Posted on 09/07/2026 5:40:58 AM PDT by Cronos
Church bodies introduce written applications and affidavits for converts as attacks on prayer meetings and funerals raise fears of intimidation and calls for an anti-conversion law
Christian organizations in west bengal are tightening safeguards, with a written application and affidavit set to become mandatory for those seeking to embrace Christianity.
The measures are part of a slew of protective steps adopted by Christian bodies to counter what they call an "ill-motivated narrative" against the community that has allegedly fueled several attacks on prayer services and even the removal of a woman's body from a grave after it had been lowered. The incidents have been reported since the BJP came to power in the state four months ago.
The conversion narrative has also put foreign visitors under scrutiny, after two Argentine nationals and a Spanish national visiting the Sunderbans were caught up in a confrontation with local residents who accused them of trying to convert Hindus.
The group stormed the home of one Ratna Mondal in Hingalganj, and allegedly disrupted a prayer meeting attended by the foreign nationals last Sunday. Mondal in her statement to the police said the foreign nationals were Jadavpur University students studying Bengali, had valid identification documents and frequently visited her home at her invitation.
Sushovan Das, a Hindu Jagran Manch leader alleged that foreign nationals had been frequently visiting Mondal's house to secretly carry out religious conversions. He threatened to mobilize a bigger protest of "forced conversions" are not stopped in the area.
Lawyer Surjit Gharami and his pregnant wife, Beethika also faced a similar situation a week ago. Surjit said more than 100 people gathered outside their home and objected to a Christian prayer meeting held there on August 23. The family is Hindu, but Surjit's ailing mother had recently begun praying at home according to Christian practices, prompting objections from one or two local residents.
On Sunday afternoon, when prayers were held again, a large group allegedly arrived and confronted the family. Surjit and his wife were allegedly assaulted in the ensuing confrontation.
Such attacks are not limited to house-prayer services, as churches, pastors, and even funerals have also come under attack.
In Sandeshkhali, a group allegedly entered a church on July 30 and confronted Pastor Santosh Tudu, pressuring him to renounce Christianity and threatening to drive him out of the area if he refused.
In Membari, 20 to 25 people allegedly forced their way into the home of Pastor Joy Suradhar on August 18, assaulted him and ordered his family to leave the area.
at Sahanagar, a funeral at St Claret Church was disrupted on August 14 after a group allegedly stopped the burial and took out a woman's body after it had been lowered into the grave. The family later buried her at another cemetery in Bardhaman town.
In Nazar, a group allegedly confronted the priest of St Claret Catholic Church and gave him 7 days to leave the area, warning of unspecified consequences if he refused.
Police sources said FIRs have already been filed at 12 such cases across the state, indicating that the incidents are not isolated.
"There are at least 25 cases that have been brought to our notice, though FIRs have been lodged in only 12. Several incidents go unreported due to fear" said the spokesperson of the Bangiya Christian Pariseba.
The West Bengal Minority affairs minister Kshudiram Tudu, however, said he was not aware of any such attack on the Christian communities. "No such incident has been brought to my notice, even by members of the Christian community. But if such incidents are taking place, I will certainly ask the appropriate authorities to investigate, because our government respects every individual's right to practice their faith without interference".
He, however said protests against forced conversions were bound to happen, but stressed that any such complaints should be reported to the administration for legal action rather than being met with violence.
He further said the state government would soon enact an anti-conversion law to prevent religious change through coercion or inducement and put an end to disputes over such practices.
Note the false narrative that the Hindu authorities are using = He, however said protests against forced conversions were bound to happen. He further said the state government would soon enact an anti-conversion law to prevent religious change through coercion or inducement and put an end to disputes over such practices.
The Hindu extremist view is at https://www.opindia.com/2026/09/west-bengal-locals-pushback-against-christian-conversion-activities/
where they say “Locals finally push back as conversion cases rise
Taken together, the recent incidents in Hingalganj, Hasnabad, Sonamukhi and Jalpaiguri show how locals are increasingly speaking out against attempts to convert people in their communities. Instead of remaining silent, locals have begun questioning religious activities taking place in their neighbourhoods, confronting those involved and demanding answers about what is being taught or offered to residents. In some cases, these objections have led to heated confrontations and the disruption of religious gatherings held in the name of healing and education.
For the locals raising these objections, the issue is not simply about religion but about the illegal conversion which is happening within their own communities. They say they do not want economically weaker families or children to be approached with religious teachings, money or other inducements in the name of education, charity or prayer. “
The next step in parts of India may be to become like the Muslims, and ban conversion altogether.
