High-caste Hindus who had been harassing a church in Nepal forced it to shut down in early November.
For two months Brahmins, the highest caste from which Hindu priests and teachers are drawn, had disrupted worship of the Pakhluwa Eternal Life Church, in western Nepal’s Palpa District, each week and accused Pastor Tufani Bhar of converting villagers, the pastor said.
Forced to meet in homes
Church members had abandoned their building and resorted to meeting in homes, but the Brahmins issued threats to anyone found meeting anywhere, including in houses.
Having established the church about nine months ago, Pastor Bhar tried everything possible to preserve the fellowship but was unable to withstand the opposition. Church attendance dwindled from 30 to 15-18 people before disbanding due to fear.
Constant complaints
Initially the Brahmins objected to the use of guitar and drums in the church service. ‘We resorted to worshipping silently without the use of any instruments,’ he said. ‘But then they objected to the Lord’s Supper that we partake of once a month.’
Prohibited from taking the Lord’s Supper, the church began travelling from Palpa to the mother church in Butwal, about 50 kilometres (31 miles) away. Opposition rose steadily to the point that the Brahmins refused to let the church meet for worship, Pastor Bhar said. ‘The chairman of the ward [a smaller unit of the municipality] said that they will not let Christians fellowship.’ Previously there had been no opposition in his 38 years of ministry in Butwal and nearby areas, but Hindu extremist groups from India have influenced Nepal’s Hindus.
Pastor Bhar started the mother church, Eternal Life Church, eight years ago and had established four branches, including the Pakhluwa Eternal Life Church.
Internationals arrested
In Gulariya, Bardiya District, authorities arrested a Christian woman from Australia along with four area Christians on 12 November. Katiya Graham was arrested after someone informed police that she was evangelising door-to-door with the other four Christians. Local media reported that she was charged with spreading Christianity.
Authorities sent Graham to Kathmandu that day for deportation, and Sweta Manandhar, Shreejan Manandhar, Tej Bahadur Shahi and Dal Bahadur Taruna were kept in police custody.
Bishnu Hari Upadhaya, Director of the Department of Immigration said: ‘Nepalese law strictly prohibits such acts. Currently we are investigating whether the charges filed against her are true.’ Authorities found Bibles, diaries, pamphlets and videos related to Christianity among the accused.
Separately, on 4 November in Butwal, police arrested four women, including two from Japan, on charges of carrying out forceful conversions. The women were accused of evangelising door-to-door. Authorities sent the two Japanese women, identified as Yasura Owa and Makihikula, to Kathmandu, and they were deported. The two Nepali women, Pushpa Ghimire and Tirthamaya Ghale, were released four days later.
Evangelising is prohibited under Nepal’s new constitution, passed in September 2015, as it was under the previous constitution, but the new one has helped incite anti-Christian sentiment. While the new constitution establishes Nepal as a secular and democratic republic, its definition of secular appears to protect Hinduism and allows others only to worship in their own faiths. Article 26 forbids anyone to convert a person of one religion to another.
Increased anti-Christian efforts
Advocacy groups have detected increased enforcement and other anti-Christian efforts as officials seek to placate Hindus incensed that the new constitution did not re-establish a more prominent place for Hinduism.
Article 26 (1) of Nepal’s constitution protects freedom of religion or belief and includes the rights to profess, practice and protect one’s religion. By criminalising conversions, Nepal has infringed on the fundamental freedom of religion or belief which is guaranteed not only by its constitution but also secured by several international covenants, according to Alliance Defending Freedom, which undertakes legal advocacy for religious freedom.
