Catholics stage peaceful protests across city against anti-conversion Bill

The Bombay Catholic Sabharsquos BCS several Parish Units held peaceful prayerful protests across 35 locations in the city Thane and Navi Mumbai urging Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to drop the Freedom of Religion anticonversion Bill The bill prohibits religious conversion through misrepresentation force coercion or any fraudulent meansNo freedomOne of the protest sites was outside the St Michaelrsquos Church at Mahim where a number of BCS representatives preparing for the group protest stated upfront ldquowe are concerned and upset about the move to introduce this Bill in the forthcoming winter session in December 2025 at Nagpurrdquo Top of the mind some concerns cited were the ldquoinfringement of constitutional rightsrdquoJoe GaikwadThe Constitution of India guarantees the right to freedom of religion The proposed bill criminalises voluntary religious conversions interfering with the personal choice of faith ldquoThe bill threatens to stifle the very spirit of compassionhellip every act of kindness could be misinterpreted or maliciously portrayed as an attempt at conversion through inducement and allurementrdquo the group saidAwareness anteCitizens gathered outside the Mahim Church premises in the sweltering midmorning heat Vinod Noronha of the BCS said ldquoThis is not about aggression but awareness Many people still do not know what this Bill is all about We have protest meets fanned out all across We have arrived here after protesting at another Mahim Victoria Church venuerdquoDolphy DrsquoSouza BCS spokesperson said ldquoFreedom of Religion Bill is a misnomer There is no freedom If there is freedom of religion then people should be free to follow any religion they wish tordquo Several participants spoke in unison as they said ldquoA lot of allegations have been made but no conversion has been provedrdquoDolphy DrsquoSouza BCS spokespersonMisuse riskAsked if there are no conversions then why worry about the Bill at all the community stated that there is ldquoa risk of misuse and targeting of minority communities The stated aim of the Bill is to prevent forced or fraudulent conversions it could be used to harass faithbased groups charitable institutions or individuals who are simply practising their faith especially in minority communitiesrdquo DrsquoSouza said ldquoThis could be used as a political tool and have a chilling effect on minorities Work which is motivated by faith and humanitarian concerns may be characterised as inducement and allurement to convertrdquoNumbers speakSome community members stated ldquoNumbers expose the conversion lie In many Christian schools you will find just a handful of Christian students even a singular student in a class So whoever is supposedly doing this converting is not doing a very good job of itrdquo Rita DrsquoSa former president of BCS said ldquoA beginning has been made This is a buildup for further programmes We would have actually liked interfaith dialogues and harmony building up goodwillrdquoA diversionDrsquoSouza also slammed this Bill as some kind of diversionary tactic ldquoto mislead people from real core issues Those should be issues of governance mdash employment crime and at the local level the state of the roads in our cities infrastructure problems Instead we have this We had to speak up as there is a very real fear of harassment Silence fuels oppression and so in peace and prayer we protestrdquo There was Joe Gaikwad who had his sunglasses on Top Gun style The retired assistant commissioner of police stated ldquoIf there are allegations of conversion I will say there was conversion from hate to love from sinfulness to salvation This is a very peaceful communityrdquoWinding upThe protest wound down with prayers and hymns with Dolphy DrsquoSouza stating solemnly in prayer ldquoWe pray Lord in your wisdom that you enlighten the minds of leaders That you will be with us in your struggle and unite us in this moment of anxiety and grief Let there be peace on earthrdquo There were announcements that this campaign will continue with yet another awareness initiative slated for November 16 at Borivli