07-22-2006, 12:12 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->
Archive of a message on racists IER yahoogroup:
http://www.sabha.info/misc/violentconv.txt
----- Original Message -----
From: Benjamin Marsh
To: Indo-Eurasian_research@yahoogroups.com
Sent: 17 July 2006 Monday 05:28
Subject: [Indo-Eurasia] Dalit Freedom Network Petition on Anti-Conversion Laws
[Mod. note. Please see the note and petition below, directed at
India's Prime Minister Singh, President Bush, and other officials,
from Ben Marsh, the Washington, D.C. lobbyist for the Dalit Freedom
Network. If you don't know about India's anti-conversion laws, please
see the links in Ben's note. Anti-conversion laws, masked as "Freedom
of Religion" laws, are supposedly aimed against "forceful" or
"fraudulent" conversion of Hindus by Christians or Muslims. But their
real object, promoted by high-caste groups in the Hindu right, is to
uphold the caste status quo: historically, most Indian Christians and
Muslims too have come from the most oppressed levels of Indian
society. The laws have often been tied to anti-minority violence, as
noted in the U.S. State Department report linked below, which among
much else relates how in 2003 Karsan Patel, the "Minister for Social
Justice and Empowerment" in Gujarat, "publicly told tribal school
children in a Christian-run school 'to decide whether they want to
live as Hindus or die as Christians.'" I plan on emailing Ben and
asking him to add my name. If you do too, please add your academic
title or affiliation, if you have one; feel free too to post his note
elsewhere. - saf.]
Dear List Members,
At the end of this post you'll find a letter addressed to the Prime Minister
of India that will be copied to India's Chief Ministers, the U.S. State
Department, the White House, and several Members of Congress dealing with
"Freedom of Religion" legislation present in six Indian states. Please email
me if you are willing to sign it or if you want a pdf copy. Please also feel
free to circulate it to other Lists. At the end you will find a list of
current signatories.
India's so-called "Anti-Conversion Laws", ostensibly written to protect
uneducated low-caste people from being tricked into converting by
evangelical Christians and Muslims, instead serve to restrict public
services like healthcare and economic development being pursued by minority
religions. More troublesome is the fact that these laws have been used by
persecutors to give excuse to their violent crimes in the name of vigilante
justice.
My organization and our partners will be the first to discredit Christian
organizations that forcibly allure low-caste people or pay for converts, but
the reality is that no documented instances of forced conversion have
ever taken place. These laws are truly a reactionary measure to stem
the tide of
low-caste people and untouchables away from
Hinduism into what they consider to be more "spiritually democratic"
religions.
To give you some background on these laws, let me point you to the U.S.
State Department's most recent Religious Freedom Department report:
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2005/51618.htm
The State Department officially opposes the laws.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide UK has also written an excellent report
highlighting the problems with these laws: problems including vague
language, unequal enforcement, and disproportionate punishment for different
castes and religions. Moreover, the report highlights the international
obligations to which India has agreed and the sections of the Indian
constitution that deal with religious freedom which these laws violate.
http://tinyurl.com/jslr6
The Dalit Freedom Network and CSW UK are partnering to bring a week of
attention to these laws. I have letters circulating in the US House and
Senate and CSW has a letter circulating in Parliament. Additionally, the
Congressional Human Right Caucus is hosting a staff briefing next Friday on
the issue. This letter is an important part of the effort to encourage the
government of India to change their laws.
While written from a US perspective, I think the letter is general enough
that any who oppose these laws can add their name. Please send me an email
if you would like to add your name.
The letter:
**************
Dear Prime Minister Singh,
As academics, activists, and religious leaders we look forward to growing
economic, social, and political ties between the United States and India. We
are concerned, however, by the enactment of anti-conversion legislation in
several Indian states. These laws seriously limit the right of Indian
citizens to freely practice their chosen faiths and cause us to question
your government's commitment to religious freedom.
