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41. Portugal is often presented by the Catholic Missionaries as the Catholic State par excellence founded on the religious, political and social principles of the great encyclicals from Leo XIII to the present day.  There is no State Church as such in Portugal.  The Concordat, however, provides in Articles II and III an 
open course for the Catholic Church in the Portuguese Republic:-

The Catholic Church may freely exercise her authority; in all the matters within her competence, she may carry out without impediment any acts consonant with her rules and jurisdiction��

 

The Catholic Church in Portugal may organise herself freely in harmony with the provisions of Canon Law and thereby constitute associations and organisations whose personality at law the State shall recognise.�-�Religious Liberty�, pages 97 and 98.

42. The place of the Church in education is well established in Articles XX and XXI of the Concordat 1940 quoted below:-

�The teaching administered by the State in public schools shall be guided by the principles of Christian doctrine and morals traditional to the country.  Therefore, the Catholic religion and Catholic morals will be taught in public elementary, complementary and intermediate schools to pupils whose parents or guardians have not lodged a request to the contrary.

 

For the teaching of the Catholic religion, the text-books employed must be passed by ecclesiastical authorities.  In no case shall religious instruction be given by persons not approved by the ecclesiastical authorities as competent.� � �Religious Liberty�, p. 98.

43. In the case of her colonial possessions the Portugal.  Government follows a policy which is a negation of religious liberty.  The Portugal Catholic Church has monopoly of spiritual training of African and Asian people.  The non-Catholic Missions are subjected to serious restrictions and discriminations in clear violation of religions liberty and of international agreements. Article 24 of the Colonial Act runs as follows:-

�Portuguese Catholic Missions overseas being an instrument of civilisation and national influence, and establishments for the training of staff for service therein and in the Portuguese Padroado, shall possess juridical personality and shall be protected and assisted by the State as educational institutions.�

Article 2 of the same Act lays down as follows:-

�It is the essential attribute of the Portuguese nation to fulfil the historic functions of possessing and colonising overseas dominions and of civilising the native population inhabiting them as also that of exercising the moral influence ascribed to it by the Padroado in the East.� (Religious Liberty, p. 515).

44. How did the Portuguese Mission authorities act in christianising and civilising the native population of India can be seen from the following extract on page 161 of �The Heritage of the Indian Christian�.

�The next comers were the Roman Catholic Portuguese who obtained the settlement on the west coast early in the sixteenth century, and proceeded to follow their usual policy of rapid christianisation of the Indian people under their immediate influence.  Thus, Goa remains nominally Christian to this day.  But this incident in Indian History is chiefly important because it provides St. Francis Xavier and his fellow-Jesuits with an opportunity for evangelistic work in South India.  The Portuguese soon discovered the Nestorian Christians in Malabar, and immediately sought by all possible means, fair and foul, to bring them under the obedience of the Pope, and to a profession of the orthodox faith.  By dint of wholesale employment of force, bribery, they succeeded in subjugating the larger part of them.�

45. In Columbia the Catholics have forbidden the evangelistic activity of non-Catholics, i.e., to proselytise or propagandise outside their places of worship (page 246, National Christian Council Review, May 1954).

46. �France� in the words of Searle Bates, �has not, since 1870, been considered a �Catholic country� in the old meaning and not in recent years a �Catholic State� in the new sense of corporative structure based on the doctrines of the encyclical fully supporting the Catholic Religion and Catholic education.  Yet France remains a nation in which Catholicism is first and dominant among religious influences. (Reli. Lib. p. 103).

�SWEDEN maintains a constitution of the year 1809.  Article 2 requires: �The King shall always belong to the pure evangelical faith as adopted and explained in the unaltered Augsburg Confession and in the resolution of the Upsala Synod of 1593�.  The King�s ministers must belong to �The pure evangelical Faith� as so defined (Article 4).  Freedom from constraint of conscience and protection of every one �in the free exercise of his religion, provided he does not thereby disturb public order or occasion general offence,� are secured by article 16.  To offices other than that of royal minister adherents of other Christian faiths and of Judaism may be appointed; but �no person not belonging to the pure evangelical faith shall take part, as Judge or in any other position, in the discussion or decision of questions relating to divine worship, to religious instruction, or to appointments within the Swedish Church.� (Article 28).  Reli. Lib. p. 524.

47. The imparting of religious instruction is compulsory in the State elementary; secondary and teacher training schools for all pupils whose parents are members of the State Church.  Only members of the State Church are appointed as teachers.  Denominational groups and persons not members of the State Church are not permitted to establish their own schools for children.  Up to the end of the 19th century Sweden was a Lutheran State in the full sense of the word and liberty of conscience was nonexistent.

�All administrative and judicial posts, the entire teaching and medical professions, required a Lutheran profession of faith.  Attempt to get a Lutheran to chance his confession were penal offences, and apostacy from the State religion made a Swede liable to banishment for life.� Reli. Lib. p. 205.

48. NORWEGIAN constitution is as old as 1814 with amendment from time to time.  Article 2 of the Constitution declares:

�The Evangelical Lutheran religion shall remain the public religion of the State.  Such inhabitants as profess this religion are required to educate their children therein. Jesuists shall not be admitted.� Article 4 implies active furtherance of the State religion by the Government, which acts for the sovereign : The King shall always profess, maintain and defend the Evangelical Lutheran religion, �More than half the King�s ministers must belong to the State church.  On the other hand, the king and his ministers prescribe the ritual and worship of the Church, appoint and discipline the Clergy (Articles 12, 16, 21).  Reli. Lib. p. 523.

The Cardinal principle of educational policy of Norway is that the children should receive �Christian education . Therefore, religious instruction is compulsory for all pupils in State elementary, secondary and normal schools.  Except as exemption is claimed by parents who have left the State Church.  Class teachers given religious instruction and are appointed with the approval of the Bishop Non-conformist schools are not given any State-aid. (Reli. Lib. p. 332).

49. In DENMARK Lutheran Church is the State Church.  King must be a member of the Church.  The State controls and subsidises the activities of the Church and has not yet given it a separate constitution. (Reli. Lib. p. M).

The Danish constitution of 1915 is based upon the document of 1849.  Article 3 of the Constitution lays down-

�The Evangelical Lutheran Church is the national Church of Denmark and as such it is supported by the State�. (Reli. Lib. p. 523).

In schools under State management all children receive instruction in the Bible, Shorter Catechism and Hymns in the lower classes and in church history in the upper class.  Each child of fourteen years or more belonging to the State Church, is obliged to attend �Confirmation classes� twice a year but can be exempted from actual confirmation on application. (Reli. Liberty p. 104).

50. Of the European States subscribing to Orthodox Christian Church, Russia is the most important example.  �At no time and in no land has the world known so dramatic a denial of religious liberty as in Russia since 1918�.  The provisional Government (1917) had freed all recognised Churches from State control and interference.  By the beginning of 1918, the Soviet decrees �nationalized Church property and the schools, instituted civil marriage and separated the Orthodox Church from State and school alike.� Freedom of conscience was granted and all restrictions of fights based on belief or non-belief were annulled.  Religious instruction in private was authorised, but was barred from all public or private schools, where general subjects were taught. (Reli. Liberty p. 2).

UP to 1929 the Constitutions of the various republics constituting the Soviet Union contained the following article :

�In order to provide the workers actual freedom of conscience, the church is separated from the State, and the school from the church, while freedom for religious and anti-religious propaganda is recognised for all citizens.  �The Stalin Constitution of 1936�, still in force, has the following provisions:-

 

�For the purpose of providing to citizens freedom of conscience, the Church in the U. S. S. R. is separated from the State, and the school from the Church, freedom for the conduct of religious cults and freedom for anti-religious propaganda is recognised for all citizens.� (Article 124).

The period from 1937 to 1939 was a period of persecution of the Church leaders and the Church.  In 1938 alone several prominent bishops were shot, while over fifty bishops were sent to prison or to the concentration camps.  A heavy rent charge was imposed upon Church buildings with the result that in 1937 alone 1,100 orthodox churches and hundreds of other places of worship were forced to close.  The Soviet statistics for 1940 showed that there were then 4,225 listed Orthodox Churches with 5,665 priests as against 46,457 such churches and 50,960 priests before the revolution 1917.  There were 28 Orthodox bishops and 37 monasteries in 1940, as compared to 130 bishops and 1,026 monasteries before Revolution.

The situation, however, changed by 1944.  The Central Organisation of the Russian Orthodox Church has been officially restored. (Religious Liberty, pp. 4-9).

51. Second in importance amongst the countries having Orthodox Church is GREECE.  The Constitution of Greece grants freedom and protection of rights to every recognised religion.  The Church of Hellas is established by the State, which pays the bishops and exercise supervision of all temporal matters in church affairs. Spiritual authority vests it the synod of all the bishops.  Marriages and baptism of evangelical groups are recognised as valid.

