Being a missionary in Asia is getting harder. Some new laws preventing their work are being considered in several countries.
Four countries in South and Southeast Asia have laws that ban conversion of their citizens away from the majority religion, and two other countries are considering implementing the legislation, apart from numerous other nations in the region that prohibit blasphemy and apostasy, aimed mostly at Christian missionary work.
This week, Alliance Defending Freedom’s international wing presented a white paper on laws regulating conversions at the Policy Briefing on the Global Crisis in Religious Freedom with U.S. Ambassador Samuel Brownback.
Commonly known as anti-conversion laws, the legislation regulates the act of converting to another religion through vaguely defined terms of “inducement,” “force” or “fraudulent means,” according to the paper. These words could be meant to include social work, praying for the sick or even evangelism.
These laws are in place in parts of India and throughout Nepal, Myanmar, and Bhutan, while Sri Lanka and one province in Pakistan have yet to pass a similar bill. Barring the bill in Pakistan, where minority religions are allegedly being protected, the legislation is based on the premise that majority religion is under a threat. As a result, it incites violence.