Which is strange when you consider that, if "the Devil" is really behind this, he would concentrate primarily on the one true version rather than all of them. Is chrstianity so confusing that even "the Devil" can't tell which one is the real McCoy?
Unfortunately, the bureaucracy that runs the Catholic Church at this time advocates only alliances with the ancient ethnic churches and radical Protestant churches with lesbian "bishops." Being associated with people who believe Adam and Eve were real, historical figures would be so embarrassing!
I forgot to point out that, in cultures where chrstianity is considered “foreign” (as in India but also in the Arab Middle East) chrstians may adopt “Marxism-Leninism” in the name of identitarian liberation (like moslems do in the West). In northeastern India there is an actual chrstian MAOIST insurrection that has been going on for a long time. One of its mottoes is “Nagaland for “Chr*st.”
To your points - Fulton Sheen never became a "hippie." Sheen never compromised on Catholic moral, dogmatic, or liturgical orthodoxy. He continuously preached traditional piety, Eucharistic adoration, and repentance from sin throughout the 1960s and until his death in 1979.
And calling Sheen a "Teilhardian" implies that Sheen subscribed to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's unorthodox or controversial theological/evolutionary system. This is false. Sheen did praise certain poetic and cosmic aspects of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's writings regarding the Incarnation (specifically predicting in his 1966 book Footprints in a Darkened Forest that Teilhard’s scientific-mystical vocabulary would eventually be understood in a orthodox sense).
Archbishop Sheen was a world-class philosopher whose doctoral degree from Louvain was built on the strict Thomism of St. Thomas Aquinas. He consistently critiqued pantheism, modernism, and relativistic philosophy. Citing a thinker favorably in one specific context does not make someone a follower or disciple of that thinker.
I would strongly advise you, ZC, to read Summa theologae by Thomas Aquinas - you are reducing a complex, holy Catholic prelate to modern political labels. Fulton Sheen was neither a modern political "conservative" nor a 1960s "hippie"—he was simply a faithful, orthodox Catholic bishop whose allegiance was to Jesus Christ
Zionist - realize that Jesus Christ is Lord, God and Savior
Yet, to soothe that heartbreak, you have anchored your soul to a religious track - Noahidism - that has zero historical expression prior to the late 20th century. - in fact just to stick it to Christianity, joining a cult that is just about the same age as Scientology is pretty pathetic
Post-70 AD Rabbinic Judaism transformed into a liturgical/ethical covenant. In the Talmud (Avot de-Rabbi Natan 4:5), Johanan ben Zakkai famously comforted a weeping disciple by declaring that Gemilut Hasadim (acts of loving-kindness) now replaced animal sacrifice as the vehicle for atonement, invoking Hosea 6:6 ("I desire mercy, not sacrifice"). This was not a "pause" in the system; it was a fundamental rewiring of how man reconciles with God.
The top of Second Temple authority was the High Priest operating in the Holy of Holies.
Rabbinic Judaism replaced the hereditary priesthood with the Rabbi—an ordained scholar whose authority is based on intellectual merit and mastery of the legal tradition, not lineage.
While the Pharisees always valued ancestral traditions, the formalization of the Oral Torah (Torah she-be'al peh) as co-equal, co-eternal, and divinely revealed alongside the Written Torah was a distinct development codified in the Mishnah (compiled c. 200 AD by Judah ha-Nasi). This is different from 2nd temple Judaism
......
You then said "Judaism paused sacrifices before (e.g., the Babylonian Exile), so 70 AD was just another temporary pause, not a new religion."
you forget that the Babylonian Exile lasted a mere 70 years. Critically, during the Babylonian Exile, the Jewish people maintained their hereditary priestly lines, kept meticulous genealogical records, and actively anticipated the immediate physical restoration of the altar, which they accomplished under Ezra and Nehemiah. Furthermore, the exilic period was guided by living Prophets (Ezekiel, Daniel) who held direct divine mandates.
in stark contrast, the post-70 AD era has lasted nearly 2,000 years. The genealogies of the Aaronic priesthood have been completely lost to history, rendering a literal return to Levitical specifications impossible. Most importantly, Rabbinic Judaism explicitly declared that prophecy had ceased with Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi (Bava Batra 12a), replacing direct divine revelation with Rabbinic consensus and legal debate. The Babylonian Exile was a temporary interruption of an existing system; the post-70 AD shift was a permanent mutation of the system itself.
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your claim that Jews only stopped converting because they lacked power ignores the historical record. On the rare occasions over the last 2,000 years when Jews did achieve geopolitical dominance, they behaved exactly like the contemporary empires around them
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