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Nepal police arrest seven Christians accused of converting people to Christianity

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(Reuters/Navesh Chitrakar)People fetch water from a well near the debris of collapsed houses damaged during the April 2015 earthquake, in Bhaktapur, Nepal, March 18, 2016.Nepali authorities have arrested seven Christians over accusations of converting people to Christianity after they were seen giving Bible handbooks to children. On June 9, seven Christians participated in an extracurricular activity in school in which they distributed a handkerchief and a Bible handbook titled "A Great Story" to each of the 885 students. Local politicians told the police about the activity, leading to the arrest of the principals of Mount Valley Boarding School and Modern Nepal School, and some members of Christian group Teach Nepal, UCA News reports. Advertisement Local sources say the seven arrested Christians would be charged with committing an act of religious conversion by preaching to schoolchildren. In addition, sources said the Christians were forced to promise not to do it again if they want to be released from prison. Christian church leaders are set to meet with the officials of the Home Ministry to discuss the early release of the seven arrested individuals. Based on Article 26 (3) of the 2015 Nepalese Constitution, the act is prohibited in the country. The article says no one is allowed to convert a person to another religion or do anything that may "jeopardize" that person's religion. Despite the tight situation in Nepal, Christianity is unexpectedly growing in the country. From zero in 1951, the census reflects that the number of Christians has grown to 458 in a span of ten years, Eric Metaxas says in an entry on Breakpoint. Fast forward to forty years later, Christians in Nepal are now 102,000. In 2011, the number already ballooned to 375,000, and Nepalese Christian leaders believe that the actual figure is closer to 2.3 million, according to the International Institute for Religious Freedom. The Nepalese government claims that Christianity in the country is growing at a rate of 1.5 percent, but the abovementioned figures clearly indicate that the actual growth rate is around 10 percent. One of the reasons for the quick growth of Christianity in Nepal may be the difficulty in totally outlawing evangelism. Plus, the areas where Christians are flourishing are those that are not served by either the government or Hindu majority. Ads by Revcontent http://www.christiandaily.com/...

cybernepali
Jun 15, 2016 9:19 AM · 61,013 views
36 Replies · Showing 21 - 36
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shiva_linga Jun 18, 2016 7:21 PM
geetmaijawafdiu and dindukhi,and other friends too, i didnt know that u guys are so ignorant about the hinduism followed in nepal.here are some basic things every nepali non-/hindi should know: -the nepalese hinduism is a lot different from the indian one.Nas and other guys talking stuffs about hinduism are showing some cults like ISKON or sai baba etc and thats not what our indigeneous faith system is -caste system is a curse for our society but its a social issue and not religious issue.manusmriti written by a orthodox brahmin some 1500-2000 yrs ago was standardised by the Haves (priests,feudal lords and rulers) and the caste system thus gained its authority.even today ,there are chritian,muslim and sikh low-castes in india which proves it has a social cause than religious. -the christian converts would basically be colored christians which is also a type of low-caste as compared to the white people
ramas Jun 19, 2016 4:36 AM
Saying my religion is better than others is rather egoic and thus only creates more negativity. History is littered with horrific incidents that people committed against each other in the name of religion.
dindukhi Jun 19, 2016 10:13 AM
@ shiva_linga. Would you elaborate different caste system in Christianity and Muslim. I know there are different categories in Christian: Baptist, Lutheran, Catholic, Orthodox, Jehovah witness etc and in Muslim: Shia, Sunni etc. If there is no religion bias why white person is not allowed to enter Pashupati premises ? Why lower caste people have to chant 100 feet away from priest/Pooja area ? Also I have experienced, a Muslim business owner sees other Muslims as his brothers and treat like a family. A Hindu business owner sees other Hindu workers as slaves but donate lot of money to temple despite giving raise to his fellow workers.
ujl Jun 19, 2016 11:11 AM
नाज ब्रोको म मस्सल भएको कुरा सुन्दा आज मेरा आँखा रसाए..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
seeker77 Jun 19, 2016 12:47 PM
Dindukhi In India there is caste system even amongst muslims. All the lower caste hindu people who converted to islam in historic time still have the same social class based upon their caste. Mochi, sanke charmers, bear charmers, etc. are the examples. They acquired islam to get higher social status but it was in vain. Have you heard of Hazra? It is regarded as the lower caste amongst muslims in afghanistan. They are almost treated as untouchables. Do you think a Khan or Sheikh and Qureshi (Butcher caste) have the same social status in islam? Read more!! And you mentioned muluki ain. Muluki ain enacted by King Mahendra abolished caste based chuwachhut, at least in paper, in Nepal during his reign. So, do not get confused with castist muluki ain of JBR. Last edited: 19-Jun-16 12:59 PM
seeker77 Jun 19, 2016 12:51 PM
I found this: Muslims have 3 castes: Ashraf (noble class), Ajlaf, and Arzall (non-ashraf or like shudra) Read more here: http://www.countercurrents.org...
dindukhi Jun 19, 2016 2:18 PM
@seeker77 Thanks for the info.
