By Verghese V Joseph –
Bengaluru: The rescheduled Peace Assembly by Christians to express concerns over the introduction of Anti-Conversion Bill in the winter session of Karnataka Assembly will now take place on Saturday, December 4, 2021 at St. Francis Xavier’s Cathedral Grounds (near Coles Park) from 3-5 p.m.
The Karnataka government is planning to introduce the Anti-Conversion Bill in the next legislature session in Belagavi beginning from December 13.
In a note released by the Metropolitan Archbishop of Bangalore, Dr. Peter Machado, who is also the president of Karnataka Region Catholic Bishops’ Council, and president of All Karnataka United Christian Forum for Human Rights (AKUCFHR), earnestly appealed to all Christians to attend the Peace Gathering in large numbers to show unity and strength, and also “to express our strong opposition and apathy towards this proposed bill.”
The AKUCHFR has Bishop Abraham Mar Seraphim as its vice president, Bishop P K Samuel and Bishop N L Karkare as patrons and Fr Faustine Lobo as its secretary.
All those participating have been advised to follow the Covid protocols and directions given by the volunteers at the venue. Parking facilities have been arranged at St. Germain’s School, St. John’s School and St. Francis Xavier School.
The note urged all Christians to publicly assert and express their fundamental rights and Constitutional privileges.
The members of AKUCHFR are Assemblies of God, Baptist Church, Believers Eastern Church, Roman Catholic Church, Church of South India, FCCO, Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, Lutheran Church, Malankara Orthodox Church, Marthoma Syrian Church, Methodist Church and Seventh Day Adventists.
Earlier, Bengaluru Archbishop Reverend Peter had written to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai opposing the proposed bill. So far, three times such a memorandum has been submitted to the Chief Minister since September this year, saying the Christian community in the state opposes the proposed law to ban forcible religious conversions in one voice.
Last month, over 100 Christian leaders met at St. Joseph’s Indian High School Grounds in Bengaluru to take stock of the current situation and prayed for the unity of the State, the Government and its leaders.
Later, a delegation of the leaders led by Archbishop Most Rev. Dr. Peter Machado, submitted a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister Mr Basavaraj Bommai on behalf of the entire Christian community of the State to Mr J Manjunath (IAS), Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate in Bengaluru.
In the memorandum, they once again requested the Chief Minister not to table the anti-conversion bill and to take back the orders on the survey of Christian missionaries and their establishments.
Christian leaders asserted that thousands of schools, colleges and hospitals were run and managed by the Christian community across the State. “When lakhs of students are graduating from these institutions year after year and thousands of patients — irrespective of caste, creed and colour receive the best medical attention from our hospitals and care centers, let the Government prove that even one of them has ever been influenced, compelled or coerced to change his or her religion. Moreover, anti-conversion become a tool for the fringe elements to take law into their own hands and vitiate the atmosphere with communal unrest in the otherwise peaceful State.”