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Friday, 24 July 2009: The last thing Kandhamal
Christians would not want is an anti-conversion law in
action. Not only it is a no-no in terms of freedom of
religion, it also mostly leads to the imprisonment of
church leaders on false accusations.
Last year, after violence erupted on Christians in
riot-stricken Kandhamal, the state government, including
the chief minister of Orissa Naveen Patnaik, was calling
for the implementation of the already-existing
anti-conversion law that was identical to those in
neighboring states.
Patnaik told reporters that the Orissa Freedom of
Religion Act (OFRA), 1967, “announced several years ago
must be now implemented.” And now with the recent
Mohapatra Commission identifying ‘conversion’ as one of
the causes for violence, the call gets a boost.
Understandably, the Christian community opposed it and
it also drew flak from the Archbishop of Orissa, Raphael
Cheenath. The Christian leader said the law was against
the spirit of the Constitution.
“We are against freedom of religion act as its
provisions are opposed to the spirit of the
Constitution,” the archbishop told reporters.
He patently pointed that such a law restricts the
freedom of religion by demanding people to obtain
government permission before conversion.
His opposition to the anti-conversion law has come just
days after the UPA government promised to repeal the
controversial law that was in force in several states.
The law makes it mandatory for the concerned district
collectors to be informed before anyone changing his or
her religion.
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