Who pays the price of conversion – the missionary or the convert? This week, India’s Supreme Court ruled that a backward-class Hindu who becomes Muslim leaves his reservation status behind, while Iran keeps the Bible from converts but not from born Christians. In Russia, Muslims praying at home are fined for “illegal missionary activity”, and in Jharkhand a tribal body warns churches against celebrating local festivals – adopting a culture counts as an offence. Meanwhile, mission is growing: Africa now has more Catholics than Europe, Southern Baptists raised a record $212.5 million, and Adventists voted $99 million for one campaign. A global survey of conflicts over proselytism, drawing on sources in more than ten languages.
Proselytism and Religious Outreach Worldwide: Conflicts, Policies, and Trends – 21–29 August 2026
Maharashtra’s anti-conversion law took effect on 28 August, and congregations across the state have begun asking worshippers to sign statements that they attend of their own free will — evidence manufactured in advance of an allegation nobody has made. In Palghar, twenty-two women were charged under the ordinary criminal code a week before the statute existed. Russia has designated a children’s evangelism agency an “undesirable organisation”. In Kiribati, an Adventist official explains that broadcasting evades not the state but rival pastors. Also: indigenous missionaries sent to Canada’s First Nations, a Catholic mission in Turkmenistan defining success as remaining, and Indonesian work on “algorithmic piety”.