Art I of the constitution lays down as follows :-

�The Dominant religion in Greece is that of the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ.�

 

�The Orthodox Church of Greece is inseparably united, from the dogmatic point of view, with the Great Church of Jesus, Constantinople, and every other Church of Jesus Christ of the same dogmas, observing immutably, like it, the holy apostolic and conciliar canons and the holy traditions.  It is autocephalic; it exercises independently of every other Church its sovereign rights and it is administered by a Holy Synod of arch bishops.  The ministers of eve cult are subject to the same surveillance, on the part of the State as those of the dominant religion.�

�The liberty of conscience is inviolable.

 

All the known cults may be exercised freely under the protection of the Law, provided they are not contrary to public order or to good morals.  Proselytism is forbidden.� (Religious Liberty, p. 525).

The official definition of term Proselytism as given below not only guard against the possibilities of its abuse but prevents any religious change even by persuasion or information.

�Any attempt by force, or threats or illicit means, or grants of promises of financial or other aid, or by fraudulent means or promises, or by moral and material assistance, or by taking advantage of any person�s inexperience or confidence or by exploiting any person�s necessity or spiritual (mental) weakness or thoughtlessness, or in general, any attempt or effort (whether successful or not) directory or indirectly to penetrate into religious conscience of persons (whether of age or under age) of another faith, for the purpose of consciously altering their religious conscience or faith, so as to agree with the ideas or convictions of the proselytising party.�-(Religious Liberty, P. 112).

52. Of the remaining Christian countries, Great Britain, Germany and U. S. A. deserve special mention.

53. Question of religious liberty in GREAT BRITAIN centred round the historic position of the Church of England as the National Church.  The King and the Lord Chancellor must be members of the Church of England.  Twenty-four bishops and two arch-bishops are members of the House of Lords.  The Church enjoys properties and endowments.

The problem of the church schools and religious education in State schools of England has aroused controversy.  In the elementary and secondary schools under the control and management of the Church of England religious instruction is imparted.  In the State school, religious education does not exist.  Some persons in localities of the first type wanted religious instruction to he nonsectarian or varied from the Church of England type or voluntary only. Some parents in localities of the second type asked for more positive religious instruction being imparted to their children than was the case.  Dr. Henson has suggested a solution.  He says:

�If instruction in Christian faith and morals were made compulsory (subject to a conscience clause) in all schools, if the State limited its direct concerns to secular subjects and entrusted the religious instruction to the local education authorities, there is little reason for doubting that in a very short time the problem would be happily solved.� (Religious Liberty, page 88.)

54. In GERMANY before the National Socialist Party came in power it reassured the various religions by including the following demand as one of the Twenty-five points it stood for-

�We demand religious freedom for all denominations, so long as they do not endanger the stability of the State or offend against the German people�s instincts of morality and decency.  The party as such takes its stand on a positive Christianity, without committing itself to any particular creed.�

As soon as it came in power, it assumed, �that religion could be utilised for its own purposes of unity and morale and that autonomous elements of faith, spirit and organisation could be assimilated or crushed�.  Dr. Adolf Keller, a Swiss writer, says in his book �The Church and the State� as follows:-

�In the legislation and church policy of the State since 1933 an effort has been made to adapt or to assimilate the Church to the State to include her life within that of the nation, to introduce the principles of national socialism into the fellowship of Christ to impose the Fuehrer principle upon her and to make her a school of National Socialist Education.

 

�The irruption of State power into Church administration, the imprisonment of bishops, the banishment and harsh treatment of pastors, the closing of churches, questionable electioneering methods, the financial privation, were means used during this period, which were regarded by the confessional group as persecution and misuse of State power to the undue advantage of one party in the Church.� (Religious Liberty, pp. 21-22).

The Church rose up in resistance against the totalitarian dictatorship.  In the Evangelical Church Manifesto of 1935 the issue was made clear:-

�The German people is facing a decision of greatest historical importance.  The question is whether the Christian faith is to retain its right to exist or not��� Powers of the State and of the party are being used against the Gospel of Jesus Christ and against those who profess it��� Three years ago millions of Evangelical Germans welcomed the new beginning in the life of our people with warm hearts.  They did so with all the more joy because the Government of our Nation had said in its first proclamation of February 1, 1933, that it would �firmly protect Christianity� as the basis of our whole moral system.� (Religious Liberty, page 25.)

The principle of religious liberty was thrown to the winds. There was not only interference by the State in religious matters, but violation of religious liberty:-

�One of the major breaches of religious liberty has been the gross interference with pastors and priests and their work. By October of 1934 more than 1,000 pastors had been arrested or had suffered some form of police intervention.  On the single day of March 11, 1935, 700 pastors were arrested, and 5,000 others were visited by the Gestapo, �telling them exactly where they and the State stood for�.  In 1937 virtually the whole leadership of the Confessional Church was put behind bars as common criminals.� (Religious Liberty, page 26.)

55. The Jews of Germany were subjected to untold oppression.

�In March of 1938 the Jewish religious communities lost their status as bodies of public right, and their officials were deprived of civil service standing.  On November 7 of that year, a young Jew shot a Secretary of the German Embassy in Paris.  Within twelve hours over 400 Jewish synagogues and places of worship were dynamited and fired.  Jewish shops were systematically pillaged and wrecked; while 60,000 more Jews were rushed to the infamous concentration camps.  Fearful economic exactions were put upon the enfeebled Jewish community.  The last Jewish children remaining in German schools were dismissed.� (Religious Liberty, page 32.)

56. Let us blow Advert to the U. S. A.- �The nature of American constitutional and judicial systems is such as to link together constitutions, major laws and court decisions into one complex.� (Religious Liberty, p. 529).

The constitutions of the various States declare and protect tile rights of their citizens to religious belief and its exercise in terms summed up in the following statement of Dr. Zollman in his book �American Church Law�:-

�Every individual has by nature the inherent, inalienable and indefeasible right of worshipping and serving God in the mode most consistent with the dictates of his conscience: that none shall be deprived of this right; that no human authority shall in any case interfere with or in any manner control or infringe it; and that the free exercise and enjoyment of religious faith, worship, belief, sentiment and profession shall forever be allowed, secured, protected, guaranteed, and held sacred.  It follows that every person is at liberty to profess and by argument to maintain his opinion in matters of religion; that every denomination is to be equally protected by suitable laws in the peaceable enjoyment of its own mode of public worship ; that none will be subordinated to any other or receive any peculiar privileges or advantages-in short, that no preference will he given to no discrimination made against any religious establishment, church, sect, creed, society or denomination or any form of religious faith or worship or system of ecclesiastical policy.  Absolute freedom to choose such religious belief as his judgement and conscience may approve his thus become the birth right of American citizenship.  Any civil or political rights, privileges, capacities or positions which a person may have or hold will not be diminished or enlarged or in any other manner affected by his religious faith, nor will he be disqualified from the performance of his public or private duties on account thereof.  He will not, on account of his religious opinion, persuasion, profession, and sentiments or the peculiar mode or manner of his religions worship, be hurt, molested, disturbed, restrained, burdened, or made to suffer in his person or property�. (Pages 531-.32 ibid).

57. Liberty of conscience is guaranteed by the court as well as constitute. �Liberty of conscience and belief is preserved alike to the followers of Christ, to Buddhists and Mohammedan, to all who think that their tenets alone are illuminated by the light of divine truth, but it is equally preserved to the skeptic, agnostic, atheist and infidel, who says in his heart, �There is no God�.� (Religious Liberty, page 534.)

Is the United States of America a Christian country in the juridical sense? Various court decisions on the question are in. the affirmative.  This fact has great bearing on the legislation of the country.  Dr. Zollman comments in standard work �American Church Law�, as follows:-

�The fact that the prevailing religion in the United States is Christian cannot but exercise a potent influence.  Since the great body of the American People are Christian in sentiment, our laws and institutions �must necessarily be based upon and embody the teaching of the Redeemer of Mankind.  Christianity has been declared to be the alpha and omega of our moral law and the power which directs the operation of our judicial system.  It underlines the whole administration of the Government, state or national, enters into its laws, and is applicable to all because it embodies those essentials of religious faith which are broad enough to include all believers�� It follows that certain acts which would be deemed to be indifferent or even praiseworthy in a pagan country are punished as crimes, or misdemeanors in America.  This is nor done �for the purpose of propping up the Christian religion, but because those breaches are offenses against the laws of the State�.  At least half of the Ten Commandments are on the statute books in one form or another.  These facts have led to the formulation of the maxim that �Christianity is a part of the law of the land� (Religious Liberty, page 533.)

58. The constitutional legal system confers positive aid upon religious societies by exempting their property from taxation.

The United States generally prohibits by law or by Court interpretation of State constitutions, sectarian instruction in public schools.  Private schools are allowed great freedom in organisation and programme.  There is a growing conviction about the importance of imparting religious instruction in the building up of character and giving values in life and a demand is being made for the imparting of religious and moral education of a non-controversial type in State schools.

