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BHUBANESWAR, INDIA, December 29, 2000: Religious conversions and re-conversions have caused numerous clashes between Hindus and those converted to Christianity in this state, leading to a gruesome murder in 1999, when Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons were burned to death. According to this dated report just brought to the attention of HPI, some 4,000 people in eight Orissa villages resolved last year to ban religious conversions days after the people of Jharia village stopped the erection of a statue of Jesus Christ within the precincts of a Hindu temple. Around five percent of the population of these villages is Christian. The meeting decided by a majority vote to ban religious conversions and construction of churches, chapels and Christian statues in the villages. “We have decided on the ban because we found many people of various villages adopting Christianity by taking money from missionaries. They are also allowing the construction of churches in their villages,” said Laxmidhar Soren, who lives in one of the villages that accepted the ban on conversion.

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