Opposition to Evangelism in India, China, and Tibet

Christian evangelism in Asia often faces opposition from various political and religious forces. Although the specific types of opposition vary between different locations, opposition to evangelism and resistance to Christianity are nearly always the result of the view that Christianity is "foreign" and that the spread of the religion poses a threat to the existing power structure in any given area. In India, various anti-conversion laws prohibit conversion to Christianity in many cases, while Hindu nationalist organizations often attempt to "re-convert" Christians from tribal or Dalit communities. In both the Christian and Hindu attempts to convert these individuals, the question of what constitutes conversion by "force" or "coercion" is often an issue. In China, the governmental agencies responsible for controlling religion ultimately decide who may preach, what they may preach, where they may preach, and to whom they may preach. As a result, many evangelical Christians choose not to register with the official church and participate instead in illegal underground organizations, while some choose to remain within official church groups yet continue to participate in unauthorized evangelistic activity. In the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China, foreign missionary activity is still at a relatively early stage, and very little information is known about the methods that missionaries are employing. By examining the failures of various historical missions among Tibetan Buddhists, the current methods and hopes of missionaries in the TAR are placed in an historical context.