money-grabbers.

"Unlike in Hindu Faith, there is no caste difference in
Christianity. Equality and fraternity are keystones in this
religion." These are the oft-repeated phrases of Tirumavalavan of
Dalit Panther and Dr. Krishnaswamy of Puthiya Thamizhagam (Dalit
political parties). Much to the chagrin of these two speakers
campaigning vociferously for Christianity, the contents of the
booklet admittedly reveal that these qualities do not exist
nowadays. God save these two Hindus campaigning for Christianity.

Following are the directions given in the chapter "Precautions to be
taken while effecting conversion".

· No documents either for conversion or baptism should be
given to the converts.

· No recording in any register is to be made.

· Visual testimonies like photographs, videos, etc. should be
completely avoided.

· On no account, the people converted should adopt new
Christian names.

· Each church should get to know themselves voluntarily the
personal details of the people being converted, to avert the
possibility of RSS or VHP activists being converted. The reason for
this is the fear that these RSS/VHP activists would, before
conversion, pretend and say that the conversion is free from
coercion, but subsequently after conversion will complain that they
were converted by coercion and were tempted with cash. This will
lead to litigation.

· An easy method to convert either an individual or a group or
family, is to take them to the nearby State, like Pondicherry,
Kerala, Karnataka or Andhra Pradesh and effect the conversion
there. Since there is no Anti-conversion Law in these States, no
case can be booked against them in Tamilnad.

· For marriages under the Christianity Act, both the
bridegroom and the bride should be Christians. If one of them is a
non-Christian, conversion should not be made for purpose of marriage
under the Christianity Act. The marriage should be got registered
under the Tamilnad Marriage Registration Act. The fear here is
that when a strife or misunderstanding erupts between them later, it
is possible that the convert may allege that the conversion was
effected by lure of cash or girl.

· Another guideline that is given while converting SC/ST and
Backward classes is that no written document evidencing the
conversion should be given to them. Instead of telling them that
they are being `converted', they should be told that they are
only `changing their mind' and are following the teachings of Jesus
Christ. No changes are to be effected in their education or other
certificates, as this change will deprive them of the facilities
they are getting from the Government.

When the Hindu organizations pointed out that SC/ST and Backward
classes continue to enjoy the concession even after conversion, the
churches were denying this: but in this booklet, this fact has been
inadvertently accepted.

In page 22, the chapter, "Religious congregations – Legal guidance",
advises not to mention the people of other religions as `sinners'.
In public meetings or in private TV channels while canvassing for
the religion, speakers should avoid addressing the people of other
religions as sinners, talking ill of their method of worship or
beliefs, tell them that hell awaits them, etc.

In fact, the demand of the Hindu organizations all these days was to
tell them to refrain from such talks, but this went unheeded. Due
to the Anti-Conversion Law, through this booklet speakers have been
bridled. Apart from all the above, guidelines have been given for
Legal safeguards against various religious crimes.

To put it in the nutshell, the purpose of this booklet seems to
educate all concerned with conversion activity, as to how to go
about conversion without getting entangled under this Act. It is
now clear that mere enacting of the Law can not prevent conversions
as this booklet gives ample proof that the Missionaries are hell-
bent on circumventing its provisions and continuing with their
nefarious designs.