{"id":47631,"date":"2015-09-07T22:02:09","date_gmt":"2015-09-08T04:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=47631"},"modified":"2015-09-07T13:45:30","modified_gmt":"2015-09-07T20:45:30","slug":"church-planting-in-buddha-gaya-40-mahadalit-families-convert-to-christianity-in-bodh-gaya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/09\/07\/church-planting-in-buddha-gaya-40-mahadalit-families-convert-to-christianity-in-bodh-gaya\/","title":{"rendered":"Church Planting in Buddha Gaya 40 Mahadalit families convert to Christianity in Bodh Gaya"},"content":{"rendered":"

Abdul Qadir,\u00a0Courtesy:\u00a0 Times of India<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

GAYA: At least 40 Mahadalit families on Thursday converted to Christianity at a special baptism ceremony at Atia village near Bihar’s Bodh Gaya.<\/p>\n

Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, who is a Mahadalit as well, was busy in foundation laying and inauguration ceremonies at his village Mahkar in Gaya district when the baptism ceremony took place.<\/p>\n

Mahadalits or Musahars are considered one of the lowest in caste hierarchy.<\/p>\n

Dalits and a section of OBCs have been embracing Buddhism for sometime, but this is perhaps for the first time that conversion to Christianity has taken place in the area.<\/p>\n

Raymanti Devi and SK Das, two new converts, told reporters dignity and social acceptance were more important for them than anything else and they have changed their faith for that reason.<\/p>\n

Earlier, Shiv Shankar Manjhi had embraced Christianity in Atia six years back. He was instrumental in persuading his co-villagers to change faith for better future and less demeaning life.<\/p>\n

Gaya SSP Nishant Kumar Tiwari said the conversion was not something new as these families have been visiting the church for the last several years.<\/p>\n

Jitan Ram Manjhi said there was nothing wrong with conversion as long as it was not coercive.<\/p>\n

Gaya BJP chief Jainendra Kumar said it was for the CM to explain why such things were happening at a time when he was at the helm of affairs. Kumar reiterated the BJP’s stated position for a total ban on conversions.<\/p>\n

Christian missionaries have been running a leprosy hospital in the area and working among the disadvantaged sections through educational institutions. Locals are appreciative of their work.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:\u00a0 Times of India<\/p>\n

TNN | Dec 26, 2014
\nhttp:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/india\/40-Mahadalit-families-convert-to-Christianity-in-Bodh-Gaya\/articleshow\/45645223.cms<\/a><\/p>\n

Comments ( selected)<\/p>\n

USING LEPERS TO PROMOTE CHRISTIANITY? HELP A FEW CONVERT MANY, GET POWER EXPLOIT THE COUNTRY! I REMIND YOU OF JUMO KENNYETTA’S WORDS: When the Missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the Missionaries had the Bible. They taught how to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible.\u201d WE ALL KNOW HOW CHRISTIANS HELPED AFRICA! WE ALL KNOW HOW THEY HELP AFRICA! WE ALL KNOW WHAT THEY HELPED AND WHO BENEFITED! OFFER SERVICE, TAKE TRUCKLOADS OF GOLD! WHEN WILL YOU AWAKEN? LEPROSY IS NOT WHERE INDIA NEEDS HELP!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abdul Qadir,\u00a0Courtesy:\u00a0 Times of India GAYA: At least 40 Mahadalit families on Thursday converted to Christianity at a special baptism ceremony at Atia village near Bihar’s Bodh Gaya. Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, who is a Mahadalit as well, was busy in foundation laying and inauguration ceremonies at his village Mahkar in Gaya district […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47631\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}