Six Indian states have already enacted legislation which restricts the right
of citizens to convert from one faith to another. These laws clearly
contradict Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and of
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. We urge the
Governments of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh,
Gujarat and Rajasthan to repeal these unjust laws.
The United States and India are entering into an unprecedented partnership.
It is within the context of friendship and with hope that we ask the
Government of India and the Indian States to defend and uphold the freedoms
and rights that your forefathers sacrificed to protect. As the world's
largest democracy and an emerging economic power, India is a role model to
nascent democracies and developing nations across the globe. By repealing
these laws and ensuring the future protection of religious minorities, India
would set a powerful example to other nations dealing with inter-religious
strife and would advance our mutual interests of protecting global human
rights and advancing democracy.
Centuries of human experience show that the law cannot constrain the
conscience for long. Freedom of religion-including the freedom to
convert-is the most fundamental of human liberties. We hope you will agree
with us that anti-conversion laws are unacceptable and have no place in a
free democracy. We await your response.
Sincerely,
Nanci Ricks
Executive Director
Dalit Freedom Network
Peggy Birchfield
Executive Director
Religious Freedom Coalition
Richard Cizik
Vice President for Government Affairs
National Association of Evangelicals
Barrett Duke, Ph.D.
Vice President for Public Policy and Research
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
Southern Baptist Convention
William Greene
President
RightMarch.com
Arie de Pater
Advocacy Director
Open Doors International
Bill Saunders
Human Rights Counsel
Family Research Council
Andrea Lafferty
Executive Director
Traditional Values Coalition
Lindsay Vessey
Advocacy Coordinator
Open Doors USA
Kristin Wright
Executive Director
Stand Today
Wendy Wright
President
Concerned Women for America
Angela C. Wu
Director of International Advocacy
The Becket Fund for Religious Libert
Benjamin Marsh
Washington, DC Coordinator
Dalit Freedom Network
(703) 973-1243<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Why do all these Dalits President, Coordinator, Director have Christian sounding names? That too American ones?
Archive of a message on racists IER yahoogroup:
http://www.sabha.info/misc/violentconv.txt
----- Original Message -----
From: Benjamin Marsh
To: Indo-Eurasian_research@yahoogroups.com
Sent: 17 July 2006 Monday 05:28
Subject: [Indo-Eurasia] Dalit Freedom Network Petition on Anti-Conversion Laws
[Mod. note. Please see the note and petition below, directed at
India's Prime Minister Singh, President Bush, and other officials,
from Ben Marsh, the Washington, D.C. lobbyist for the Dalit Freedom
Network. If you don't know about India's anti-conversion laws, please
see the links in Ben's note. Anti-conversion laws, masked as "Freedom
of Religion" laws, are supposedly aimed against "forceful" or
"fraudulent" conversion of Hindus by Christians or Muslims. But their
real object, promoted by high-caste groups in the Hindu right, is to
uphold the caste status quo: historically, most Indian Christians and
Muslims too have come from the most oppressed levels of Indian
society. The laws have often been tied to anti-minority violence, as
noted in the U.S. State Department report linked below, which among
much else relates how in 2003 Karsan Patel, the "Minister for Social
Justice and Empowerment" in Gujarat, "publicly told tribal school
children in a Christian-run school 'to decide whether they want to
live as Hindus or die as Christians.'" I plan on emailing Ben and
asking him to add my name. If you do too, please add your academic
title or affiliation, if you have one; feel free too to post his note
elsewhere. - saf.]
Dear List Members,
At the end of this post you'll find a letter addressed to the Prime Minister
of India that will be copied to India's Chief Ministers, the U.S. State
Department, the White House, and several Members of Congress dealing with
"Freedom of Religion" legislation present in six Indian states. Please email
me if you are willing to sign it or if you want a pdf copy. Please also feel
free to circulate it to other Lists. At the end you will find a list of
current signatories.
