Changes

{{cquote|The federal government in India has embraced religious pluralism, and indeed Article 25 of the Indian Constitution guarantees everyone the right and the freedom to preach, practice and propagate her religion. ... Yet many state governments have chosen to exploit religious tensions by enforcing or strengthening anti-conversion laws, similar to how Muslims are sometimes falsely branded as terrorists for political expedienccy in the United States, Some of these laws have long been on the books, but the recent enforcement and even strengthening of these laws, particularly by the Hindu nationalist BJP, is alarming. These laws forbid "forcible conversions" — which police and judges have interpreted to mean anything from charity by religious groups to claiming that God would be happier if someone converted to a new religion.}}

{{cquote|The federal government in India has embraced religious pluralism, and indeed Article 25 of the Indian Constitution guarantees everyone the right and the freedom to preach, practice and propagate her religion. ... Yet many state governments have chosen to exploit religious tensions by enforcing or strengthening anti-conversion laws, similar to how Muslims are sometimes falsely branded as terrorists for political expedienccy in the United States, Some of these laws have long been on the books, but the recent enforcement and even strengthening of these laws, particularly by the Hindu nationalist BJP, is alarming. These laws forbid "forcible conversions" — which police and judges have interpreted to mean anything from charity by religious groups to claiming that God would be happier if someone converted to a new religion.}}

Ms. Wu very conviniently leaves out the rest of the sentence from Article 25 of the Indian Constitution which goes on to state that, "Nothing in this article shall affect the operation of any existing law or prevent the States from making any law". It is these biased statements that lead to most fundamentalist Christins rightly not being taken seriously by most of the educated and secular and population and polity in India.

Ms. Wu very conviniently leaves out the rest of the sentence from Article 25 of the Indian Constitution which goes on to state that, "Nothing in this article shall affect the operation of any existing law or prevent the States from making any law". It is these biased statements that lead to most fundamentalist Christians rightly not being taken seriously by most of the educated and secular and population and polity in India.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a Hindu nationalist political party in India, passed an anti-conversion law in the state of [[Gujarat]] in 2003. Christian community in the state feared that Hindu extremists will misuse this law by making false accusations against Christian missionaries - however they leave out the implication that the law works the same way when a Christian tries to convert to Hinduism - which is not a real possibility because Hinduism states that you can only be born as a Hindu, and only God has a right to give someone the honor of being born as a Hindu, so no conversions into Hinduism are allowed as humans are mere mortals and can not even begin to understand what God wants. A report in an Indian newspaper described the law "From now on, anyone wishing to convert will have to tell the government why they were doing it and for how long they had been following the religion which they were renouncing, failing which, they will be declared offenders and prosecuted under criminal laws". Sectarion and religious riots were sparked off when a train carrying Hindu pilgrims was burned at Godhra in Gujarat - resulting in the death of 60 Hindu women and Children - the resulting riots led to the killing more than 2,000 Muslims in Gujarat in 2002. Due to this law, it becomes mandatory for the clergy who want to convert a person from one religion to another to obtain permission of the district magistrate. It also becomes mandatory for the clergy to provide personal information of the person whom (s)he wants to convert including her/his marital status, occupation and income.<ref name=IACLTEFS/> The Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) expressed concern over this law in which "force", "fraudulent means" and "allurement" are very loosely defined.<ref name=CSWCWACLY>[http://dynamic.csw.org.uk/article.asp?t=news&id=737 India: CSW condemns "worst anti-conversion law yet"] ''Christian Solidarity Worldwide''</ref> Alexa Papadouris, Advocacy Director of the Christian Solidarity Worldwide, said,<ref name=CSWCWACLY/>

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a Hindu nationalist political party in India, passed an anti-conversion law in the state of [[Gujarat]] in 2003. Christian community in the state feared that Hindu extremists will misuse this law by making false accusations against Christian missionaries - however they leave out the implication that the law works the same way when a Christian tries to convert to Hinduism - which is not a real possibility because Hinduism states that you can only be born as a Hindu, and only God has a right to give someone the honor of being born as a Hindu, so no conversions into Hinduism are allowed as humans are mere mortals and can not even begin to understand what God wants. A report in an Indian newspaper described the law "From now on, anyone wishing to convert will have to tell the government why they were doing it and for how long they had been following the religion which they were renouncing, failing which, they will be declared offenders and prosecuted under criminal laws". Sectarion and religious riots were sparked off when a train carrying Hindu pilgrims was burned at Godhra in Gujarat - resulting in the death of 60 Hindu women and Children - the resulting riots led to the killing more than 2,000 Muslims in Gujarat in 2002. Due to this law, it becomes mandatory for the clergy who want to convert a person from one religion to another to obtain permission of the district magistrate. It also becomes mandatory for the clergy to provide personal information of the person whom (s)he wants to convert including her/his marital status, occupation and income.<ref name=IACLTEFS/> The Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) expressed concern over this law in which "force", "fraudulent means" and "allurement" are very loosely defined.<ref name=CSWCWACLY>[http://dynamic.csw.org.uk/article.asp?t=news&id=737 India: CSW condemns "worst anti-conversion law yet"] ''Christian Solidarity Worldwide''</ref> Alexa Papadouris, Advocacy Director of the Christian Solidarity Worldwide, said,<ref name=CSWCWACLY/>