Assam Takes Stand Against Deceptive Evangelism: Landmark Bill Targets Faith Healing As Tool For Conversions

The Assam government introduced a landmark bill — the Assam Healing (Prevention Of Evil Practices) Bill, 2024 — to outlaw magical cures and faith healing camps by Christian proselytisers in the ongoing budget session of the assembly on Wednesday (21 February). 

The bill, introduced by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pijush Hazarika on behalf of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, is a crucial one aimed at curbing the widespread faith-healing camps organised by Christian missionaries to lure and convert gullible people, especially tribals, to Christianity. 

Chief Minister Sarma had, earlier this month, announced on X his government’s resolve to ban such practices that deceitfully influence people and encourage them to convert. 

Faith-healing camps by rabid Christian evangelists have assumed menacing proportions in the rural areas of Assam, especially in the tea garden belts. 

Evangelists, in the garb of faith-healers, conduct such camps where miracle cures are exhibited and ascribed to Jesus and Christian saints. The ‘cures’ for a variety of ailments and even congenital conditions like deafness, blindness and autism are always fake. 

The usual practice is for the evangelical groups to pay handsome sums of money to new Christian converts who come to the camps pretending that they suffer from various ailments.

At the camps, where locals are invited, a faith-healer invokes Christian religious figures and chants mumbo-jumbo after which the ‘sick’ and ‘ailing’ are miraculously cured of their ailments. 

The ‘ailments’ range from epilepsy, leprosy, broken bones to blindness, deafness and autism. Since none of these ailments are genuine, nor are the cures. But the fake cures are leveraged to impress and influence the locals to convert to Christianity.  

This, said minister Hazarika (who introduced the bill) amounts to trickery and fraud and is thus a punishable offence. 

The bill seeks to outlaw magical healing and its propagation for curing diseases and disorders. First-time violators will face a prison term of a maximum of three years and/or a penalty of Rs 50,000. 

Repeat offenders will face up to five years imprisonment and/or fine of Rs 1 lakh. Offences under this will be cognisable and non-bailable. 

The bill seeks to appoint police officers as ‘vigilance officers’ who will have to be on the lookout for faith-healing camps and take strong suo moto action against them. 

Any one who obstructs a vigilance officer from performing his/her duties is liable to be imprisoned for two years and a fine of Rs 25,000. 

 “We are determined to curb this practice of faith-healing through which proselytisers trick people into converting to other religions. Evangelism will be rooted out from Assam,” Chief Minister Sarma  told Swarajya. 

The bill is expected to be passed in the assembly.

“As soon as that happens, we will frame the rules and procedures and make it into a law that will be enforced very strictly all over the state. The police will be asked to mount vigil, especially over the vulnerable tea tribe belt, where such practices that trick and coerce gullible people to convert are rampant,” Chief Minister Sarma said. 

The bill has, expectedly, run into opposition from Christians. The Assam Christian Forum (ACF), an umbrella body of Christians in the state, says the bill “violates the Constitutional rights of Christians”. 

The ACF president Archbishop John M, general secretary Rev Chowaram Daimari and spokesperson Alen Brooks issued a joint statement that said: “The Assam cabinet’s assertion that Christians engage in magical healing is misguided and misleading. Our numerous dispensaries and hospitals operate within the recognised medical frameworks, providing essential services to the sick”. 

“Healing, in our context, is not synonymous with proselytisation. It is a compassionate response to human suffering, irrespective of religious affiliations,” it added.

The ACF also contended that “prayer is a universal practice across religions and used to invoke divine healing. Labelling it as magical healing oversimplifies the profound spiritual dimensions of faith and life”. 

The ACF statement also argued that “invoking divine blessings is intrinsic to religious worship, whether in temples, mosques, or churches”.

“Healing, whether through prayer or medical intervention, transcends religious boundaries. As Christians, we remain committed to compassionate service, guided by our faith and love for humanity,” the Christian leaders said.

But, argue the bill’s proponents, the ACF’s argument is flawed.

“The Bill does not outlaw prayers or prohibit anyone seeking divine intervention to cure diseases and ailments. It prohibits trickery aimed at luring people to convert. The bill is very clear on that,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pijush Hazarika told Swarajya. 

Faith-healing as an evangelical tool is not endemic to Assam, but is a malicious practice that spans the entire country. 

This practice has assumed devastating proportions in many parts of the country like Punjab where weaker sections of society are lured into Christianity through such faith-healing camps. 

This is why a central law, on the lines of the one in Assam, needs to be enacted. Conversions is a nationwide menace that needs one strong deterrent applicable across India.