Forced conversion -- in other words, forcing people to adopt a new religion by bribery, physical force or other coercive means -- is a hot issue in much of Asia. In recent years India, Sri Lanka, and some other Asian nations have passed anti-conversion laws, making it a crime to induce someone to convert to a new religion by force, fraud or allurement. I understand that in some places people are required to petition the government to be allowed to convert to another religion.
I live on the other side of our planet and am limited to English-language websites for information. So, I don't have the clearest picture of this issue. Many people who favor anti-conversion laws cite aggressive proselytizing by evangelical Christians as the problem the laws are supposed to solve. In some areas Muslims also are accused of being coercive.
My impression is that forced conversions are a recent concern, although I could be wrong about that. There have been Christian missions in Asia for centuries now, however, so if aggressive proselytizing is only now getting under peoples' skins, one has to ask, what changed?
I speculate there are several factors working together at once. First, long-established religious institutions tend to be among the more conservative elements of a society. Over the past century, new technologies in communication and travel have brought the diverse cultures of the world in closer contact with each other, and as this has happened factions in many religions have become more intolerant and defensive -- fundamentalist, if you will.
Related to religious conservatism is religious nationalism. This seems to be a factor in Sri Lanka, for example, where Buddhism is thought to be integral to national identity.
And related to religious conservatism and nationalism, notice how many of today's armed conflicts around the world have a religious component. This is particularly true in the Middle East and Asia.
Now, toss some zealous westerners fresh out of Bible college into this mix. I can see how that might be like tossing a lighted match into a barrel of gasoline.
At the Dharma Folk, arunlikhati points to a report from a Christian "Cambodian Mission Team," which declared,
After church on Sunday we climbed 358 steps to visit the ruins of a Buddhist temple on top of a local mountain. We were glad to learn more about the beliefs of the Cambodian people but we were also reminded of the hopeless situation of those many people who have yet to put their trust in Jesus Christ.
Not an attitude that wins hearts and minds, I wouldn't think. But I found another missionary blog that's even better --
In the afternoon we went to a Buddhist temple. In the temple there was a memorial for a monk who had passed away. As I looked at his photograph my heart was burdened for the man. He spent his life following a lie. The reality that the man that I was staring at was in hell at that very moment, and for all eternity made me sick.
And I say this to Christian institutions, with all kindness, that if you persist in sending such people to proselytize in Asia, there will be more anti-conversion laws. I'm not opposed to missionary work, mind you, but genuine respect for indigenous religions and sensitivity to local culture would go a long way toward soothing the inflamed.
I get sickened by some of these sites too. One I came across was for the Church Planting Institute who says, “Japan is a rich nation, but they are spiritually dead. Less than 1/3 of 1% of Japanese are Christians, and there is only one missionary for every 45,000 people. Obviously, the Japanese need to hear the Word, so who will take it to them, and why have more missionaries not followed the calling to this dark nation?”
As someone born in Japan I take offense to their view of Japan and their self-righteousness. They might think Japan needs to hear the “Word,” but I can certainly think of some words to share with them as well. The sad thing is, these people really don’t see anything wrong with that they’re doing.
My impression is that some evangelical colleges and groups are sending groups of young people to Asia on short-term proselytizing tours. That’s asking for trouble, seems to me.
namaste all ~
No one should convert others to a cause if religious in nature.
Spirituality is a personal, vibrant issue, no one genre of philosophy is better than another.
Christians from the United States, and other countries, no matter the group they work with should be prohibited & discouraged from prosetlyzing, and leave indigenous cultures ALONE!
Too many billions of peoples over the millenniums have died from being affiliated with ‘this’ or ‘that’ god’s belief network to their detriment while forced to give up their own beliefs for a foreign set. … this must stop!
I just started following. This is a lovely blog post. You make an excellent point. Keep it up!
Saying of the monk that, “He spent his life following a lie,” is totally unfair. Here’s a person who takes an utter misinterpretation of Christian scripture as literally true, while simultaneously accusing someone who most likely spent much of his life attending to his direct experience of having lived a lie. Can anyone else see the irony in this? Unbelievable. As an ex-Christian, who attended Bible college for three years before really examining my beliefs (and was called a heretic for sharing my doubt with others), I am utterly appalled at what I just read.
If only they read the gospels with open eyes. Who did Jesus criticize? The gentiles? Nope. The tax collectors? The whores? Nope. The Pharisees, that’s who. Jesus was not a big fan of fundies. Irony, I tell you. Irony!
NPR’s website has an interesting article about a college student who went “under cover” for a semester at Liberty University (founded by Jerry Falwell) to better understand fundamentalist Christianity, in preparation for writing a book.
It’s a nice essay — One of my favorite parts is:
One day he sat down to a test that featured a true-false question: “Noah’s Ark was big enough to accommodate various species of dinosaurs.”
!!
I agree with Kendall’s comment. The Japanese have done quite well without Christianity!
They have a very low murder rate, violent crime is rare, child abuse is unheard of, there is a predominant polite culture & a spirit of national unity. Compare that to Christian America with the world’s highest rates of murder, incarceration, domestic violence, etc.!