Author: Swami Dayananda Saraswati
Publication: The New Indian Express
Date: October 21, 2002
I welcome the promulgation of the
ordinance by the Government of Tamil Nadu to ban religious conversions
" by use of force or by allurements or by any fraudulent means." This is
a long-awaited step. A step that ensures for the citizens of Tamil Nadu
the most basic of human rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
adopted by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) in December 1948, holds
in Article 18 that " Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience
and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief.."
While the article endorses each person's right to change his or her religion,
it does not in any way allow for another person to change a given person's
religion.
On the contrary, a systematic coercive
effort to impose one's religion on another "by use of force or by allurements
or by any fraudulent means" is a clear violation of this basic human right.
Further, Article 5 of the Bill of Rights states that no one shall be subjected
to degrading treatment. No conversion is possible without denigrating the
religion and the religious practices of the target person. This denigration
hurts the family members and the community of the converted person. He
or she has to disown his or her parents and all of their family, denouncing
them as wrong, while he or she alone is right. If this doesn't hurt a person,
I wonder what else can cause hurt.
The denigration of one's religion
and the humiliation that accompanies the conversion experience are violations
of the dignity ensured to every human being. Article 19 grants every person
the freedom to hold opinions, and matters of belief, no matter how fervently
held, are only matters of opinion. Article 22 ensures that everyone is
entitled to the cultural rights indispensable for his or her dignity. Everyone
who is a convert from a non-Christian tradition suffers an irreparable
alienation from one's culture and, tragically, from one's own family. The
family, in turn, is alienated from the community.
With the conversion experience come
shame, isolation, deep personal conflict and ultimately, the seeds for
discord, History testifies to the devastating loss of rich and diverse
cultures, gone forever in the aftermath of religious conversion. Article
26 (2) of the Declaration of Human Rights requires that education "shall
promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial
or religious groups." Religious conversion is anathema to this. It promotes
discord, intolerance and enmity, and as such, is an act of violence. I
again say that conversion is an act of violence because it hurts deeply,
not only the members of the family of the converted, but his or her entire
community. The religious person in every individual is the deepest, in
as much as he or she is connected to a force beyond the empirical. One
is connected to various persons in one's world. The religious in a given
person is connected to a force beyond. That is the reason why the hurt
of a religious person is deep and when it becomes acute, it explodes into
violence.
Conversion is not only violence,
it does generate violence. The hue and cry made by some of the Christian
leadership protesting this ordinance against conversion only show that
they want to continue their conversion activities. I appeal to them to
think about how conversion affects the converted person. This is the time
for the Christian leadership to come forward to point out that the ordinance
does not violate, but on the contrary, ensures the right of any person
to practise his or her religion. Further, it does not single out any particular
religious group. In fact, it is the responsibility of the leadership of
all religions to allay the fears of the people within their individual
fold who have such misgivings. It is not, on the other hand, either responsible
or moral for any religious leader to use a distorted interpretation of
this ordinance to establish a right to convert. The more such leaders protest,
the more they are alienating themselves from the mainstream population
who support a religiously plural and just society; committed to the respect
and well-being of every one of its members.
India has a long tradition of living
in harmony with people of numerous religious beliefs. Hindus did not have
any problem whatsoever with the Parsis living in India for centuries. Why?
Because they do not cause any hurt by a planned programme of conversion.
A planned programme of evangelization and conversion is a war waged against
the native tradition of a country whose people have an openness of heart
that is very well known. Their very concept of Isvara allows that kind
of accommodation. In fact, the concessions the minorities enjoy in India
cannot be seen anywhere in the world. On the other hand, India is the only
country where the majority feel oppressed.
I appeal to the political leadership
of all other States in India to promulgate similar laws and make sure that
all possibilities of religious conflict are avoided, and the tradition
of religious harmony in India is maintained. While I congratulate the Government
of Tamil Nadu for the promulgation of this ordinance, I request all the
religious leaders to refrain from doing anything which causes religious
disharmony.
