Alliance Defending Freedom decries anti-Christian persecution in India but omits it supported the country's anti-gay law

The Alliance Defending Freedom is speaking out against the persecution of Christians in India. But in 2013, the group applauded India for recriminalizing gay sex. ADF obviously believes in a pecking order when it comes to fighting persecution.

Today, via the right-wing online publication The Daily Signal, an official with anti-LGBTQ hate group the Alliance Defending Freedom sounded the alarm about anti-Christian persecution in India.

Meghan Fischer, legal counsel with ADF International, a branch of the Alliance Defending Freedom,  reported that in India, there are several requirements would make it difficult for people to convert from one religion to another (in this case, from Hinduism to Christianity). In addition, Christians are being attacked and arrested:

Some laws require potential converts to notify local government officials, while others even mandate advance permission, which often is not granted. This violates a fundamental principle of international human rights—that a person may believe whatever he or she chooses to believe, and that no one may force him or her to adopt or renounce a particular belief. 

Members of the lowest castes who convert away from Hinduism lose certain government benefits—an obvious attempt to keep them in their place. Conversely and unsurprisingly, if someone wants to convert to Hinduism, the majority religion, there are no hurdles. Mass Hindu conversion ceremonies take place with no consequences, even though some participants claim they are forced to take part. 

Recent arrests include 32 Catholic seminarians singing Christmas carols, chaperones for a Christian summer camp, and a Christian handing out pamphlets. Extremists attack Christians as they worship in their churches and homes under the pretense of preventing fraudulent conversions. Lawyers like Baskaran represent Christians who have been attacked, but it can take years for victims to receive reparations, if they receive any at all. 

To hear something like this is awful. People should have the right to be able to change religions without being prey to threats, violence, or requirements designed to undermine their desire. But at the same time, I really question the integrity of  any branch of ADF to call attention to this.

In 2013, ADF publicly supported recriminalizing gay sex in India.

According to the Huffington Post:

 India’s Supreme Court voted to restore the country’s colonial-era law banning “carnal intercourse against the order of nature.” The ruling reversed a 2009 decision by the Delhi High Court, which found the law unconstitutional. Under India’s criminalization statute, gay sex is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. 

 In an interview with OneNewsNow, Alliance Defending Freedom Global executive director Benjamin Bull applauded the Supreme Court’s decision for not “giv[ing] in to a vocal minority of homosexual advocates”: 

 “When given the same choice the Supreme Court of the United States had in Lawrence vs. Texas, the Indian Court did the right thing,” says Bull, which was choose to “protect society at large rather than give in to a vocal minority of homosexual advocates.”

 [...] The Texas case “laid the groundwork for the invalidation of traditional marriage by a number of courts subsequent to that,” the attorney explains. The Indian Supreme Court saw what had happened there “and was wise enough not to want to go down that road.” 

 “America needs to take note that a country of 1.2 billion people has rejected the road towards same-sex marriage, and understood that these kinds of bad decisions in the long run will harm society,” he adds.

It should strike anyone as hypocritical for any group to speak out against the persecution of one group after advocating the imprisonment of another.  Unfortunately,  this sort of thing is par for the course for the ADF and is one of the reasons why it deserves its hate group designation.  Fighting against persecution of any stripe shouldn't be seen as a pecking order and  ADF has no room to attempt to save Christians  if it freely supported the persecution of gays in the same country.