In the words of Dr. Zollman:

If there is any one thing which is well settled in the policies and purposes of the American people as a whole, it is the fixed and unalterable determination that there shall be an absolute and unequivocal separation of Church and State, and that our public school system supported by the taxation of the property of all alike-Catholic, Protestant, Jew, gentile, believer and infidel-shall not be used directly or indirectly for religious instruction, and, above all, that it shall not be made an instrumentality of proselyting influence in favour of any religious organisation, sect, creed, or belief.� [Religions Liberty, p. 339.]

59. We have so far dealt with the countries under the sway of Christianity with reference to the religious liberty that their constitutions allow.  Let us now deal in passing with the countries where Buddhism is the dominant religion.  They are Japan and China.

Article XXVIII of the Constitution of JAPANESE EMPIRE reads thus:

�Japanese subjects shall, within limits of law, not prejudicial to peace and order and not antagonistic to their duties as subjects, enjoy freedom of religious belief.�

Religious freedom is limited to belief.  It is to be exercised within limits of law of the land and consistent with the duties of the individual to the State as its subject. (Religious Liberty, p. 49.)

The idea about the Emperor of Japanese Empire as something of the divine is peculiar to the Japanese.  In the words of a distinguished member and officer of the Diet, �He (the Emperor) is to the Japanese mind the Supreme Being in the Cosmos of Japan, as God is in the universe of the Pantheistic philosopher.  From him everything emanates, in him everything subsists�� He is supreme in temporal affairs of the State as well as in all spiritual matters.�-[Religious Liberty, p. 51.]

Shinto is the State religion.  In the words of Professor Genchi Kato,-

�This is not a religion adopted purposely by the State as are the State religions in the West, but the religion of the heart and life of every Japanese, male and female, high and low, old and young, educated and illiterate.  For this reason a Japanese never ceases to be Shintoist, an inborn and steadfast holder of the national faith of the way of the Gods as a group religion, as distinguished from a personal or individual religion, even though he may adopt the tenets of Buddhism or Confucianism-probably Christianity in Japan has not been excepted--as his personal or individual religion. In effect, this means that rejection of Shinto by a Japanese would signify treachery to the Empire and disloyalty to its Divine Ruler��The Emperor is incarnate Deity and occupies in the Japanese faith the position which Jehovah occupied in Judaism�� We cannot pass over the fact that these ceremonials (at the shrines) are accompanied by a faith in the divine aid of a great spiritual power.�-[Religious Liberty, page 51.]

�Private religions�, says Searle Bates, �may be cherished in addition but not in conflict; in subordination to the State religion, not in absolute allegiance.�

All education in Japan is dominated by the Imperial Prescript on Education.  The elementary schools of the State are compulsory and universal, with uniform text-books prepared by the Department of Education.  Secondary and higher schools, public and private, vary somewhat in type but not in programme and directive in so far as civic and moral education are concerned.

60. We now come to CHINA.  To quote Searle Bates,- 

�China is essentially a secular country, say some, a country of diffuse and diverse religions, say others.�

Article 15 of the Constitution says:

�Every citizen shall have freedom of religious belief; such freedom shall not be restricted except in accordance with the Law.�-[Religious Liberty, page 510.]

61. There is no dominant religious faith in working relation to the State.  The social and ethical teaching of Confucianism are widely influential in the cultural nationalism of the country.  The Buddhist religion has been accepted into the general culture.  Confucianism, Buddhism, Mohammedanism and Christianity are the established religions in China.  There is a constitutional pledge to religious freedom.  Despite multiplicity of religious faiths, China is known as �a land of tolerance and social harmony�.

China has no religious instruction in the public system and refuses recognition to elementary or junior or middle schools which impart religious instruction. Senior middle school and colleges may have elective course in religion and religious exercises.  The official position is summarised in the following Government reply to a petition submitted by twelve church bodies for permission to impart religious instruction in private schools:-

To sum up, there is not only one religion.  If we allow each religion in the name of education to vie one with another to propagate religion, the natural tendency will be to create division and strife.  The Ministry of Education, in order to guard against such a possible future calamity, is obliged to impose these restrictions which do not apply only to Christianity but to the other religions as well.

 

Hence, to have elective religious courses in junior middle schools and to have the privilege of worship in primary schools embodies obstacles too difficult to permit the Ministry to grant the request.�-[Religious Liberty, page 343.1

62. We have dealt above with Religious Liberty as provided under the constitutions of countries under Christian and Budhist domination.  Let us now have just a passing review of the Religious Liberty in the Muslim countries.

ISLAM controls the entire life of the Muslims.  According to Islamic conception, �Church, State and the Community are one entity�.  �Orthodox Islam�, writes M. Searle Bates, (P. 9) �is the contrary on religious liberty and finds no room for the concept as developed in Western lands.  In principle it forbids apostasy under dire penalty and provides for change of faith only toward Islam.� Another English writer S. A. Morrison writes in his book �Religious Liberty in the Near East� as follows:-

�Freedom of religion in the Near East has been commonly understood to mean freedom of worship, that is. the right of each community to conduct its religious services in its own way without official interference������ The wider meaning of religious freedom, implying the right to persuade others or to change one�s faith, has never gained general acceptance�.

The writer goes on-

�Nothing arouses the resentment of Muslim officials and of public opinion so much as the mention of Christian evangelistic work (tabsheer).  On the other hand, every facility is given to pro-Islamic propaganda, and governments themselves lend their support to it, as an adjunct to their policy of nationalism.  The way is made easy for conversion from Judaism and Christianity to Islam, and various inducements financial or matrimonial, are dangled before the potential convert.  Economic discrimination against members of minority groups in the Government service and in private firms has been a potent factor in many so-called conversions. (Religious Liberty in the Near East, pp. 9-10).

Illustrating this point, M. Searle Bates points out that IRAN forbids religious propaganda in general and absolutely prohibits �proselytizing� of minors.  The law of the land assures freedom of worship but permits meeting only in churches, not even in private houses. (Religious Liberty by Bates, p. 10.)

63. EGYPT�S constitution declares that �Islam is the religion of the State�.  A Royal decree is necessary for the building of a church.  The TURKISH Constitution allows freedom of service and provides that �no one can be disturbed on account of the religion, rite, or sect to which he belongs, nor for the philosophic opinions which he professes.  All ritualistic ceremonies which are not contrary to the public order or morals, or inconsistent with the law, are authorized.� The civil code of Turkey declares that adults of eighteen years and over are free to adhere to the religion of their choice.  Proselytising in general is severely discouraged, and in the case of the young it is kept far outside of practical possibilities. (Religious Liberty, pp. 10, 13.)

Death penalty for apostasy from Islam is presumed to be still effective in parts of Afghanistan and Central Arabia.

64. Writing about religious freedom in education S. A. Morrison says in his gook on page 9:

�It is perhaps in the field of education that Christian missionary work has been most resented, Muslim Governments claiming that it is their duty to protect Muslim children from exposure to the teaching of a religion other than their own. Thus the parents are denied the right of deciding the form of religious education which their children shall receive.  Some Near East Governments have gone further in requiring instruction in Islam for Muslim pupils in all schools�����.

For example, in Egypt teaching a pupil a religion other than his own while he is still a minor and incapable of true discernment, is declared as an offence against public order and morals.  The teaching of Islam according to prescribed syllabus, to all Muslim students, whether reading in Government or Mission schools, is compulsory.

The fundamental position, of the Government of Egypt is well-stated in a circular of the Ministry of Education, issued in 1940.

�Without question, to teach a pupil a religion other than his own, while fie is a minor and incapable of true discernment, is an offence against public order and morals.  No State which recognizes its duties towards its subjects for the protection of their religious beliefs approves it.  The freedom guaranteed to religions beliefs does not approve it, either.  This freedom is undermined if an educational institution seeks to influence young pupils by teaching them beliefs other than their own�. (Religious Liberty, p. 12 by Bates).

 

�The medical, social and educational work of foreign missions�, says S. A. Morrison, in his book, �is generally appreciated so long as it is felt to be divorced from any religious or political objective.  If, however, there is suspicion that foreign missions are the agents of a foreign political power, or of a foreign culture, or are actively propagating the Christian faith, steps are usually taken to curtail their freedom.  Direct limitations may be imposed in the name of public order, or because Christian missionary work may be said to contravene �good morals.� Alternatively, the restriction may be indirect, through the control of visas or transfer of money from abroad�. (Religious Liberty, in the Near East p. 10).

65. �In Muslim eyes�, writes S. A. Morrison, on page 9 of the same book, �the apostate is traitor, both to his religion and to his community.� The spirit of nationalism which has emerged in the countries of Middle Last also as a result of secular spirit prevailing in the advanced countries of the West, lays emphasis on the necessity of �National Unity, based on a common culture,� and whether the basis of this Unity was sought in race, as in Turkey, or in religion, as in most other Muslim countries, �Christian and Jewish minorities with their different culture came to be regarded as elements of weakness within the national organism�.

�Fear of all forms of western imperialistic penetration in the Near East, Political, economic or cultural is another factor that has affected adversely the position of the minorities�, says S. A. Morrison.

66. There exists at present a deep-rooted suspicion of foreign imperialism in the minds of the people of the Near East countries and only too often their belief is that, directly or indirectly, missions are the agents of a foreign Government.  Government of the Near East countries are, in particular, �suspicious of foreign educational institutions, lest these be used for either religious or political propaganda�.

