Nepal’s anti-conversion law just came into effect. The new restrictions were originally promulgated late last year and outlaw proselytization practices that are understood as implicitly targeting the historically Hindu country’s rapidly growing community of Christian evangelicals despite ostensibly being aimed at protecting the feelings of religious believers. A key component of the legislation decrees that…
In India today, nationalism has a religion. Hinduism. We may pussyfoot around it and refer to it as Hindutva, saffronisation or, what the ruling rightwing Bhartiya Janata Party calls “fringe elements”, but the discourse is clearly embedded in the faith of the majority community. Slurs against Muslims have become commonplace. A country that wants to…
Outraged by the rising number of targeted lynchings against Muslims in India, thousands of people took to the streets in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and other major cities India for spontaneous demonstrations under the banner “Not in My Name” on June 28. Protesters decried the government’s inability to protect citizens against harassment and random…
