India (MNN) — A state court in northern India defended anti-conversion laws last month with an interesting constitutional contradiction. The court argued that rights like religious freedom are “subject to public order, morality, and health.”
Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs, USA explains the potential ramifications.
“So if you are sharing your religion and it’s making people of another religion angry, well, then you’re upsetting public order, and public order is a higher value than religious freedom, which has been guaranteed in the constitution,” he says.
(Photo courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs)
“I would love to know the discussions behind the scenes between the various attorneys and how he (the judge) came to this decision. But it does show what the Hindu nationalists believe: that ‘if we let the Christians propagate their religion, if we let the Muslims grow in influence, that is going to upset the public order, that’s going to bring about hassles and upset and upheaval that we don’t want. So we need to stop those. Therefore, we need these anti-conversion laws that we have, even though clearly they violate the constitution that promises the freedom to freely propagate your religion.”
Anti-conversion laws are used with relative impunity to justify attacks on Christians and other minority religions. One India-based monitor verified 640 violent or discriminatory acts against Christians in 2024. That’s likely only a fraction of what really happened.
“It’s the government that’s driving this persecution, and as I say, the trend is unfortunately much more persecution today than there was even five or 10 years ago,” says Nettleton.
In 2024, Voice of the Martyrs changed how it classifies India, moving it from a hostile area to a restricted nation. (More on that here.) The ministry comes alongside Christians in India with legal assistance, help for families of imprisoned Christians, audio Bible distribution, and more.
Lawyers are frequently needed these days. Nettleton explains that Christians accused of coercing someone to change their religion can spend months, even years in prison — before a court ruling.
“Sometimes the challenge is just enduring while you wait for the process to go forward,” he says.
Find your place in the story with your brothers and sisters in Christ.
“We want to pray for them. We want to stand with them where we can,” says Nettleton, “and I hope that we’re inspired to be bold. If a pastor or an evangelist is willing to go to jail to share the gospel, am I willing to walk across the street to my neighbor? Am I willing to strike [up] a conversation with someone?”
Header photo courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs.