�Belief in religious liberty�, says S. A. Morrison, �was the result of a long drawn-out struggle in western countries.  That struggle is as yet in its early stages in Muslim lands.  Some Muslims have caught the vision, and would hasten its realisation by the complete separation of religion and politics.

�The major issue in Near East countries today is�, Says S. A. Morrison, �whether they will follow the road of modern democracy towards equality of all citizens, irrespective of their race or religion, or whether they will cling to the Orthodox Muslim conception of the superiority in all aspects of life of the Muslim over the non-Muslim�.

67. Such in brief are the constitutional provisions pertaining to religious liberty in the various countries.  In the next chapter we shall consider the position pertaining to the Religious Liberty under the constitution of Free India. 
 

The dawn of Independence saw India on the threshold of a new era.  Widespread efforts at political, economic and social reforms were initiated.  The nation�s particular keenness on securing for all minorities including Christians a place of genuine honour and importance was immediately noticed in the Drift Constitution.  Notwithstanding the unpleasant memories associated with the advent of the Western Christian Missionary activities in India and the methods used by foreigners under a foreign Government, notwithstanding that in the fight for Independence Christians as a whole had little or no share, apart from a man here or a man there, in spite of bitter memories of the partition of the country on the basis of religion and in spite of the pleadings of some of the powerful parties in the country, our rich and ancient culture and civilization found natural expression in the words of our Prime Minister, �As long as I am at the helm of affairs India will not become a Hindu State� (India�s Minorities, page 21).  A truly secular and democratic State was set up.  In the land of about 350 millions, most of whom are Hindus by religion, a place of honour was assured to a minority of about 10 millions.

2. It is not without reason that the majority community in India today thinks that the minority sentiments should respond to the large-heartedness and liberal gesture of the framers of the Constitution to make India strong and progressive.  The attitude of the minorities may not have been very helpful in the past, backdoor methods to sabotage the national movement may have been used, but the country expected that after Independence there would be perfect harmony with and trust in the majority.  This hope was further fortified by the withdrawal by Indian Christians of their claim to have separate electorates in certain provinces.  On the ground that reservation of seats implied lack of confidence in the majority community, representatives of the Indian Christians declared before the Constituent Assembly that they were not in favour of such reservations, and consequently on the 28th May, 1949 the Constituent Assembly abolished reservation of seats for all minorities except Harijans and Tribals.  But within a short time of the passing of the Constitution reports of undesirable activities, chiefly at the instance of foreign Missionaries, started pouring in from different parts of India.  On the other bind, it was urged on behalf of the Christian Community that the guarantees provided in the Constitution were not being followed by certain State Governments and that Christian Missionaries were being harassed in the exercise of their rights to propagate their religion.  It is, therefore, our purpose to see what the facts are as disclosed in the oral and documentary evidence gathered by us.

3. We have mentioned elsewhere that a sudden fillip was given to Missionary activities after the passing of the Constitution. We shall deal with the evidence which has been brought before us to indicate the extent of foreign assistance received by the various Missions.

From January I950 to June 1954 a sum of Rs. 29.27 crores of rupees had been received in India.  The details are as below:- 
 

This was the information supplied by Government of India as based on the figures compiled from the statistics maintained by the Reserve Bank.

4. In the absence of appropriate and requisite material, it is not possible to ascertain the exact proportion of the amount that flows into Madhya Pradesh.  But one can broadly find the heads under which it is presumably expended.

5. In our exploratory tour it was disclosed by Rev. Lakra at Kusmi on the 10th June, 1954 at the morning session that in the year 1953 he had received Rs. 60,000 for five provinces from the Lutheran World Federation at Geneva and that through the American Board of his Lutheran Mission he obtained Rs. 90,000 from U. S. A. to meet the expenses, of one year�s activity in the Surguja area.  Rev. Ekka explained at Ambikapur on the 11th June 1954 that the sum of Rs. 90,000 had reference to a special building programme.  In the Chhindwara district we visited the Danielson High School and gathered that the expenditure of the school was Rs. 33,000 per annum out of which Rs. 9,613 was received from the Church and the rest from Government by way of grant and subsidy.  At Achalpur we were informed that in the Leper Asylum at Kothara the total budget expenditure was met by a grant of RS. 33,000 from the Mission and Rs. 39,000 from the State Government and the income from agriculture.  At Bihar, out of an expenditure of Rs. 1,100 in connection with a school Rs. 600 were the Mission�s contribution.  At Jabalpur the total expenditure of the Girls Training College in 1953 was approximately Rs. 1,02,000 and the deficit amounting to somewhere between Rs. 13,000 to Rs. 15,000 was met by a donation received from the American Mission.  The school had also received a donation for building up to Rs. 4,00,000 between 1949-51 from the Methodist Mission.

6. Dr. E. Emanuel, the Secretary of the Methodist Church of Southern Asia, stated that the Bishops in the Methodist Church were paid out of the Bishop�s Fund which was made up of contributions received from -many countries including America-.  St. Paul�s High School, Raipur, which is run by the American Evangelical Mission received a grant of Rs. 16,000 to Rs. 25,000 from the Government, and Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 35,000 from the Home Board of the Mission in America.  Shri Biswas, Assistant Headmaster of the High School conducted by the Mennonite Mission, Dhamtari, stated that the amount of donation received from the Mission was Rs. 12,000 to Rs. 15,000 for the Church and that it was out of that amount that the school was run.  The donation to the church comes from America.

7.  At Bilaspur Rev. Maqbul Masih (Bilaspur-2) is the Coordinator of the Adhik Jeevan Yojana, i.e., Abundent Life Programme, under which his Mission, viz. The Disciples of Christ, runs a farm and a primary school.  The money required for financing the activities is received from America.  Dr. Donald T. Rice (Sagar 10) informed us that the annual budget of the rural development programme (Jeevan Tara) was Rs. 52,600 which came entirely from America.  Rev. Coleman (Sagar 12) works within a radius of 15 miles and the budget of his Mission is about a lakh, half of which is contributed by Americans.  In the women�s section at Takhatpur, Miss E. Shreive is the treasurer.  At Mungeli, the hospital receives a subsidy of Rs. 4,800 from the Church of the Disciples of Christ in America.

8. At Amravati (Hartman, No. 1), we were told that the Mission gave its subsidy to the synod to the extent that was necessary to meet its deficit.  In Yeotmal district Rev. J. C. Nathar (No. 13) the Pastor of the Church at Umri, told us that the central fund of the Church had been getting some subsidy from the American Board for the expenses of the schools, hospitals and evangelistic work. Rev. Vasast Samudre, (No. 25) the Pastor of the Church at Yeotmal of the Free Methodist Mission, said that the seminary in which he was working as a teacher received a grant from America.  In Buldana district we learnt from Rev. S. J. Bhujbal (No. 15) that 30 churches received subsidies from the Mission Fund in America.  Rev. Raghuwel Chawhan (No. 2 Khamgaon) the Pastor of the Church at Akola, which runs a Mission school at Khamgaon informed us that a subsidy for the school was received from the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church and that the deficit which arose in connection with the activities of the Church amounting to Rs. 13.000 had been met through the subsidy received from the Mission.

9. Large amounts were received for evangelistic work in Surguja after it was thrown open for Missionary enterprise as a result of promulgation of the Constitution in January 1950.  The Gossner Lutheran Mission opened a new Mission field in Surguja and employed a large number of preachers to go over the countryside for proselytization.  The rate of proselytization from time to time is described in the issues of Gharbandhu from March 1952 to November 1953.  In the year 1952 the United Lutheran Church Mission gave a grant of 8,000 Dollars and in the year 1953, 20,000 Dollars i.e., Rs. 90,000 (Gharbandhu November 1952, page 13 and November 1953, page 15).  The work was begun in Surguja by the National Missionary Society (Lutheran) in the summer of 1951. Rev. B. J. Kripadanam was posted to Ambikapur and the first congregation was gathered at Ganjadad when 59 persons were baptised.  In January 1952 a special Surguja Board was set up under the auspices of the Federation of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in India. Dr. R. S. Oberly of the United Lutheran Church Mission was the treasurer and Rev. J. Lakra and Rev. C. J. Tirkey and Dr. R. M. Dunkelberger were the other members.  The United Lutheran Church Mission gave a grant of 8,000 Dollars for the work of this body in 1952. Rev. Kripadanam reported that 12 Uraon congregations had been established with a baptised membership of 1,010.  Three Cossner Pastors, eighteen paid evangelists, four Bible women were put on this work.  To compete with them the Roman Catholics had also thrown into their work a large number of priests and their helpers.  The entire expenses of the Surguja field were met by the U. L. C. M. Board. (Gharbandhu, November 1952, page 12).

