Indian archbishop rejects 'dangerous' government bid to study church workers (Fides)

Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore is resisting a government plan to survey the staff of church institutions, saying that the plan is “pointless, unnecessary, and dangerous.”

The proposed survey, ordered by the government of the Karnataka state, is seen by the Christian minority as part of a larger drive by Hindu activists to restrict religious conversions. Charges that missionaries are engaged in “forced conversions” have led to violent attacks on Christian targets.