Archbishop requests K'taka CM to not table anti-conversion bill and to take back orders on survey of Christian missionaries

Bengaluru, Nov 20: After the Karnataka government decided to conduct a survey of Christian missions in the state, the Archbishop of Bengaluru wrote to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai urging him to not table the "discriminatory" anti-conversion bill in the state Assembly.

  

"The entire Christian community in Karnataka opposed the proposal of the anti-conversion bill in one voice and questions the need for such an exercise when sufficient laws and court directives are in place to monitor any aberration of the existing laws," Archbishop Peter Machado wrote in his letter addressed to CM Bommai. He requested the Chief Minister to also withdraw the orders on the survey of Christian missionaries and its establishments.

 

"We strongly appeal to goodwill of the Chief Minister and the Cabinet not to promote such an undesirable and discriminatory bill in the interest of the peace and harmony in the society," the Archbishop said.

 

 

According to the reports, the bill will be moved in the upcoming Winter Session of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, scheduled to be held in the Suvarna Soudha starting December 13 in Belagavi.

 

“The Karnataka government is already studying the laws passed by some states in this regard. Karnataka would soon come out with its own act. The Constitution is clear against conversions by means of force and inducements. I have spoken against this in the past too,” Chief Minister Bommai had said.