Extremist Hindu Group in Nepal Threatens Christian Missionaries to Leave the Country

Chautara, Nepal
The earthquake that hit Nepal in April and May of this year spurred politicians to act on the drafting of a new constitution. |

An extremist Hindu group in Nepal is warning foreign Christian missionaries to leave the country, blaming Christians for "corrupting the country."

"Morcha Nepal"-- a radical Hindu group-- distributed leaflets, threatening Christians to leave the country.

"Foreign influence have manipulated government decisions [and] Christians have corrupted the country," the leaflet reads.

"From today, the Morcha declares Nepal a Christian-free Hindu nation. We warn all the Christian religious leaders to leave Nepal, and appeal to all those who converted to Christianity to return home [convert back to Hinduism]," the Hindu group says according to a statement.

Though only 1.4 percent of the 31 million population identifies as Christian and 81.3 percent identifies as Hindu, according to a CIA Factbook statistics, Nepal is officially a secular state. The country's new constitution also contains a clause that makes it illegal and punishable by law to convert a person from one religion to another.

In response to the ratification of the clause, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) said in a statement, "This fails to allow for choosing and changing one's faith to be seen as a positive individual choice or as a matter of individual rights, as required by international treaties which Nepal has signed and ratified.