Mar 12, 2008
International Religious Freedom Archive
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1. India: Gujarat Drops Anti-Conversion Law
2. Kyrgyzstan's Religious Communities Fear for Their Futures
3. Pakistan: Elderly Ahmadi Accused of Blasphemy
4. New Guidelines May Threaten Jehovah's Witnesses Charities in the UK
5. Russia: Methodist Community Dissolved by Local Government
Feature: United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief Asma Jahangir has released a current report on the state of religious freedom in the United Kingdom.
Update: Blasphemy laws in the United Kingdom, with coverage on views (from The Guardian) and the vote (from Jurist). The back story can be found in an article in the Los Angeles Times (may require registration).
1. India: Gujarat Drops Anti-Conversion Law
The Times of India reports that the government of Gujarat State, in western India, withdrew a controversial amendment to the state's Freedom of Religion Act on Monday, revoking an amendment which had previously defined Jainism and Buddhism as denominations of Hinduism. The removal of the amendment leaves the legal obligations of converts unclear; the state's 2003 Freedom of Religion Act, which mandates that would-be converts must inform the government of their intentions to convert, remains in place, though it is currently unclear whether or not state authority will be required in order to recognize a conversion.
2. Kyrgyzstan's Religious Communities Fear for Their Futures
Although President Kurmanbek Bakiev recently rejected a decree that would have made many of the country's religious communities illegal, churches in Kyrgyzstan still fear that their religious practice will be threatened by the state. According to Forum 18, the Deputy Head of the State Agency for Religious Affairs plans to finalize a new religion law by the end of March. The Agency would only confirm that registration would still be compulsory, but more worrying for Kyrgyzstan's smaller religious communities is a provision in the draft of the law which states that any community would have to have 200 adult citizen members in order to obtain legal status.
3. Pakistan: Elderly Ahmadi Accused of Blasphemy
An elderly man in Kabeer Wala, Pakistan, was arrested for desecrating the Koran, according to AsiaNews in a March 6th report. Altaf Husain, an 80-year-old member of Pakistan's Ahmadiyya community, was reported to the police by a madrassa student, who claimed to have seen him rip pages from a Koran and throw them on the ground. However, the spokesman for the Ahmaddiya community countered that the charges are false, saying that no one in the community would desecrate a holy book and that Pakistan's blasphemy laws are frequently used to persecute Ahmadis.
4. New Guidelines May Threaten Jehovah's Witnesses Charities in the UK
Jehovah's Witnesses are concerned that new guidelines could threaten the operation of their charities in the UK, Religious Intelligence reports, after the country's Charity Commission decided that charitable organizations risk losing their special status if the charity's "detriments" outweigh its "public benefit". The Commission's 91-page report details "one possible example of this type of detriment…is the refusal to allow medical treatment, or the taking of medicines, on religious grounds." Jehovah's Witnesses believe that giving or receiving blood is wrong, basing their views on passages in the Old and New Testament.
5. Russia: Methodist Community Dissolved by Local Government
A Methodist congregation in Stary Oskol, Russia, has been dissolved after the community failed to file a report on their annual activities, Forum 18 said in a March 10th report. The community explained that, as it was nearly impossible for Protestant congregations in the region to find a suitable legal address, they were unable to submit the report on time. Following a decision by a regional court on February 29th, the Methodist congregation was stripped of its legal status and is currently only permitted to provide religious instruction "at premises provided by its existing members". The community is unlikely to find a way to register again, as local officials forbid the use of a private home as a congregation's legal address.