This week’s briefing centres on India’s regulatory escalation: new FCRA Rules 2026 (22 June) explicitly bar foreign funds for religious conversion, reinforced by the Timothy Initiative UAPA case and seven pastors sentenced in Madhya Pradesh. The Vatican consistory (26–27 June) saw Pope Leo XIV restate the witness-vs-proselytism line. Adventists publicly questioned their own evangelism’s cultural sensitivity.
Proselytism and Religious Outreach Worldwide: Conflicts, Policies, and Trends – 3-10 April 2026
News from Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Turkey. – Iranian Christian converts detained by US Immigration. – Catholic Church: more detailed data revealing the scale and geographic breadth of the 2026 Easter baptism surge. – Provincial council will address the pastoral challenge of welcoming, forming, and integrating the unprecedented number of neophytes entering the French Church. – The “missionary-as-provocateur” frame.
Proselytism and Religious Outreach Worldwide: Conflicts, Policies, and Trends – Weekly Briefing – 21-27 March 2026
India has entered an accelerated phase of what might be called the “juridification of conversion.” – The “public Islam” controversy in Britain as a template. – The structural asymmetry of persecution coverage. – The centennial of World Mission Sunday in October 2026 will likely generate a significant volume of Catholic reflection on the theology and ethics of mission.
Vatican and World Council of Churches study warns of conversion ‘obsession’
17 May 2006 — “Freedom of religion is a fundamental, inviolable and non-negotiable right of every human being in every country in the world,” states the report of the 12-16 May meeting in Lariano/Velletri, near Rome, that launched the cooperative study. “Freedom of religion connotes the freedom, without any obstruction, to practise one’s own faith, […]
Swami Dayananda Saraswati: “Religious freedom does not extend to having a planned program of conversion”
In June 2003, News Today published excerpts a long interview with Swami Dayananda Saraswati, whose views critical of missionary activities are well-known. In the interview, conducted by Editor T.R. Jawahar, Swami Dayananda Sarawsati reaffirmed his understanding of conversion as a form of violence: “What is violence? When you physically hurt me it is violence. When […]