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Some 4,000 people in eight Orissa villages have resolved to ban religious conversions, days after the people of Jharia village stopped the erection of a statue of Jesus Christ within the precincts of a Hindu temple, the leader of a Hindu group said Thursday.
Inhabitants of Kushadiha, Karanjia, Baincha, Patrajhada and Kuramkhunta in Balasore district, and Jharia, Panchamania and Gobara in Mayurbhanj district took the decision to ban religious conversions at a recent gathering, Gouri Prasad Ratha, general secretary of the Orissa unit of the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad, told IANS.
Around five percent of the population of these villages is Christian. The move comes after various Christian groups tried to build a statue of Christ within the precincts of a Hindu temple in Jharia village. The people of the village opposed this and complained to the local administration, which ordered that the construction of the statue be stopped.
Ratha said the villagers, fearing a repeat of the attempt to build the statue, called a meeting of the eight villages, which are located about 240 km from state capital Bhubaneswar. The meeting by a majority decided to ban religious conversions and construction of churches, chapels and Christian statues in the villages.
The villagers have also decided to submit a memorandum to the district administration about their decision, Ratha said.
"We have decided to ban religious conversions because we found that many people of various villages are adopting Christianity by taking money from missionaries. They are also allowing the construction of churches in their villages," said Laxmidhar Soren, who lives in one of the villages that accepted the ban on conversion.
Religious conversions and re-conversions
have caused numerous clashes between Hindus and those converted to Christianity
in the state. The conversion issue led to a gruesome murder last year,
when Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons were torched
to death while asleep in their jeep.(India Abroad News Service)
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