Ecumenical & Interfaith
News Network - PCUSA

Religious Conversion

Ecumenical efforts toward an interreligious issue:
from controversy to a shared code of conduct on religious conversion

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Ecumenical efforts of the World Council of Churches and others |

| Religious conversion as related to: | Europe | Asia and the Middle East | the United States |

| Evangelism and conversion of Jews to Christianity |

At the World Council of Churches

The study

The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the WCC's Office on Interreligious Relations and Dialogue initiated a study on the controversial issue of religious conversion in 2006, to be concluded in 2009. Their goals are (1) to address religious conversion and changes of religious affiliation from a Christian perspective and (2) to establish, in cooperation with people of other faiths, a Christian code of conduct on religious conversion. In August 2007, as participants in an intra-Christian consultation, the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) became a part of the process.

"It is of particular urgency that mission be understood and practiced in a way which does not lead to an increase of hatred and violence," WCC general secretary Samuel Kobia said in April 2007. "That's one of the reasons we are involved with the Roman Catholic, Evangelical, and Pentecostal churches in searching for a code of conduct on conversion."

A code of conduct on conversion is not expected to have formal authority in any of the Christian communities who are participating. Nonetheless, planners hope that it can provide guidance and a kind of "peer pressure" which advances the cause of religious freedom. They would like a "code" that can be used in conversations with governments considering anti-conversion laws, address other religions’ concerns about Christian proselytism, and inspire other religious communities to consider their own codes of conduct. The same code may also help ease tensions within the Christian community itself where, for example, the issue is a tense one between the Roman Catholic Church and the Pentecostal movement in Latin America.

Stage One: Interfaith consultation

A May 2006 meeting meeting of a multireligious group of 27 persons affirmed freedom of religion as a "non-negotiable" human right valid for everyone everywhere and at the same time called attention to an "obsession of converting others." See testimonies from the meeting's hearing. Its reflections and recommendations include:

• Freedom of religion is a fundamental, non-negotiable right that includes freedom to practice one’s faith, to propagate the teachings of a faith, and to embrace another faith by free choice.
• The right to invite others to one's faith should not violate others’ rights or religious sensibilities. There should be transparency in the practice.
• Humanitarian work should be carried out with no ulterior motives and without taking advantage of the vulnerable. In time of need, “what we can do together, we should not do separately.”
• Members of each faith should listen to how people of other faiths perceive them.

Stage Two: intra-Christian consultation

An August 2007 intra-Christian consultation looked toward an end-product, an ethical code of conduct for religious conversions. The keynote presentation provides an idea of where the project needs to go to respond to the voices of the many Christian participants -- evangelicals, Pentecostals, Protestants, Anglicans, Orthodox, and Catholics. The WCC press report on the meeting lists some of the issues:

• understandings of conversion, witness, mission and evangelism, and concern for human dignity
• distinction between aggressive proselytizing and evangelism
• balance between the mandate to evangelize and the right to choose one’s religion

As a practical step in intra-Christian consultation, the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) has signalled that it is willing to discuss the work of evangelical missionaries in Muslim-majority countries with the Orthodox churches that have been there for centuries, both Eastern and Oriental. At an October 2008 meeting on Muslim-Christian dialogue, Thomas Schirrmacher of the WEA's institute for religious freedom acknowledged the tensions caused when evangelicals converted from Islam try to convert Orthodox Christians. In speaking of distinctive marks of the evangelical approach to Islam, he said that mission and peace can go together "as long as mission is done in a gentle and respectful way," but that persecution is an integral part to witnessing faith. WEA would always be on the side of persecuted Christians. (ENI #08-0841)

The WCC stance on proselytism

A document, “Towards Common Witness: A call to adopt responsible relationships and to renounce proselytism” adopted by the central committee of the World Council of Churches Central Committee in 1997, addresses the issue of proselytism among the churches. Interfaith discussions have pointed to this document as a good basis to begin thinking about the ethics of relationships with those outside the community of the Christian Church. (See especially section III.)

For a look at the Christian-Muslim discussions convened by the WCC that have examined the question of proselytism, see the chapter by Margaret O. Thomas in Christianity and Human Rights.

Hans Ucko, then in the WCC office on Inter-Religious Affairs and Dialogue, spoke to an Indian newspaper, the Deccan Herald, in the fall of 2006, saying "any targeting of others [is] a disrespectful act. It objectifies the other, reducing him or her to be only a receiver of what I have to say or communicate." But Ucko did not endorse use of legislation to ban "proselytism."

Looking ahead to a final document

A final document growing out of the consultative processes has yet to be released.