10. At the meeting held on 6th and 7th of March 1953, at Parvatipuram in Madras State, it was announced that the number of new converts was 1,200 of both sexes and that there were 100 pracharaks and seven priests working with Rev. Kripadanam and that 23 acres of land had been purchased at Ambikapur.  It was also announced that the U.L.C.M. of America had sanctioned a grant of Rs. 90,000 for the year 1953 (Gharbandhu, April 19.53, page 16).

11. The scramble which arose as a result of competition between the Lutheran, Catholic and the Church of Christ Missions can well be described in the words of the report of Rev. C. J. Tirkey, published in the December issue of Gharbandhu, 1952, page 2. As there has been some disagreement as to the party which advanced money to induce proselytization, we think it advisable to reproduce the original Hindi version here: It is as follows:-

""Xyga{ oXZ dhm§ admZm hm{H{$ oMam[S>m J`{. O¡g{ [hb{ _| Xem©`m J`m h¡ oH$ dhm§ ^{oS>`{ Kwg Am`{ Am¡a M§X ^{S>m| H$m{ oVVa-o]Va oH$`m h¡, AWm©V² dhm§ H{$ 5 KamZ{ H{$ ñdmo_`m| H$m{ Am¡a EH$ àMmaH$ H$m{ ZH$Sw>]H$s ][oVñ_m oX`m h¡. ]rV{ _ohZ{ H{$ Qy>a _| AÝ` ^mB`m| H$m{ `ËZ g{ g_Pm`{ W| Bgob`{ g] Xyga{ ^mB© ]ohZ W§_ J`{ h¢. [aÝVw Om{ AJwd{ garI{ W{ CZH$m{ é[`{ H$s bm{^ oXIm H$a Sw>]m oX`{ Am¡a VwaÝV Vrg Vrg é[`{ Vb[ X{Zm Amaå^ H$a oX`m. A^r BZ AJwAm| H{$ _Z é[`{ H$s _m{h g{ ]ÝYm J`m h¡. ]S>{ [nal_ H{$ gmW CZH$m{ ^r bm¡Q>mZm h¡. MM© Am°\$ ¼mBñQ> o_eZ H{$ ^{oS>`{ ê$[ H$m`©H$Vm©Am| H$m{ A] [ya{ ]ñVr H$s OZVm oH$ d{ H¡$g{ H$[Q>r Am¡a N>ëbr h¢ AZw^d H$a ob`{ h¢. ......................... am{_Zm| Am¡a e{\$a dmbm| H$s Am{a H{$ T>m|J EH$ àH$ma OZVm H{$ _Z _| O§M J`m h¡ Am¡a CZH$m _Z gË` H$s Am{a \{$a ob`m J`m h¡ [aÝVw Vm¡^r K_mgmZ o^S>ÝV Mb hr ahm h¡.''

The gist of it is that the other wolves, viz., competing Missions had entered the field and were scattering away (i.e., misleading) the Lambs.  Some of the householders had been given Nakdubki (nominal baptism) but others who held out on account of greed had to he satisfied with immediate advance payment of Rs. 30 each).

12. How this programme of mass proselytization was inspired and financed by foreigners would be clear from the following extract which purports to be the report of the Surguja Board presented in January 1954 at Rajmundry: �As the informal meeting urged strongly that the Hill Tribe possibilities for which the Lutheran Church had the needed resources and personnel should be taken advantage of with the financial assistance from the West on the basis of �Partnership in Obedience�, the Lutheran National Missionary Society Council put the matter before Dr. F. A. Schiotz, Chairman of the Lutheran World Federation Commission on World Missions.  The appeal was backed by certain influential non-Indian Missionary leaders, notably by the federation President Dr. C. W. Oberdorfer, with the result that the Commission on Younger Churches and Orphaned Missions (C. Y. C. O. M.) sent a timely grant of 1,500 dollars which enabled the Lutheran N. M. S. to secure the services of the needed Uraon personnel��� As C. Y. C. O. M. could only help orphaned Missions and churches and not initiate any new work, the Chairman of the L. W. F. Commission was negotiating with the various Mission Boards and finally the U. L. C. M. Board, under the leadership of Dr. L. A. Gotwald, came forward to finance this work.� (The National Missionary Intelligencer, April 1954, pages 5-6).

13. Rev. Joel Lakra, Principal, Theological College, Ranchi, who appeared before the Commission at Ambikapur, had been closely associated with the World Council of Churches.  In 1948 lie attended the Conference of the World Council of Churches held at Amsterdam as a delegate of the Gossner Lutheran Church.  Mr. Dulles was present at the session at Amsterdam, and read a paper there.  At Geneva the offices of the Lutheran World Federation and the World Council of Churches are in the same compound, He said that although Germany was in Military occupation and no one could enter it without a passport he was allowed to enter without it.  He could go to the American zone through the British.

14. It may be recalled that the expression �Partnership in Obedience� came into vogue at the meeting of the Committee of the International Missionary Council held at Whitby in 1947 (page 94, World Christian Handbook, 1952) and it has a bearing on the expression �need of particular churches to be rooted in the soil and yet supranational in their witness and obedience� (page 29, ibid). These particular churches are in the old Mission fields �which are touched by new nationalisms independent in temper and organisation and yet needing help from other churches (page 29, ibid).  The expression �Partnership in Obedience� was being interpreted variously and it was after discussion at a meeting of the Lutheran World Federation Executive and also of the Executive of the World Council of Churches held at Geneva in 1951, that it came to be interpreted as implying full and unreserved co-operation between the old and the younger churches in the effort of extending the Kingdom of God. Rev. Lakra attended the meeting of the Federation and Dr. Manikam, Bishop Mandal and Rev. Yohan Massih attended the other meeting.  The entire expenses of Rev. Lakra had been paid by America (Gharbandhu, October 1951, p. 6).

15. It would appear from the above t hat as soon as Surguja became open for Missionary enterprise, on the promulgation of the Constitution of India, was a veritable invasion of the district by the Roman Catholics, Church of Christ Mission, and the Lutherans who were backed by ample finance from the Lutheran World Federation.

16. It is interesting to see why the Lutherans appeared on the scene.  The Lutherans are the most numerous of all she Protestant bodies, being strong in Germany, dominant in the Scandanavian country and very numerous in North America.  �The Lutherans have permitted a stricter control of the Church by the State than any other Christian body� and that �at times the churches have become more closely associated with political parties and policies than is good for spiritual independence� (pages 15 and 18, Nature and Function of the Church, Part II, S.C.M. Series No. 13).

17. In the world, the strength of Christians according to the various denominations is as below (p. 121, World Christian Hand-Book, 1952): - 
 

The Committee of the International Missionary Council met in 1948, at Oegstgeest in Netherlands, and considered an important paper on the subject of Communist policy, and the Missionary movement and it resolved to extend and continue the orphaned Mission�s fund for another five years (pp. 94-95, World Christian Hand-book, 1952).

From what has been stated above it would be a fair inference to draw that the sums which were received in Surguja came from the I. M. C. Fund.

18. It is also clear that the activity in the Surguja district is not unrelated to the cold war strategy.  The Christian Missions are instructed to present Christianity to Hindu culture �at its points of need� as early as possible in view of the possibility of Communist infiltration from within and pressure from without. (P. 14, World Christian Handbook, 1952.)

19. That foreign money has played a great part, from the very beginning of the Missionary enterprise in India, in securing proselytes from the poor classes, appears from the writings of Raja Ram Mohan Roy, who protested against exploitation �by a body of English gentlemen who were called Missionaries of the poor classes who are prompted by the desire of gain or any other motive� (Christian Proselytism in India, pages 87-88, by Parekh).

20. Richter in his History of Christian Missions at page 171 records that many people became Christians to ensure their own advancement or obtain a higher salary or any other advantage.  Dr. Pickett pays a tribute to the Christian Missions in these words:

�Christian Missions have added to the wealth of India by the large sums of money which they imported from foreign lands��� The economic benefits have come to many participants in Christian mass movement��� This is not a fact that need be bidden or discussed in whispers. Considering how Jesus tried to meet the needs of the poor, healing diseases and other afflictions, feeding the hungry, etc.� (Christian Mass Movement in India, pp. 139 and 140).

 

Dr. Mott, however, appears, to have taken a different view as he said, �Christ offered no inducement. He offered service and sacrifice� (p. 240, Christian Missions Navajivan Press).  When in 1936 Gandhiji made a remark that �Mammon had been sent to serve India and God has remained behind� Dr. Mott replied that money was stored-up personality. (Pages 235 and 245, Christian Missions.)

