Human Rights of Religious Minorities in India

WHEREAS, ever since the Bahartiya Jauta Party (BJP) came to power in India a year ago, there has been a tremendous increase in systematic persecution of religious minority groups in India. Both the religious and secular media report that the BJP Party and its leaders incite and sponsor their young and active party members to engage in terrorizing and intimidating the Christian and minority groups in India; and

WHEREAS, the India media reported recently that Christian nuns were raped, churches demolished and in some cases pastors and priests humiliated, tortured and paraded nude through the streets in some places of the northern part of India. In some instances, Christian schools were broken into while the schools were in session and the students were intimidated by burning of the Bibles and Christian literature; and

WHEREAS, the members of National Federation of Asian American United Methodists join in solidarity with the Indian minority religious communities and other advocacy groups in condemning the human rights violations against people who practice religions other than Hinduism,

Therefore, we call upon the General Board of Church and Society and the General Board of Global Ministries to work with our ecumenical partners and human rights organizations such as Amnesty International to communicate our displeasure and disappointment on the part of the Indian government in failing to protect and promote the constitutional rights of the religious minorities, and to promote peace, harmony, and mutual respect for all religious faiths; and

Be it further resolved, that these agencies be requested to urge the Prime Minister and his cabinet to take immediate executive measures to not only protect the constitutional rights of the religious minorities but also to ensure Articles 7 and 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which state:

Article 7—All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 18—Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his/her religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his/her religion or belief in teaching, practice, ownership and observance.

ADOPTED 2000

See Social Principles, ¶ 165D.

From The Book of Resolutions of The United Methodist Church — 2004. Copyright © 2004 by The United Methodist Publishing House. Used by permission.