- 26 November, 2025
Nov 26, 2025: India, the world’s largest democracy, is a living testimony to pluralism, where the air itself carries the fragrance of a thousand faiths. Our Constitution, born in the crucible of freedom’s struggle, is not merely a legal document but a moral covenant – the moral compass of our nation. Marked each year on November 26 as Constitution Day, its Preamble sings of Justice, Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, echoing the Gospel’s call to dignity, freedom, and solidarity. Article 25 guarantees the freedom of conscience: to profess, practice, and propagate one’s faith. Article 19 safeguards the right to speak truth to the heart. Article 21 protects the sacred space of personal liberty, including the freedom to choose or reject faith, where no state may trespass upon the soul’s choices.
Yet today, this covenant is under strain. Laws masquerading as protectors of faith have become swords against conscience. The so-called ‘Freedom of Religion Acts’, enacted in multiple states in India, and now looming over Maharashtra, are not shields of liberty. They are anti-conversion laws that invert justice, presume guilt, and criminalize compassion.
True freedom does not police the heart’s voluntary turning toward God. These laws do not prevent coercion - they enable suspicion. They shift the burden of proof onto the accused, turning innocence into a crime to be disproven. A prayer meeting can become a probable cause; an act of charity can become evidence of inducement.
The events of July 25, 2025, in Durg, Chhattisgarh, besides many others, serve by way of example: Two nuns from Kerala, with tribal youth Sukaman Mandavi, accompanied three adult tribal women - long-time Christians, to Agra for voluntary domestic work. Parental consent was documented.
Yet, a mob led by Durga Vahini member Jyoti Sharma accosted them with aggression and coercion. False statements were extracted. The nuns were jailed. The police stood idle as harassment unfolded on video. For eight harrowing days, innocence languished behind bars. On August 2, a Bilaspur NIA court granted conditional bail, noting the FIR’s utter baselessness.
The attackers? They walked away free - the law did not contain any section to punish them for making false allegations. This is not an aberration. It is the predictable fruit of laws that empower third-party complaints, vigilante justice, and state complicity in prejudice.
In Maharashtra, a new Freedom of Religion Bill threatens to cast an even darker shadow. For decades, Catholic institutions have fed the hungry, sheltered the homeless, educated the forgotten, and healed the sick, regardless of creed. These are not transactions; they are translations of faith into love.
But, under the proposed law, every loaf of bread could be construed as bait, every classroom a conspiracy. These types of laws would only “stifle the Church’s social apostolate”, leaving the poor doubly abandoned: first by society, now by fear.
The Catholic Church rejects forced conversion outright; such acts are theologically invalid. True conversion is a free act of the spirit, never coerced. India already has laws against fraud and coercion. What we do not need are draconian tools that turn humanitarian service into a prosecutable offense.
These ‘Freedom of Religion Acts’ do not uphold the Constitution - they eviscerate it. They reduce religion from a matter of conscience to a matter of state permission. They transform the citizen’s right to follow God into a privilege revocable by mob or magistrate.
The Catholic Church in India is no stranger to trial. From St. Thomas landing on these shores in 52 A.D to St. Teresa of Calcutta cradling the dying in Kolkata’s gutters, from Fr. Stan Swamy’s martyrdom for tribal rights to the quiet sacrifices of countless laypeople, nuns and priests, ours is a legacy of service, not subversion.
We run over 25,000 educational institutions, many in remote villages where no government school exists. We operate hospitals in the hinterlands, where none else will, treating people with love and dignity. We stand with the Dalit, the Adivasi, the refugee - not to convert, but to affirm their humanity. This is not proselytism! This is prophetic presence!
The Constitution of India is not just a law — it is a moral vision of unity and dignity, echoing the Gospel’s call to justice and peace. Article 51A calls us to promote harmony, protect diversity, and cherish our composite culture. Jesus called us to be “salt of the earth” and “light of the world”. These are not competing mandates. They are converging missions.
Defending minority rights is not sectarianism - it is democratic patriotism. Upholding constitutional freedom is not defiance - it is discipleship. The soul of India is at a crossroads. Will we allow suspicion to suffocate compassion? Will we let laws named for freedom become chains of oppression?
We must demand:
1. Reform or repeal of these so-called ‘Freedom of Religion Acts’.
2. Safeguards against third-party misuse and vigilante justice, by imposing severe punishment on those making false allegations of forced conversions.
3. That the onus of proof of forced conversion should be on the complainant and not on the accused.
4. Protection for charitable works as expressions of faith, not evidence of fraud.
5. A return to the Constitution’s vision: where every Indian may follow their conscience without fear.
The Church is called to be a school of conscience, forming citizens of integrity. Let our institutions remain beacons of service, not targets of suspicion. Let our witness be marked by clarity, courage, and charity. In the words of Vatican II, we are called to read the signs of the times through the lens of the Gospel. Today, the sign is clear: India’s pluralism is her strength, not her threat.
Let conscience, not coercion, shape our souls. Let India remain the land where every heart is free to seek God in its own way. Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake! (Rabindranath Tagore).
Bishop Savio Fernandes
Auxiliary Bishop, Archdiocese of Bombay
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