The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) has said, through a representative, that it is ready, in principle, to support a code of conduct on conversion. It will review the code thoroughly once it has been drafted and will decide then whether it will be appropriate to recommend it. The WEA says that churches in other traditions acknowledge evangelicals as taking the brunt of persecution and that they are grateful others "are standing with us to assert our God-ordained right to evangelize a needy world . . ."

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In Asia and the Middle East

Ferment and violence in India

Indian Christians of the Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD) proposed an amendment to Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that would add the words, "no individual or organization may seek to convert an individual or group of individuals, including minors or individuals of limited cognitive abilities, formally or informally, from one religion to another by offering financial or other material incentives, through physical, mental, or emotional coercion, or through threats or intimidation of any kind." At the same time, the BIRD members affirm the Great Commission that "unequivocally calls us to witness to Christ in a pluralistic setting."

At the October 2008 meeting of the synod of the Church of North India (CNI), the general secretary complained that, in the name of freedom of religion, several Indian states have passed anti-conversion laws yet have kept reconversion to Hinduism out of the purview of these laws under the logic that "reconversion is returning home." The synod met under the shadow of intercommunal violence that followed the August 2008 killing of Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati, an outspoken Hindu critic of conversion. In the U.S., the NCC's Michael Kinnamon said that "Christianity is not a new implant in India" and that the problem is not an interfaith struggle. The WCC's Sam Kobia met with the Indian president, who acknowledged Christianity as a part of India's religious heritage.

One of the tensions in India has been the issue of Dalits (once called "untouchables") who have become either Muslim or Christian, since this change has meant they have been excluded from affirmative action provisions otherwise given to Dalits. Now, a report of the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities, presented in the national Parliament in December 2009 has recommended de-linking of the official Dalit status from religion.    

Sri Lanka proposed bill

Fifteen U.S. House of Representatives members have written to the Sri Lankan ambassador to speak against a proposed Sri Lankan bill that would criminalize attempts to convert its citizens. They say it is overbroad and targets all conversions, not just "unethical" ones, although the bill speaks of "force, fraud, or allurement." The bill is supported by a Buddhist party that is a minor partner in the ruling coalition.

Islamic scholars statements on freedom of religion in Islam

Ali Gomaa, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, wrote that there is no compulsion in religion (Qur'an 2:256) in this world, and it is between the individual and God "unless it is combined with an attempt to undermine the stability of the society, in which case it is the society that holds them to account, not Islam" and "preservation of the society takes precedence over personal freedoms." Likewise, according to Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah, a leading Lebanese Shi'a intellectual, "Embracing Islam is not only a matter of the heart and faith, but it is a commitment to belonging to the society and to the practice of Islamic law in the Muslim country the Muslim lives in." The BBC reports that Abdal Hakim Murad, a lecturer at Cambridge University, points out that Islamic law is diverse and, "in terms of public law, on most issues there is no consensus." Some scholars favor a death penalty for apostasy -- the abandonment of one's faith -- and others say the punishment should be left to God on the day of judgment.

Potential legislation in Iran

The Iranian parliament has adopted legislation that would make the death penalty mandatory in cases of apostasy, i.e., when a person leaves Islam, but still awaits final steps in the process of its adoption. A World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) religious liberties commission article previously said, "The draft Internet Crime Bill which is presently being debated in the parliament will, if passed, make apostasy and promoting apostasy (even through Internet articles and weblogs) a mandatory capital offence on the grounds that it harms the 'mental security' of society."

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In Europe

Joint agreement by Muslims and Christians on religious conversion signed in Norway

A joint declaration on the freedom of religion and the right to conversion was signed on August 22, 2007 by the general secretaries of the Islamic Council of Norway and the [Lutheran] Church of Norway council on ecumenical and international relations, the majority religious group. The church council leader says, "As far as we know, this is the first time that a church and representative national Muslim organization have jointly acknowledged the right to convert."

In the United States

Interfaith organizations' reflections on proselytism

Since 1987, the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington has had a statement on proselytism. Presbyterian minister Clark Lobenstine is executive director of the conference.

Two New York interfaith professionals ask questions about proselytism in a column for Sightings. They note, "Proselytization is not always blatant or conscious, and rules that ban it or even shared assumptions that frown on it do not prevent its more subtle forms." For example, is Buddhist meditation used at an interfaith retreat a form of proselytism?  

Hindu group cautions about "friendship evangelism"

Hindu Press International has posted an article about the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship's practice of "friendship evangelism" -- a term also used by others. It advice: "We note the instructions for the Christians to 'be part of the Hindu club on campus,' and encourage such [Hindu] organizations to examine their membership rolls for such [Christian] missionaries."  Follow the links related to this posting for possible reflection on questions about proselytism and evangelism.

The special case of Christian evangelization of Jews

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