The proposed anti-conversion bill in Goa is the inevitable outcome of a double-engine government that toes the line of its political bosses at the Centre. The bill, besides posing a constitutional threat to religious freedom, will instead invite more problems for the people of Goa, who have been living in peaceful harmony over the years. Moreover, the Church has made it very clear that forceful conversions have never been on its agenda, as it is fruitless in the eyes of God. Had it been so, the Christian population would have increased by leaps and bounds, but instead has remained stationary at 2.3% or even less over the past century. Finally, the bill should have read as ‘anti-forced conversion’, instead of anti-conversion bill.
AF Nazareth, Alto Porvorim
