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Tamil Nadu's anti-conversion ordinance becomes permanent law
As expected, the legislative assembly in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu created a law prohibiting religious conversion by "force, allurement, or fraudulent means." The state government had earlier issued the conversion ban as a decree, but yesterday's 140-73 vote makes it law.

Under the law, anyone found "inducing" people to convert may be imprisoned for three years and heavily fined. Religiously motivated aid and relief workers say this puts their work at tremendous risk. Also, anyone coverting to another religion must have it approved by a district magistrate.

The Hindu, a national Indian newspaper that's not as partisan in this controversy as its name might suggest, is quick to dismiss reports that the law is just about forced conversions. The chief minister's "arguments in the course of the three-hour debate were against conversion itself. … Invoking Mahatma Gandhi, [Chief Minister J] Jayalalithaa sought to justify a ban on all conversions." the paper says. It quotes her saying, "Conversions create resentment among several sections and also inflame religious passions, leading to communal clashes."

The paper says that although the bill was overwhelmingly passed, yesterday saw "one of the fiercest and lengthiest debates in the Assembly yet."

The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which leads the nation's coalition government, is pushing for all other Indian states to pass similar laws.

Interfaith Alliance, National Council of Churches: Falwell, Robertson, and Graham shouldn't be killed, but …
The Washington Times says that the Interfaith Alliance (which exists to counter the Religious Right) and the National Council of Churches are holding their noses and defending Jerry Falwell, Franklin Graham, and Pat Robertson against death threats. Of course, Falwell, Graham, and Robertson won't exactly take it as a defense. "To call for the killing of persons whose comments about other religions have been historically wrong and patently offensive [contradicts the] highest values" shared by faiths, Interfaith Alliance executive director C. Welton Gaddy said. (The Washington Times reports that Gaddy issued a statement, but it's not on the alliance website.)

NCC executive director Bob Edgar is only quoted as saying "We need to speak out against violence" in a Sunday broadcast to Lebanon. Weblog couldn't find anything on the NCC website defending the three men against against death threats—only items saying that Jerry Falwell's recent comments "are dangerous to the national security of every nation where Christians and Muslims are seeking a peaceful relationship … create ideal conditions for breeding terrorism … [and] put at increased risk the lives of thousands of Christian missionaries and humanitarian aid workers."

The Times article doesn't note whether Muslim leaders are repudiating the death threats.

Sex abuse scandals:

• Accused Baptist pastor is protected by elders | In many churches, control stays local (The Boston Globe)
  
  
• Church panel softens bishops' abuse rules | A joint commission of U.S. bishops and Vatican officials to reimpose a 10-year statute of limitations on the Church's disciplining of U.S. priests accused of sexual abuse (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Also: Church's sex abuse policy is revised | Team of U.S. bishops and Vatican officials rework 'zero-tolerance' rules. The speed of the agreement catches some by surprise (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Also: Panel of bishops completes changes to zero-tolerance policy | A committee of Vatican officials and American bishops announced that they had revised a zero-tolerance policy for dealing with sexually abusive priests (The New York Times)
  
  

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October (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46