Anti-conversion law scrapped in Karnataka State, India – why is this significant?

Praise God that Karnataka State government authorities have decided to scrap their anti-conversion law! But why is that so significant? Read on to learn more about anti-conversion laws and how they’re used to persecute Christians in India. 

The newly elected Congress party-led Karnataka state government in India has decided to scrap the state’s anti-conversion law, which was put in place by the previous BJP government. Although the repeal process is yet to begin, this is good news – and an answer to prayer.  

It will bring relief to the Christians living in Karnataka who have been vulnerable to being targeted, discriminated against and harassed as a religious minority by this law.  

What is an anti-conversion law? 

Anti-conversion laws are supposedly to stop Hindus being forcibly converted to other religions – in reality, they are often used as an excuse to harass and intimidate Christians who are just doing things like distributing aid or having a private church meeting. The laws don’t penalise Christians and other religious minorities being coerced back to Hinduism, and ‘Ghar Wapsi’ (‘returning home’: the conversion of non-Hindus to Hindusim) is celebrated by many in authority. 

These laws are used to uphold Hindutva: a false ideology that says ‘only Hindus are true Indians’. It says that Christians, Muslims and other religious minorities have ‘foreign’ roots and must be expelled. Christians from Hindu backgrounds are particularly at risk from anti-conversion laws. 

These anti-conversion laws currently exist in ten more states in India: Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh (although here the law has not yet been formally implemented), Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.  

Please keep praying for our Indian church family 

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for an end to anti-conversion laws in India. This is an encouraging answer to prayer! Please continue to keep praying for our sisters and brothers in India, and for more states to follow Karnataka’s example. 

Just as Daniel was found blameless in his conduct before the Babylonian authorities (Daniel 6), pray that false charges brought against Christians would find no substance and that judges and juries would be fair and impartial.