21. Roland Allen at page 140 of The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church, says, �it is money, money everywhere, all the time, every thing depends upon money�; and in his Missionary Methods St. Paul�s or Ours, says at page 71 �it is sad to sit and watch a stream of Christian visitors calling upon a Missionary and to observe that in nearly every case the cause which brings them is money�. Even the National Christian Council is largely paid from abroad (page 13, World Christian Handbook, 1952).  Dr. E. Asirvatham in Christianity in the Indian Crucible. page 41, says, �one chief reason why Indian Christians in general still welcome foreign Missionaries is economy; it is an open secret that the Indian Church is not yet out of the swaddling clothes, so far as its economic support is concerned.  To give an extreme illustration, only Rs. 6,000 of the total income of Rs. 1,12,500 of the National Christian Council of India��� is from Indian sources and the rest comes from the Mission Board abroad.�

22. We are told that the Missions are now integrated with the Churches but it is clear from the evidence that the purse strings are in the hands of the foreign Missionaries.  The headquarters of the Missions are stated to be in India and independent of foreign control, but there is a good number of foreign Missionaries on the managing bodies of the Churches.  As the work of the Missionaries professedly is evangelistic, the money received by them from abroad is utilised in engaging a large number of preachers and teachers-cum-preachers.  In our exploratory tour we were told that in the Surguja district the Lutheran Mission had 60 to 70 pracharaks, each getting Rs. 40 per month.  Even in a small place like Basnal there were as many as 36 pracharaks working in three villages, each pracharak getting Rs. 35 to Rs. 40 per month.  In Bilaspur, Tularam (Bilaspur, 14) was a pracharak receiving Rs. 82 per month.  According to him there were 4 pracharaks within a radius of 6 miles.  At Washim, Shri Dongardive told us that there were as many as 48 pracharaks, operating in the area of the Nazarene Church, and that the number of foreign Missionaries was 24, including women, and that all the expense involved in the preaching tour had been met out of the Mission fund.  In Amravati district, there were 26 Missionaries with 12 Indian preachers whose pay varied from Rs. 60 to Rs. 9.90 each.  In Yeotmal, one of the pracharaks by name Moses David received Rs. 157 per month.  John Gardia, who is a Christian Patel of village Jolkot, received as a preacher Rs. 60 per month.  Solomon, a teacher at Dhamtari, said that under the Mennonite Church there were 6 or 7 pracharaks who preached with the aid of flannelgraph, pictures and dramas.  It is thus indisputably clear that financial assistance from abroad has been expanded in far more liberal manner than even before the Constitution of India was promulgated, and that it is mainly with this help that Mission organisations are carrying on prolytisation amongst back ward tribes, especially in areas freshly opened.

Schools, Hospitals and Orphanages.

28. The media through which the Gospel is propagated are primarily the schools, hospitals and orphanages.

Richter, in his History of Christian Missions, page 317, says �A new day has dawned for India, the people clamour for education��� Shall Missions keep themselves to themselves and leave this development to itself or shall they enter the lists and make themselves masters of the movement and use it as an instrument in their task of Christianising the whole land?� At page 314 he declares, �Missions have neither a call nor a mandate to teach English literature, history, mathematics or natural science, the preaching of the Gospel to the heathen and the exercise of pastoral care over the relative churches is the head and front of all Missionary labour, and everything must be considered as pure waste which does not directly further this end.� In the same breath he mentions orphanages, Y.M.C.A., Medical Service and Mission to Lepers.

29. Mr. Mayhew at page 160 of �Christianity and the Government of India� states that in the shaping of Government policy on education there was a tendency to identify the interests of the Government and the Christian Missions. In the Educational Despatch of Mr. Wood, known officially as the Education Charter of India (No. 49, dated 19th July 1854), there was a clause in which it was said that with the growth of independent but aided educational institutions, the Government schools and colleges might be closed.  Before the Educational Commission of 1882 Dr. Mackichan, Principal of Wilson College, Bombay, contended on the basis of the above clause that the Government colleges in Bombay and Poona should be closed down.  Principal Wordsworth of the Elphinston College, Bombay, firmly replied in these words: �The place left vacant by the Government would in actual fact be occupied in this country by those powerful religious bodies whose primary objects are rather religious conversions than intellectual improvement.� The Missionaries curiously contended that the Government by continuing its own institutions was violating religious neutrality. Principal Wordsworths� reply was in terms equally emphatic. �That it (the Government) should close institutions which it has deliberately established for the benefit of the people of this country, because certain number of teachers whose primary object is to detach the people of the country from their ancestral beliefs, think that these institutions are an impediment to the success of their own plans.  If India possessed the-privilege of self-government, would it be possible even to discuss seriously such a proposal? If a strict interpretation of the principle of religious neutrality requires the withdrawal of Government from the direct management of schools and colleges, does it not much more require the withdrawal of all aid from institutions whose professed object is the extinction of the religion of the country?� (pages 234, 252, 253, 254 and 256, �Christian Proselytism in India� by Parekh)

30. In the Report of the World Conference of the International Missionary Council, entitled �The World Mission of the Church� held at Tambaram, in 1938, the importance of schools as a means of proselytization was stated in these unequivocal terms: �Care should be taken to secure that evangelism has a central place in all medical and educational institutions� (page 38).

31. That this policy is literally followed in the schools would be clear from the article headed ""ñHy$b g{ \$m`Xm at page 5 of Gharbaudhu�, January 1952.  H$brem H$m{ ñHy$b g{ ·`m \$m`Xm h¡? ñHy$b H$brem H{$ obE amÁ`-d¥oÕ H$m H$m_ H$aVm h¡ ................................''. (what is the advantage of the school to the Church? Schools are the means for expansion of the kingdom).�

32. In the same strain one finds instructions in the �Catholic Dharmaka Pracharak�, page 60, as follows:-

In the copy of letter No. F.E.-3/137, dated the 15th April 1937, from Lt.-Col. H. W. C. Robson, O.B.E., Resident for the Eastern States, to the Secretary to His Excellency the Crown Representative, Simla, it is found that in spite of restrictions, reports had been officially received that special efforts were being made (by the Catholic Church) to win over young people; and that under the guise of education attempts were made to convert them to Christianity.

33. In the report of the �Church of the Nazerene�, 1954 (page 20), the matter is emphatically stated as follows:-

�Evangelism is our call.  We make no excuse nor ask for any reservation in this period.  Jesus has called us to preach the Gospel to every creature and we mean to do it in every phase of our work, be it educational, medical or distinctly evangelistic.  �Go, teach, win� is the command under which we work.  We cannot lessen this emphasis.�

34. Along with the written statement sent on behalf of the Central India Baptist Mission, Khirkiya (Hoshangabad district), by Miss M. L. Merry, is enclosed a copy of �The Conservative Baptist� of March 1954, in which instructions are contained as below:-

�3. Missionaries and Board members alike are increasingly aware of the need both for a dynamic programme of direct evangelism and the use of medicine and education in the development of the work.�.  
 

(The above issue of March 1954 came from 352, Willington Avenue, 14, U. S. A.)

35. The importance of schools and hospitals in their bearing, on evangelism is also stressed by W. Harold Storm in �Whit Arabia�, page 93.  According to him the avenues of approach used in Arabia are three, viz., hospitals, schools and direct evangelistic work.

36. Schools.-We shall first deal with the evidence bearing on schools.

The statements made before us disclose that various subtle devices are employed to influence the minds of youngsters in schools.  Ramchandra Tiwari (Khandwa, No. 1), says that the Ballahi children are attracted to the Roman, Catholic Church by the concession of free boarding and lodging; and indirectly their elders are influenced to attend the services in the Church.  Shri C. D. Meghashyam (Khandwa, No. 2), Pleader and President of the Nimar Harijan Sevak Sangh, found that when he opened schools for the Harijans of the Ballahi caste, the Christian Missionaries opened rival schools in the vicinity, holding out allurements of free books and other facilities.  Babulal (Khandwa, No. 3) was in the Roman Catholic School at Mhow and his personal experience lie stated that Ballahi students were given free boarding, lodging and books, and were called upon to attend the Christian prayers, whether they were Christians or not.  All the three witnesses agreed in stating that the names of the boys after admission into the Roman Catholic School were changed.  That the Lutheran Mission also indulges in this device is dear from page 5 of �Gharbandhu�, March-April 1952, where the following occurs:-

""....................ñdamÁ` hm{ OmZ{ g{ gaJwOm _| Y_©àMma H$m Ûma Iwb J`m, .................... Xm{ bS>H{$ gaJwOm g{ B©MH{$bm bm`{ J`{ ...................... CZH$m Zm_ [Vag Am¡a [mdb aIm J`m, ......................''.

�With the advent of swaraj the gates for the preaching of the Gospel have been thrown open.  Two boys were first brought to the Ichkela School for religious instruction.  They were named Peter and Paul.�

Babulal�s own instance proved that to his original name �Walter� was added.  Devi Pushpawati (Khandwa, No. 5), was a Head Mistress in the Roman Catholic School, Khandwa, for 6 years and she also spoke about the change of the names of students.  In the case of most of the Ballahi boys the Catholic Father who was the manager of the school used to sign as Guardian, and that gave, him the opportunity to change the name and the religion of the boys. She cited the example of a boy whose name was Mukund to which was added the name �Nicholas�, when he was admitted into the fifth class.  The name of Vardhaman Ballahi (Khandwa, No. 8), aged 18 years, was entered as Joseph in his application for admission to the matriculation examination.  It was struck off when he protested.  At Ambikapur Hiralal Uraon (Ambikapur, No. 12) produced his primary certificate in which his name was entered as Johan Minz although he was a Hindu.  According to Beohar Rajendrasingh (Jabalpur, No. 5), some such unconscionable methods had been used in the Normal School at Sijhora and they were exposed by Dr. Elwin and Thakkar Bapa.  There were some interpellations in the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly with the result that the Normal School was taken over by Government.

