Israel halts Indian conversions

[sugarimp]

Israel has stopped converting people in north-east India who say they are from a biblical "lost tribe" following complaints from the Indian government.Delhi did "not view positively" conversions to another religion, Israel's foreign ministry said

Comments

[caatinga]

Heh heh heh.

I love Jewish humour.

[planetsalign]

It probablly is true!!

[laozi]

I don't understand; is this a joke?

[sugarimp]

No. There is indeed a tribe in Northeast India that believes they're one of the lost tribes of Israel. They have customs similar to that of jews, and have been insisting for years that they're jews.

[laozi]

The existence of the tribe I understand. But the parts that confuse me are the roles that the governments are described as playing. The Israeli government trying to "convert" these people? The Indian government taking offense at religious conversions? This doesn't make any sense to me; I wasn't aware that either of those governments publicly proclaimed themselves as interested in religious outcomes or as arbitrators of specifically religious disputes.

[sugarimp]

They're not forced conversions as such. It's more a move to avoid problems in the past- such as christian missionaries being attack by hindu zealots for forced conversions. These conversions are often not forced, but zealots do take the opportunity to be offended whenever they can. So the request to the Israeli gov was done mainly to avoid political problems.