Bichitra_Kumar Jun 19, 2016 5:03 PM
Guys I am busy expanding universe, creating numurous black holes, trillians of nuclear fusion reactors, planets so dont disturb me, I didnt create years, days, months, it is all your imagination. Why do you guys think I need to babyseat you ? Why I need to track you guys? Do you guys really think I spy on you guys/? like keeping track of what you guys eat, do and say? Let me make one thing clear, I dont revolve around you guys Butt heads ..... ...... .... ...... May be that is what the god is thinking, if he does exists
shiva_linga Jun 20, 2016 5:01 AM
@dindukhi, south asian muslims have proper castes like hindus.there are the ashraf(elite; claiming arab,central asian, persian and pathan castes) and ajlaf( the hindu local converts).the only thing they do commonly is pray in mosque. also the anglo-indian christians of india,pakistan and sri lnka are the elites and dont touch or marry or live with the low caste indin converts.they even have separate graveyards like the ashraf muslims. the sikhs have jat and khatri elites who re the ruling elite in punjab and foreign diaspora,the low caste converts are called majhabi sikhs and are still untouchable.they even have separate gurudwaras. -i am against every kind of segregation to any caste or foreigners in temples. but thats also true for lots of jewish,parsi and muslim holy sites.
ujl Jun 20, 2016 10:50 PM
नाज ब्रो, मलाई आज सम्म कसैले "मुस्सल" भनेको थिएन. हजुरको यो मह जस्तो वाणिले मेरो मनै येति प्रसन्न भयो कि मेरा आँखा रसाए. हुन त म योगी मान्छेलाई रुनु र हास्नु मा केहि अन्तर हुदैन तर पनि संसारिक कुरालाई मध्यनजर राख्दै आँखा रसाको कुरा हजुरलाई भनेको हूँ. हजुरलाई माण्डुक्य उपनिषद्को सार समर्प्रित गर्न चाहन्छु, हेरिदिनुस ल.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
shiva_linga Jun 21, 2016 4:20 PM
@Nas and ujl bro, maybe u guys are maithil brahmins or upadhyaa bahuns of hills and so talk of upanishads and other orthodox brahmanical stuffs ,but thats not much part of nepali hinduism .our traditions are more shaiva and shakta traditions and not the later invented vaishnavism like in india. our sanatana system of belief (at least for khas,magars,gurungs,kirati,tamang and newars) is the tantric pre-shankaracharya hinduism/sanatana system.so except the terai and pahad bahuns(though most of pahad bahuns are of khas ethnicity who converted post 10th century)we mainly have shiva and shakti worshipping traditions and tantric worshipping rituals. we have parallely our kul deutas,sime-bhume,banjhakri,bonpo gods ,kirati gods and other forms of anscestor worship. also the temples in whole of nepal were worshipped with tantric rituals and most of them are worshipped so till date. our primary dietie have always been shiva in his primordial forms and the mother goddess in her shakti form since thousands of years. only since the shah ascendence to power and the rana attempt to standardise hinduism to north indian hindu royals brought the rituals,books and traditions which we know today. prior to that, people recited chandi and not geeta,machhindranath and gorakhnath were the royal dieties,animal sacrifice,weapons worship etc which is barred by vaishnavism was totally the norm of our culture.
seeker77 Jun 21, 2016 5:14 PM
Good post Shiva_linga. But Newars, at least high casts, are more hindu than bahuns that have khas root. But most of upadhyaya bahuns in nepal have kanyakubja, non-khas, origin. Else, you are spot on.
shiva_linga Jun 21, 2016 5:52 PM
@seeker, yes high caste newars(joshis,rajopadhyas,pradhan etc) are more hinduised since they are ethnically mixed with lichhivis and mallas and have been hinduised longer than the khas people.newar were hinduised since the 5th century AD or so, whereas the first manuscripts of khas from 12th century show they were still buddhist and shamanist(masto worshippers). i also believe upadhyayas have non-khas origin as i mentioned earlier.these north indian brahmins brought the more orthodox brahmanical hinduism to our hills and hinuised the khas and magar in western hills. @nas,vedas were pre -hindu documents of aryans . upanishads were the intepretation but these scripts were not originally written/read by native nepalis.even the valley kings who were the first hindus of nepali hills revered tantric,shaivaite and shakta religious books more than brahmanical books.i am not saying vedas and upanishads being only brahmans book, vedas were documented a lot later by brahmins though the source is basically social wisdom ,prayers and migration story. upanishads are a later creation from mostly north west indian brahmins.they are the property of whole humanity but are not innately nepali.
ujl Jun 21, 2016 6:08 PM
shiva_linga Jun 24, 2016 9:52 AM
@ ujl, the above classification makes no sense. the british indologists of 19th century created this to include all the southasian native belief system existing at that time. prior to that,and better said prior to shankaracharya restoration of hinduism ,these systems were separate religions in their own place.so basically brahmanism,shaktism,shaivism and other religions were separate in what they believed but the rituals and mythology became more and more entangled due to mixture with neighbouring cultures.
shiva_linga Jun 29, 2016 6:29 AM
@ ujl, we shouldnt compare our mix of sanatan traditions and animistic traditions to orthodox brahmanism devised post 8th century by adi shankara. with we i mean all nepali except pahadi and terai brahmins.that is still an overwhelming majority of nepalis.
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