India's so-called "Anti-Conversion Laws", ostensibly written to protect
uneducated low-caste people from being tricked into converting by
evangelical Christians and Muslims, instead serve to restrict public
services like healthcare and economic development being pursued by minority
religions. More troublesome is the fact that these laws have been used by
persecutors to give excuse to their violent crimes in the name of vigilante
justice.
My organization and our partners will be the first to discredit Christian
organizations that forcibly allure low-caste people or pay for converts, but
the reality is that no documented instances of forced conversion have
ever taken place. These laws are truly a reactionary measure to stem
the tide of
low-caste people and untouchables away from
Hinduism into what they consider to be more "spiritually democratic"
religions.
To give you some background on these laws, let me point you to the U.S.
State Department's most recent Religious Freedom Department report:
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2005/51618.htm
The State Department officially opposes the laws.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide UK has also written an excellent report
highlighting the problems with these laws: problems including vague
language, unequal enforcement, and disproportionate punishment for different
castes and religions. Moreover, the report highlights the international
obligations to which India has agreed and the sections of the Indian
constitution that deal with religious freedom which these laws violate.
http://tinyurl.com/jslr6
The Dalit Freedom Network and CSW UK are partnering to bring a week of
attention to these laws. I have letters circulating in the US House and
Senate and CSW has a letter circulating in Parliament. Additionally, the
Congressional Human Right Caucus is hosting a staff briefing next Friday on
the issue. This letter is an important part of the effort to encourage the
government of India to change their laws.
While written from a US perspective, I think the letter is general enough
that any who oppose these laws can add their name. Please send me an email
if you would like to add your name.
The letter:
**************
Dear Prime Minister Singh,
As academics, activists, and religious leaders we look forward to growing
economic, social, and political ties between the United States and India. We
are concerned, however, by the enactment of anti-conversion legislation in
several Indian states. These laws seriously limit the right of Indian
citizens to freely practice their chosen faiths and cause us to question
your government's commitment to religious freedom.
Six Indian states have already enacted legislation which restricts the right
of citizens to convert from one faith to another. These laws clearly
contradict Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and of
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. We urge the
Governments of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh,
Gujarat and Rajasthan to repeal these unjust laws.
The United States and India are entering into an unprecedented partnership.
It is within the context of friendship and with hope that we ask the
Government of India and the Indian States to defend and uphold the freedoms
and rights that your forefathers sacrificed to protect. As the world's
largest democracy and an emerging economic power, India is a role model to
nascent democracies and developing nations across the globe. By repealing
these laws and ensuring the future protection of religious minorities, India
would set a powerful example to other nations dealing with inter-religious
strife and would advance our mutual interests of protecting global human
rights and advancing democracy.
Centuries of human experience show that the law cannot constrain the
conscience for long. Freedom of religion-including the freedom to
convert-is the most fundamental of human liberties. We hope you will agree
with us that anti-conversion laws are unacceptable and have no place in a
free democracy. We await your response.
Sincerely,
Nanci Ricks
Executive Director
Dalit Freedom Network
Peggy Birchfield
Executive Director
Religious Freedom Coalition
Richard Cizik
Vice President for Government Affairs
National Association of Evangelicals
Barrett Duke, Ph.D.
Vice President for Public Policy and Research
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
Southern Baptist Convention
William Greene
President
RightMarch.com
Arie de Pater
Advocacy Director
Open Doors International
Bill Saunders
Human Rights Counsel
Family Research Council
Andrea Lafferty
Executive Director
Traditional Values Coalition
Lindsay Vessey
Advocacy Coordinator
Open Doors USA
Kristin Wright
Executive Director
Stand Today
Wendy Wright
President
Concerned Women for America
Angela C. Wu
Director of International Advocacy
The Becket Fund for Religious Libert
Benjamin Marsh
Washington, DC Coordinator
Dalit Freedom Network
(703) 973-1243<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Why do all these Dalits President, Coordinator, Director have Christian sounding names? That too American ones?