37. In spite of the Conscience Clause in the Educational Manual and a clear provision in the Constitution of India, attempts are made to circumvent them by some device or other. Janardan Shankarlal, aged 14 (Jabalpur, No. 3), was in the 7th and 8th class in the Christian Mission High School during the years 1953 and 1954 when the Bible was taught to all students, Christian or non-Christian, and they used to be tested the next day.  Attendance used to be marked before the Bible period and the absence there-from was treated as absence from the class.  Vidyavati Gaikwad (Jabalpur, No. 1), aged 16, was a student in the Johnson�s Girls School from the primary class up to Matriculation in 1954, during which rime the morning prayer was compulsory for all and it was a Christian prayer.  The resident students had to go to Church on Sundays compulsorily for prayers.  On the 15th of August 1954 a drama was staged in the school in celebration of the Independence Day.  The four quarters of the world were represented by actors who brought four flags representing Pakistan, England, America and India.  After some dialogue the It than flag was hoisted.  Then a holy person entered the stage proclaiming peace for the world and then followed a group of girls with a flag bearing the sign of the cross.  That flag came to be hoisted on the top of all the flags.  The Principal of the School explained that the drama was designed to promote friendship between India, England, America and Pakistan.  This drama evoked some public criticism in the Nava-Bharat of Jabalpur, dated 17th August 1954.  Miss Zilla Soule (Jabalpur, No. 2), is the Principal of the Training College and she stated that the Bible classes were not compulsory even for Christian boys; nevertheless non-Christian girls attended it for the special reason that it was an Assembly hour during which the day�s programme of the school was announced.  The girls were attending the prayer in their own interest to hear the announcement.  The same thing was said, more or less, by Shri Robinson, Headmaster of the Christ Church High School (Jabalpur, No. 6).  F. M. P. Singh (Jabalpur, No. 12), Headmaster, Christian High School, Jabalpur, admitted that before September 1954 teaching of Bible and Christian prayer were compulsory.

38. Mahadeo Tukaram (Yeotmal, No. 18), is a student of the Mission High School, Darwha, and he stated that all the students have to join prayers, and on Sundays hear the Sacred Scriptures being read. Sumitra Gaikwad (Yeotmal, No. 19), is a teacher in the India Free Methodist Conference School at Umri.  According to her, Hindu boys attend the prayers as they are addressed to God so that He may help the boys in their study and promote the welfare of the country.  Nandlal Dube, Teacher, Mission High School, Chotapara (Bilaspur, No. 13), said, that after attendance was marked, prayers were offered and a student who was absent was defined one anna. Subhaktibai Fernandis (Buldana, No. 2) is a school mistress who brought to our notice the absence of forms which are specifically designed to give effect to the express provision of the Constitution in regard to the attendance at religious prayers in schools.

39. Shrimati Yengad (Washim, No. 1), is the nurse in the Mission Hospital at Washim run by the Nazerene Mission.  She stated that an Indian lady preacher offered prayers, imploring divine aid for the recovery of the in-door patients.  She herself believed in preaching and healing.  This lady is Sarjabai Yengad, who is described as a splendid Bible woman, who daily gives her witness from room to room.  So also Sampat Shinde who daily comes to the hospital to give his witness (Report of Church of the Nazarene Mission, 1954, page 20).  Hanumant Bhatkhande (Washim, No. 5) is an Advocate of the High Court, who complained that while his wife was in the hospital at Washim a nurse by name Shrimati Sathe tried to influence her to become a Christian, using the name of Rev. Narayan Waman Tilak.  One Zongaji complained to Shri Narayan Kale (Washim, No. 8), that he had been asked to pay either Rs. 35 or hand over his child who had been in the hospital for treatment, for being brought up as a Christian.  Similar complaints were laid before us by Yeshwant Mahar (Washim. No. 10), Shrimati Nalinibai Sathe (Washim, No. 11 and Pramilabai Dabir (Washim, No. 14).

40. At Raipur, one Jharihar (Raipur, No. 2), who had been in the Leper Asylum, Raipur, for 21 years, reverted to Hinduism after the asylum had been taken over by the Government.  He had become a Christian during the time that it was under the management of the Mission.  Along with him about 100 patients gave up Christianity, but a few remained Christian. Hardeo, Mojiram and Mst. Hiro [Nos. 3, 3 (a) and 3 (b) (Raipur)] said that they had become Christians because the hospital was under the management of Christians and reverted to Hinduism voluntarily as the Medical Officer was a Hindu.

41. The doctrine that sickness is cured by faith in Christ is propagated in the market place, as stated by Jatashankar Sharma (Raipur, No. 6).  Dr. Samuel, preaching in the market at Mahasamund, cited the instance of a child which was brought to the hospital for treatment and was saved.  As his father had already lost his two sons, he developed faith in Jesus and became a Christian.  Tarachand (Raipur, No. 17) was told in the Mission Hospital that his wife would be cured by faith in Jesus, and she had to offer Christian prayers.  Similarly, the wife of Narsinghdas (Raipur, No. 19), who was in the Jagdeeshpur Hospital, was asked to attend Christian prayers.  When Hariramji (Raipur, No. 15) visited the Evangelical Hospital, Tilda, to see his mother who was an in-door patient he found the pictures of Krishna and Gopis bathing in the Jumna and Rama going to the forest, and he was told that they were of bad character. One Bideshi (Raipur, No. 27) complained of pressure being brought to bear upon him by one Tulsi Babu to become a Hindu but he admitted that he had affixed his thumb-impression to the general application made by a large number of in patents for being reconverted to Hinduism, and added that he changed his mind before the performance of the Shuddhi ceremony.  Dr. Mukerjee, the Leprosy Specialist of the Leper Asylum, Raipur (Raipur, No. 29), produced the official register to show that all those who reverted to Hinduism did so of their own free-will and choice.  The original application bore the thumb-impression of Bideshi against serial number 14 along with others who reverted to Hinduism in December 1948.  Bideshi continued to be an inmate of the Asylum until 22nd December 1949, when lie left it of his own accord.  The official file contained a letter, dated the 21st June 1949, from Mr. Essabaggers bearing the names of all Christian inmates in the hospital.  Bideshi�s name was not there, as he had ceased to be a Christian.  In the hospital, there were some Christian lepers who did not choose to revert to Hinduism.

42. Turning to the reports of the �Mission to Lepers�, one comes across cases of conversions occurring every year in the Leper Asylums.  The Chandkhuri Leprosy Hospital and Homes celebrated its 50th jubilee in 1947.  On the last page of the printed report, we find the following figures of Baptisms 
 

The number evidently includes leper children as well, the majority of whom are shown as non-infectious in the report.

Rev. T. H. Major, Superintendent, Kothara Leprosy Hospital, Achalpur, in his written statement stated that, ill his hospital, out of the total strength of 299 patients, 290 were on the Government roll and only 9 on the mission roll.  Out of these, no less than 100 patients were Christians although only a few were Christians at the time of admission.  He has supplied the following statement of conversions yearwise since 1947 when he took charge of the Asylum:- 
 

During the period of eight years 1.54 patients were converted to Christianity.  Evidently, they are out of those who were on the Government roll and on the maintenance of whom Government was contributing Rs. 26,000 a year as grant-in-aid.

43. Rev. Major produced a letter from the Council of the �Mission to Lepers�, in London, and stated that he had to work within the framework of that letter.  The salient parts thereof are, as follows:-

The object of the Society is to provide for the spiritual instruction and temporal relief of the lepers and their children in India��� While doing this, it has also to safeguard the liberty of the patients for it would be grievous to the Mission for its service to be the occasion of any compulsion in religious matters.

44. In the report of 1952-53 in respect of Madhya Pradesh at Champa, there were 12 patients who had been baptised.  Among them were a youth named Chandus and others were women.  The remark occurs that such baptisms were not isolated experiences but were the outcome of the faithful witness of the Church in the Home such as Evangelistic Meetings, Special Passion Tide and Easter Meetings, the Annual Bible Courses and Sunday Schools.  At Shantipur also during that year, 25 people were baptised and others had expressed a desire for baptism.  There is a remark that spiritual seed has been sown and watered but God alone could give the increase.

45. Shri Manikrao Hanote (Amravati, No. 4), who has been in the service of the Leper Home, Kothara, since he was cured in 1954, stated that at Sunday prayers about 200 people attend without any compulsion and added that from 1947 there were 60 conversions.

