My Views on Freedom of Religion Laws

First, they convert and welcome people into God's family. Then, they stereotype, isolate, and wreck the new Christian's life. After this, they make fake stories and send them to their original religious group. Then, they mock the new Christian, saying, "God will help," and waste more of their time. The person is neither here nor there, treated mercilessly. Many may give up life; some may give up on eternal life, and others hang on by their fingernails only to notice that they fought and labored in vain. The day of the Lord is near! He will punish the wicked Christians before he holds other nations accountable. Let him who has ears hear. 

If your community cannot care for new converts after they join you, don't convert them into a new faith. Once a person leaves their Hindu community, they join the new religious community. People believe and join the new faith. They lose many things and relationships. And, finally, they are left with nothing. After this, the new community denies them equal or fair treatment. Sometimes, the new community mistreats them and oppresses them. In such a scenario, where would the aggrieved person go? They are doubly persecuted. First, their original community persecutes them. Then, their new community oppresses them. Therefore, we need a new set of Central Government Freedom of Religion laws. If you can't take care of the converted, don't convert! 

In this country, there are laws to protect the rights of the convertor. Articles 14, 25, 26, 27, and 28 contain laws related to religious liberty. Besides, there are many written and unwritten minority affairs laws. There's even a ministry called the minority affairs ministry. However, no law protects the rights, safety, and interests of the person who converts (the converted). Presently, if the community leaders feel to do so one day, they can expel Manoj Kumar without any consequences despite his 23 years of service to God. Where would this Manoj go for his rights? They say, "Go to God." The aggrieved Manoj Kumar prayed. And, God said, "Fight for laws to protect the rights of the new convert within the new community." When the doubly persecuted people complain to the government, the government must take stringent action against that religious community. 

We need a central bill that mandates a legal record of every conversion so that the community the person joins cannot disown them easily. The new member has an equal right to the privileges and wealth of the community. They are an equal member. Does not the Bible say, "We are co-heirs with and in Christ? And, there is no Jew or Gentile, no Barbarian or slave, all are equal in Christ." Second, we must create laws to protect the rights of the new person within the new community. If they have grievances against the new community, they must be able to fight it legally. At present, the religious community will deny such people and say, "Get out." After that, the new person's life is completely ruined. The religious authorities must do things responsibly. 

Religious groups must exercise their freedom with responsibility. If you want the freedom to preach, you must be responsible for treating the new Christian fairly. The traditional Freedom of Religion laws are against freedom of speech and choice. Freedom of Religion is used as a misnomer for Anti-Conversion laws. We must not stop people from preaching freely or choosing their faith freely. Let all people preach their faith. Let those who believe their message choose the way of life. However, after they believe, the people who lead them to the new faith must not force them to change their cultural matters like food (vegetarian or non-vegetarian), clothes (colorful or white), and language. Further, they must welcome the new person into the community with love and respect. The community must be liable only if they mistreat or oppress the new believers. 

Many Christian communities are in a fix. They have to choose the lesser evil considering the extremist attitudes of both political factions. On the one hand, we have a terrorism-favouring Marxist-Congress team. And, on the other, we have Modiji's team that has some elements that hate Christians. Even so, the government must pay careful attention to the ambiguous aspects of the Freedom of Religion laws such as the definition of "allurement." Such laws must never be against preaching or practising one's faith. But they need to include legal options for those who feel converted by coercion. Regardless, only the converted people must have the right to lodge a complaint, not activists or observers as many of such fake lawsuits display. 

In sum, I suggest the Freedom of Religion laws be modified in the following way.

1. Let all people have the right to preach and practice their faith. (Articles 25-28)

2. Let all people propagate their faith without offering tangible non-after-life allurements. Every religion including Hinduism has a view of the afterlife. Therefore, such things like pleasure in Heaven or pain in hell must not be considered as allurement or coercion. The allurements can include money, property, employment, education, and marriage, but not a vision of the afterlife or what God is like. 

3. Sometimes the new believers are coerced to change their food habits, the way they dress, or their preferred language. They are also prohibited from visiting their relatives or attending marriage and family functions. These things can be termed as cultural conversion. For instance, nobody should be forced to eat meat or fish if they come from vegetarian families. 

Likewise, women should not be forced to remove their mangal sutras or sindoor. They must not be coerced to wear white clothes that represent widowhood in certain communities. Is not faith internal, why change people's cultural ways? Even Paul did not recommend Gentiles to follow the Jewish culture to become Christ-followers. Therefore, such cultural conversions must be discouraged by law. 

4. The rights of the new (first generation) believers must be protected. Their new faith society must not harass, attack, torture or persecute them in any way. Only they must have the right to sue the converter, not any political party, relatives, or activists. 

5. Every conversion must be recorded faithfully and the new society held accountable if the new believer is mistreated in any way. These include partiality, isolation, sidelining, unfair treatment, and physical or mental abuse.