Indian Christians promote law against religious violence
(Dec. 14, 2011) A group of Christians in India initiated a national prayer campaign
urging lawmakers to address a pending bill that seeks to curb violence targeting religious
minorities, reported Fides, the Vatican missionary news agency. Members of the All
India Christian Council, an organization that promotes religious freedom for all minorities,
particularly Christians, launched the initiative on Monday (Dec. 12) to raise awareness
of the "Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence Bill." John Dayal, general
secretary of the council, told Fides the bill is urgently needed "to put an end to
hate campaigns and to restore confidence in minorities." Proposed earlier in 2011
by the National Advisory Council, the bill has yet to reach parliament but has gained
support from many religious minority groups and citizens of India. According to the
council, the law aims to provide justice for victims of religious violence, target
hate speech, censor violent behaviour by extremist religious groups, and hold law
enforcement officials accountable for not stopping or abetting the violence. According
to Indian Bishops statistics, inter-religious fighting has become a major issue and
in the past four years, close to 4,000 violent acts have occurred against religious
minorities.