46. Mahant Nayandas, M.L.A., and Secretary, Akhil Bharatiya Satnami Sabha (Raipur, No. 23), stated from his personal knowledge holy pressure was brought to bear on the patients in hospitals to get converted to Christianity.  He cited an instance of one Kejha of Modpa, Bilaspur district, who was an in-door patient at Mungeli.  He was asked to become a Christian, if he wanted to be cured.  Similarly, Bodhan Satnami of Dhawra Bata, an in-door patient of.  Bilaspur hospital, was pressed to become a Christian and was actually converted.  One year after he was out of the hospital, he approached Mahant Nayandas to take him back in his own Satnami fold and he was reconverted.  Mahant Nayandas was himself a patient in the Tilda hospital and was an eye witness to all the Christian preachings that went on in the hospital. Dr. Pillay (Sagar, No. 1), said that it was the duty of a good doctor to present Christ to a patient in a Mission Hospital; and Rev. Raman (Sagar, No. 2), added that in illness a patient is in a most receptive mood.  Miss Bijnor, (Sagar, No. 5), stated that a Christian doctor is in duty bound not only to heal the patients bodily but also be a witness for Christ.

47. Now as to Christian Orphanages, they are undoubtedly being run to multiply the population of Christians.  A large number of such orphans were gathered into the Christian fold during famine, natural calamities like the floods and the earthquakes.  There can thus be little doubt that special emphasis on spreading Christianity is given m dealing with young immature minds or those temporarily disabled by physical - ailments.  No wonder that the largest number of converts are from such backward classes living in areas where due to various causes only Mission schools and hospitals exist.  Most conversions have been doubtless insincere admittedly brought about in expectation of social service benefits and other material considerations.

48. Among the various devices employed for proselytization one is money-lending carried on by the Roman Catholic Missions.  In our exploratory tour there was everywhere the complaint in the districts of Surguja and Raigarh that the Roman Catholic Missionaries advanced loans on condition that the debtor agreed to chop off his top-knot (choti) and that those who did not accept the condition had to repay the loan with interest.  In Mandla district also, the loans were advanced to the aboriginals as stated by Rambharose Agrawal, (Mandla, No. 1).  Rev. Dilraj, (Mandla, No. 2), who is a Missionary of the Gondwana Mission operating in the Mandla district and whose main work is evangelistic, received complaints of this nature.  He, however, thought that it might be just to help poor men as the Roman Catholics reached the places where Government help was not available.  He emphatically declared that his own Mission never adopted such methods of conversion.  Rev. A. I. George, (Mandla, No. 5), is the Secretary of the Patpara Mission.  People often approached him for conversion to Christianity with the expectation of financial help.  Shri Umeshdutta Pathak, (Mandla, No. 10), stated that people were converted by offering inducements of loan and help in litigation.  Beohar Rajendrasingh, (Jabalpur, No. 5), was a proprietor of the Malguzari village in Mandla district, inhabited mostly by Gonds.  He was President of Mahakoshal branch of the All-India Harijan Sevak Sangh, as also the. Vice-President of Vanvasi Seva Mandal at Mandla. He claims to have a direct knowledge of moneylending being one of the means of inducing conversions. Daduram, (Jabalpur, No. 7), is a Gond agriculturist who stated that he had been induced by Hansa, Peter and Mohan to become a Christian so that he might get some monetary benefit, but as he failed to get it even after conversion he reverted to Hinduism.  Shri Shankar Datta Shastri, of Dharamjaigarh, (Raigarh, No. 1), had owned as Raj-Purohit two Mafi villages inhabited by Uraons and other Adiwasis To his knowledge one Balchy Uraon went to Ludeg and got a loan from the Padri and became converted.  Dharmadeo Tripathi, (Raigarh, No. 2), and Hisamuddin Siddiqui, (Raigarh, No. 3), Vidyadhar of Ludeg, (Raigarh, No. 5), Ghunu Uraon, (Raigarh, No. 6), and Chhutia Uraon (Raigarh, No. 20), and others spoke about money-lending as being used for conversion.  They also showed receipts relating to payments including exorbitant interest.  Dhupsahai Uraon, (Raigarh, No. 17), stated that his father had borrowed Rs. 100 from the Missionary, but as he was unable to repay he became a Christian.  Subsequently he reverted to Hinduism with his family on repayment of Rs. 118.

49. These statements are reinforced by references made to this practice of the Roman Catholic Missionaries in a pamphlet entitled Christi Mandalika Itihas, written by Professor I. W. Johari, M.A., B.D. of the Union Theological Seminary, Indore, (1943), in these words:-

""am{_Z H{$Wm{obH$ o_eZar Jm§d H{$ H¥$fH$m| H$m{ Hw$N> é[`{ CYma X{Z{ bJ{ Am¡a `h oZ`_ R>ham`m oH$ d{ H¥$fH$ `oX am{_Z H{$WobH$ ah| Vm{ CZ g{ CYma Om{ oX`m J`m gm{ dmo[g ob`m Z Om`Jm. [naUm_ `h hþAm oH$ AÝ` o_eZ H{$ ]hþV g{ bm{J am{_Z H{$WobH$ hm{ J`{''

�The Roman Catholic Missionaries began to lend money to the agriculturists on condition that if they became and remained Roman Catholic, that loan need not be repaid.  The result was that many Christians of other missions turned Roman Catholic.�

50. Referring to Chhota Nagpur, Rev. Pickett says:-

�Roman Catholic Missions are aggressively seeking to win converts from Protestant Christian groups and are accused of offering financial inducements through Co-operative Societies loans, employments, fee or reduced tuition in schools, financing of court cases, etc���� �The Roman Catholics and Anglicans (S.  P. G. Mission) in these villages were all former Lutherans.  So far as eve could discover the occasions for leaving the Lutheran church and joining one of the others ,were (1) Discipline by the Church or by the tribal brotherhood. (2) (In case of Roman Catholics only) financial assistance.� (Pages 325-326.  Christian Mass Movement in India, 1933.)

This practice came to be exposed in an enquiry made by Lt. Col. A.S. Meek, Agent to the Governor-General, Eastern States, Ranchi, the report of which is to be found in letter No. 751, dated the 20th April 1936, addressed to the Political Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign and Political Department, New Delhi, on the subject of Christian Missions in the Eastern States: �Proselytism in the Udaipur State by the Jesuit Mission�.

In the Udaipur State there was a ban on the entry of Missionaries.  The then Ruler of the State was a minor and the State was being managed by the Political Department.  On receipt of reports in June 1935, that some 6,000 persons had offered themselves for instruction with a view to baptism, Col. Meek had an interview with the Bishop of Ranchi. When Col. Meek enquired whether any inducement had been offered, such as advancement of loans, the Bishop replied that the Mission advanced loans to Christians in need of money and that the knowledge of this fact might certainly be an inducement for others to embrace Christianity.  Then a formal enquiry came to be made, through Col. Murphy, who visited 15 villages in the Udaipur State.  He found that the alleged spontaneity of people in the Udaipur State to embrace Christianity was entirely false; and he concluded that the people had been actuated �by one idea and one idea only, that being the receipt of money from the Mission on loan�.  He further found that information had been disseminated, throughout the State that loans would be readily obtained in Mission Station at Tapkara on a note of hand without any security, on condition that they should have their top-knot cut off.  Some of the people who bad received loans were minors and casual labourers.  It also appeared that when one member of a family had taken a loan, all the other members of that family were entered in the book as potential converts.  The rate of interest charged was 10 per cent and in a large number of cases examined, one year�s interest was deducted in advance.  On being questioned, the people without any hesitation, said that their only purpose in going to the Mission had been to get money; and all said that without the lure of money none would have sought to become Christian.  In a letter which the Bishop of Ranchi wrote to Col. Murphy he tried to explain it in this way:

�The taking of loans is not the motive of conversion, but it is in the eyes of aboriginals a sign of adherence and a pledge of earnestness and sincerity�.

51. The result of the enquiry was that Col. Meek imposed severe restrictions on the activities of Missionaries, and his action was confirmed by the Government of India (letter No. F/751-JMS-35, dated the 9th October 1936).  In spite of these restrictions there were reports received officially that devious efforts were being made to win over young people under the guise of educating them in schools (vide letter No. FE/3/137, dated 15th April 1937).  A similar situation arose in Raigarh State while Dr. Baldeoprasad Mishra, D. Litt., was the Diwan of that State, between 1930 and 1940.  In 1936 the Bishop of Ranchi requested him for a site in that State for erecting a Church declaring that there were 4,000 Christians in the State and that he was responsible for saving their souls.  On an enquiry made by Dr. Mishra, it transpired that the Roman Catholic Mission had made arrangements for lending money to people in the Raigarh State on condition that the debtors agreed to have their top-knot chopped off.  When he inspected the registers he found that not only the name of t e head of the family who had borrowed money but the names of the family members were also entered as debtors.  When Dr. Mishra reported to the Bishop of Ranchi, that there was no Christian in the Raigarh State he received the answer that the names of the debtors were entered as Christians in the register because it was the Christian Co-operative Society which had lent the money. Thereafter an Anti-Conversion Act came to be passed in the Raigarh State.

52. This device of using money-lending to serve religious purpose was fully established by several Uraon witnesses (Raigarh, Nos. 6, 21 to 25), who filed the receipts which they had obtained from the Mission authorities at Tapkara on repayment of their loans.  The story related by them was of the same nature as indicated above.