Continued misunderstanding over what constitutes proselytism and what represents evangelisation has prompted the Vatican and the World Council of Churches to draw up guidelines for making sure ethical norms are followed in converting people of other religious beliefs to Christianity.

The Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue together with the council's Office on Inter-religious Relations and Dialogue planned a series of meetings aimed at assessing the nature of religious conversions and creating “a code of conduct” for Christian Churches to follow when spreading the Gospel to people of other faiths.

The first of three closed-door meetings was to run May 12-16 in Lariano, a small town south of Rome . The three-year joint project is titled “Inter-religious Reflection on Conversion: From Controversy to a Shared Code of Conduct”.

Msgr Felix Machado, undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, said that in some countries, especially where Christianity is a minority religion, an individual's conversion from the dominant faith tradition to Christianity “is sometimes mistakenly called proselytism.”

“We want to maintain our right to convert people, but it should be done according to Church teachings,” he told Catholic News Service May 9.

Proselytism often describes the use of unscrupulous methods of persuasion -- such as psychological pressure, spiritual threats or material enticements -- to win converts.

However, according to Catholic Church teaching, evangelisation entails proclaiming the Gospel “in a manner that respects human dignity”, the monsignor said.

Two of the documents produced by the Second Vatican Council in 1965 -- the Declaration on Religious Freedom ( Dignitatis Humanae ) and the Decree on the Church's Missionary Activity ( Ad Gentes ) -- emphasised that no one should be forced to act contrary to his or her beliefs or be forced to accept the Christian faith.

However, these guidelines in spreading the Gospel are not part of the practice of every Christian denomination.

Msgr Machado said some Christian organisations can be very aggressive in their attempts to convert people of another faith, which can result in making people suspicious of all Christians as having a hidden agenda to proselytize.

“We want to convert people; we don't hide that”, the monsignor said, but the question of “how it's done” needs clarification.

Without that clarification, evangelisation might be mistaken for proselytism and that “hinders inter-religious dialogue and mission work”, he said.

The Vatican and the WCC, whose membership includes more than 340 Orthodox, Protestant and Anglican churches and communities in more than 120 countries, have invited 30 participants from several religious traditions to take part in the first meeting. Participants will represent Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and traditional African religions, as well as Catholic and other Christian denominations.

Msgr Machado said participants hold a range of opinions about religious conversion from those who oppose or support it to those who are indifferent to a person's spiritual transformation.

The meeting “is not to debate, but to listen to people” and their experiences and concerns, he said.

The idea for the joint study project arose out of the religious tensions in India , where Christians are often “falsely accused” by Hindus of proselytizing, Msgr Machado said.

“People don't have a clear idea” about the Church's mission and mandate and that proclaiming the Gospel is not about coercion, but that “it's a proposition” guided by ethical norms, he said

(CNS)