Nepal’s Churches Live under Threat, Discrimination
Saturday August 20, 2011 Nepal, Religious Intolerance
Hundreds of other churches scattered through the former Hindu kingdom of Nepal have faced government discrimination.
Tag: Nepal
Nepal Plans New Criminal Code Forbidding Evangelism
Friday June 3, 2011 Religious Freedom, Religious Intolerance
Five years after it abolished Hinduism as the state religion, Nepal is working on a new criminal code forbidding a person from one faith to “convert a person or abet him to change his religion.”
Article 160 of the proposed code also says no one will be allowed to do anything or behave in any way that could cause a person from a caste, community or creed to lose faith in his/her traditional religion or convert to a different religion. The proposal would also prohibit conversion “by offering inducements or without inducement,” and preaching “a different religion or faith with any other intent.”
Nepal Church Bomber Faked Repentance
Wednesday April 6, 2011 Hinduism, Nepal, Religious Persecution
The chief of a militant Hindu extremist group sought to disguise his extortion and terror activities from behind bars by claiming he had repented of bombing a church in Nepal and showing interest in Christianity, according to investigators.
The revelation emerged when Nepal’s premier investigation agency foiled a plot to explode a series of bombs devised by Ram Prasad Mainali, former chief of the Hindu militant outfit Nepal Defence Army (NDA), in the capital city of Kathmandu.
Prospects Dim for Religious Freedom in Nepal
Wednesday March 30, 2011 Hinduism, Nepal, Religious Freedom
A new constitution that Nepal’s parliament is scheduled to put into effect before May 28 may not include the right to propagate one’s faith.
The draft constitution, aimed at completing the country’s transition from a Hindu monarchy to a secular democracy, contains provisions in its “religious freedom” section that prohibit anyone from converting others from one religion to another.
Continued Ban on Converting Others Proposed in Nepal
Monday September 27, 2010 Hinduism, Nepal, Religious Persecution
A legislative panel in Nepal has proposed retaining a ban on converting others in the country’s new constitution.
Parliament has yet to decide on the proposal, but Christian leaders said they fear it is likely to be approved given that Nepal’s largest political party, led by former Maoist rebels, sympathizes with the deposed king’s wishes for such a ban. The country is forging a new constitution as part of its transition from a Hindu monarchy to a democracy.
‘World’s biggest animal sacrifice’ begins
Tuesday November 24, 2009 Hinduism
Up to a million Hindu devotees have gathered in a village in Nepal to witness the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of animals in a mass sacrifice that has drawn widespread criticism.
Worshippers travelled long distances, many coming from India, to attend the two-day Gadhimai festival, which honours the Hindu goddess of power and takes place once every five years in southern Nepal.
Christians Increasingly Vulnerable in ‘Secular’ Nepal
Friday July 31, 2009 Religious Persecution
They are now being targeted by militant Hindu organizations that blame the church for the abolition of Hinduism as the state religion and the end of monarchy.
A little-known, shadowy organization that claimed to be building an army of suicide bombers has achieved notoriety with two brutal attacks on Catholics in two years.
Nepal’s Christians Little Consoled by Arrest in Church Bombing
Vikash Patrick’s 19-year-old bride died while praying at the Assumption Church in Kathmandu valley’s Lalitpur district, the largest Catholic church in Nepal, in an anti-Christian bombing on May 23, the day they were to return home.
Claiming responsibility for the violence was the Nepal Defense Army (NDA), a group wishing to restore Hinduism as the official religion of Nepal.