“A PERSON IS AT LIBERTY TO CONVERT TO ANY RELIGION AT ANY TIME,” SAYS A JUDGE. (Then why is conversion banned, and converts arrested?)

Some days ago there was an interesting piece of news (The Times of India, New Delhi, Tuesday, March 29, 2011) about an Indian Christian priest in charge of A church in Delhi who married a woman after both had secretly converted to Islam, begot a child and at his death bequeathed all his property to his child. His family when they got to know about it contested the will in court arguing the marriage was null and void as it was against the priest’s celibate vow and so the child was illegitimate.

The judge thought otherwise, and said marriage is marriage and the priest had every right to will his property to his wife and child. I tend to agree with the judge. A man has to be responsible for a wife and child, priest or no priest.

But the judge in his verdict also said something else that is very interesting, and might have been missed by many. He wrote: “A person is at liberty to convert into any religion whenever he wants. There was no legal bar for a Christian or even a priest, on converting to Islam.”

If a “person is at liberty to convert to any religion whenever he wants” why do we have the euphemistically labelled Freedom of Religion Act in some of our States that forbid conversion to another religion? I think this is an interesting point to consider and, may be these Acts need to be fought, again, in the light of the recent judgment. Why is conversion to Christianity a crime?

And incidentally today (April 03, 2011) comes the news (in CathNews-India) that “Police have arrested 12 tribals on charges of converting to Christianity in Orissa’s Mayurbhanj district….The converts were arrested for violating the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act, which bans any conversion that is done without a permit issued by the authorities.”

If a “person is at liberty to convert into any religion at any time” why does he or she need a permit from the authorities to do so?

Returning to the case of the priest’s marriage, how come it remained a secret? Was it really a secret? Wouldn’t someone or other familiar with the priest known about it? Just wondering!

SALESIANS & CYBERSPACE

Cyberspace, is the new playground. That’s where young people gather today. Are the Salesians, the self-proclaimed Missionaries of the Young, able to accompany the young where they now gather?. What’s their presence in cyberspace?

It’s hard to change a mind set and move with the times. Even today, the Salesians in India give priority to running schools and meeting the youngsters on the school playgrounds. If Don Bosco were here today he would be in Cyberspace in a huge way –and not on the school playground. We are missing the boat!

The Salesian have two major WebPages – www.sdb.org and www.donboscoindia.com, the former the official international site and the latter the official South Asian Site. But whom do these serve? The Salesians, of course. What’s the content of these pages? Salesian stuff, of course! In what way do these pages serve young people? Not much! Where’s the content that would attract young people to these pages? Very little indeed! It’s time the Salesians offered a Web that would truly become a playground where the Salesians and the young chat together—walk together. For this Salesians have also to be much more comfortable and adept at using the language and tools of cyberspace, if they are to truly accompany the young today. And have an appreciative, positive attitude toward Cyberspace and its enormous potential for good.

And, if we are to reach the young in Cyberspace, the sites have to be truly interactive, with ample scope for exchanging ideas and making comments freely. From what I have read in regard to this, the Salesians are mighty scared of such interaction capabilities!

But individually some of us Salesians have discovered the power of the personal blog. As our media commentator CM Paul said in a recent email to a former General Councillor, “we are going to have a new revolution free and loud expression of opinions and ideas thru personal BLOGs...That will cover and criss cross all boundaries!”

I can't but quote here a favourite Gospel verse: "Fear is useless. Only trust is needed!"

Welcome to new possibilities!