Christianity in Gujarat

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St Paul's Church, Diu

Christianity is a minority religion in Gujarat, a state of India. Hindus form the majority in the state. A Diocese of Gujarat of the Church of North India exists. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ahmedabad, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Gandhinagar, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Baroda, the Syro-Malabar Catholic Diocese of Rajkot and the Orthodox Diocese of Ahmedabad have their seat in the state. The Indian National Full Gospel Churches Federation of India is present there.[1] There is a Christian proportion above average among those belonging to Scheduled Tribes.[2] The state has anti-conversion legislation.[3] Hindu-nationalism is particularly important in Gujarat.[4]

Missionary history

Missionaries included John Taylor M. D. (d. 1821), Joseph Taylor (d. 1852), his son J. V. S. Taylor (d. 1881) the translator of the Gujarati Bible "Old Version" (1861, rev. 1899), and his grandson George Pritchard Taylor (b. 1854) author of a Gujarati grammar. Missionaries established schools in the first half of the 20th century.[5]

Many of the Gujarati Christians carry the surname Parmar. This relates back to the Rajput clan origin of the Christians in Gujarat. A lot of Rajput converts have given up their own land as a contribution to the Christian mission work. Such as building of schools, hospitals and churches. Typical example is in Nadiad, Gujarat where huge lands were donated by Christian landlords for the development of Christian societies.

References

  1. ↑ World Christian Encyclopedia , Second edition, 2001 Volume 1, p. 370-371
  2. ↑ von Eric Töpfer (2005-01-01). "Gujarat". suedasien.info. Retrieved 2013-12-16. 
  3. ↑ "Indiase deelstaat verbiedt bekering - Kerknieuws - Kerk & Religie". Refdag.nl. 2006-09-21. Retrieved 2013-12-16. 
  4. ↑ Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (2013-01-01). "Zur politischen Neutralität der Beamten in Indien. Neue Führungsspitze bei der RSS, Länderberichte, Publikationen, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung". Kas.de. Retrieved 2013-12-16. 
  5. ↑ http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/138/1/WRAP_Hardiman_9971617-050208-Christianity_and_Adivasis_2.pdf
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