Story number 2 for 21 Oct 2002

(India)–Next, an anti-conversion law in Tamil Nadu State is raising alarm among the evangelical community. Due to the religious implications, members of India’s lowest caste and the Muslim population are joining Christian protests. The Bible League’s Jay Kumar says because it came ‘out of the blue’, the ordinance’s passage is suspect. “There are a lot of local nationalist Hindu parties, that just jump on board, once one of their leaders says ‘jump’. They say, ‘how high?’-But, in my opinion, I know there’s some speculation that this ordinance is kind of like a smoke screen.” Kumar believes the real issue is a water shortage, but thinks the law is aimed at diffusing tensions. Yet, there is an unintended side effect. “The plus side is that a lot of these pastors who previously did not meet together, and who were just kind of doing their own thing, are now meeting together and praying together. They’re saying, ‘This is against us; it’s no longer against me and my ministry.'”