Despite conversion ban, Christianity spreads in Nepal

RICHET, Nepal: More than two years after an earthquake f lattened the Nepali village of Richet, most residents are still living in makeshift shelters. Only the church has been rebuilt -- paid for by Christian missionaries whose inf luence in the mainly Hindu country is growing.

Despite strict laws that ban religious conversion, Christianity has spread rapidly over the last two decades in Nepal, where many see it as an escape from the deeply entrenched caste system.

The Himalayan nation was ruled by a Hindu monarchy for over two centuries until the overthrow of the monarchy in 2008 and also has a strong Buddhist tradition, particularly in the mountainous north.

But the remote Lapa Valley where Richet is located is now predominantly Christian.

Many residents are recent converts to the faith, among them Rika Tamang, who became a Christian after his mother fell ill and the family struggled to pay for the animal sacrifices a local shaman encouraged them to make.

“Whatever I had, I had to offer as a sacrifice to god,” said Tamang, now the pastor of his village in the Lapa Valley.

“Once I converted to Christianity I didn’t have to make sacrifices. I was relieved of that burden.”

According to the 2011 government census, Christians make up less than 1.5 per cent of Nepal’s population of 29 million.

But Christian groups estimate the number at more than 3 million. Locals said the census tended to classify people by the faith associated with their family name, meaning many converts were excluded.

Richet is in the northern district of Dhading, one of the first areas where Christianity took hold. It has since spread throughout the country through an active network of evangelical churches.

But some say well- funded foreign missionaries are using aid to convert people in the impoverished country.

In Richet the dust had only just begun to settle from the powerful earthquake in April 2015 when a group of South Korean and Singaporean missionaries turned up.

They surveyed the damage and left. A few months later bags of cement arrived to rebuild the village’s church.

It was the same story in the nearby village of Kachet, where a new church paid for by South Korean missionaries was nearing completion when AFP visited recently.

“We are happy that we don’t need to be under the sky when we go to church for prayers,” said Richet resident Aman Tamang.

“But we would be happier if we had got grants for rebuilding our homes as well.” — AFP