We sing in the Church, asked George Bernard Shaw, so why can?t we dance? Shaw was of course deeply troubled by poverty and wondered if religion, in this case Christianity, was really the answer. Even otherwise, members of the Sangh parivar will be happy to learn that Christianity has often given rise to controversy even in Christian-dominated nations.

A case in point is the conversion to the Catholic Church by Oscar Wilde on his death-bed. The controversy raged around the speculation that Wilde was actually unconscious or even dead when he was accepted into the fold of the Catholic Church and given his last sacrament. The priest, who presided over the rite, broke his silence much later and offered letters as evidence of Wilde having voluntarily expressed his desire to join the Catholic Church.

But in Jharkhand, where the Christian population is stated to be just 12 lakhs out of a total population of 2.7 crores, the uneasiness between the Church and the state refuses to disappear.

Both seem to nurse grievances against each other and the mutual distrust is made apparent by belligerent and indiscreet statements coming from both sides.

Even before Jharkhand was formed, the relationship was uneasy. The government remained convinced that the Church was fomenting trouble, encouraging tribal groups and supporting the cause of a separate state. Church-run institutions did provide the platform, the intellectual stimulus and the organisational infrastructure to people who felt passionately for a separate Jharkhand state.

But why would the Church be deemed ?unfriendly? by the state even after the creation of Jharkhand ?

A major complaint of the Roman Catholic Church, not surprisingly, is that neither the church nor Christians are considered as ?partners? in progress by the ruling party and the government. ?Today we are not even considered as tribals. We are being treated as outcasts, despite our immense contribution particularly in the fields of education and health care,? laments Cardinal Telesphore P. Toppo, who is also the head of the Catholic Bishops? Conference of India (CBCI), the highest body of the Roman Catholic Church in the country.

While the Cardinal refuses to go into specifics, his bitterness is possibly explained by the state?s reluctance to rely on the Church to execute its schemes. The Church, over the years, has developed a network of dedicated priests and nuns, in addition to simple but effective organisational structure in the remotest part of the state.

It has acquired a certain expertise in dealing with development issues and has performed creditably in dealing with natural calamities.

But, one suspects, the BJP-led NDA government in the state has ignored the Church and handed over the schemes to front organisations of the Sangh parivar, other NGOs and even outsiders. There may have been political compulsions to help out the RSS and affiliated bodies.

But the state government might also have felt that the Church being opposed to ?communalism? and the BJP, it would be suicidal to strengthen it. The state government would like the Church to remain subdued. But the policy may have had the opposite effect.

Wider the differences between the Church and the NDA government, greater are the chances of the Church playing an active role to help NDA?s rivals.

Once that happens, the NDA feels even more justified in sidelining the Church. It is a vicious circle from which neither of them is able to come out. And it is not doing the state any good. Can they ever develop a more dispassionate and functional relationship? Or will there have to be a regime change before things improve? Out of a total population of 2.7 crore plus, a church directory points out that Roman Catholic Church faithfuls comprise a meagre 8.01 lakh, roughly 3 per cent of the population.

Simdega district has the highest concentration of Roman Catholic Church faithfuls with 1.68 lakh out of a total population of 5.12 lakh. In Ranchi district,Catholics constitute 1.17 lakh out of a total population of around 28.64 lakh plus.

Protestant population in the state constitutes roughly 4 lakh and together with the Catholics, Christian population in the state comprise around 12 lakhs. There is apparently no discrimination by the state against Christian individuals. At least no such example has surfaced so far.

Therefore, the relationship between the state and the Christian Church requires to be examined more closely.

Even conversions, there are reasons to believe, are far more complicated than Church or VHP leaders would like people to believe.

The examples of Santosh Tirkey and Patras Kujur bear this out. Their grandfathers had embraced Christianity but Santosh apparently continued to visit temples. On one such visit to Baidyanathdham with his friends, he was given an amulet by the priest. On his return, he was apparently heckled and prevented from going to the Church with the amulet. The incident, he claims, prompted him to get back to the fold of the ?Sarna? dharma. Similar experience is narrated by Patras Kujur, who has been organising tribal fairs at Mahilong for the past several years. Tribal culture, he is convinced, is threatened and believes that a return to the ?sarna dharma? or nature worship would help preserve the culture.

There have been other instances, however, where Christians are said to have been intimidated into renouncing Christianity. The cardinal claims that the principal challenge before the church is ?consolidation and growth?. Preparing the people to dream dreams, making them ready to be partners in progress of the state and laying the foundation for a well knit and disciplined society.

On the other hand, the Church has been facing a lot of heat on the ?forced conversion issue? from the BJP, various RSS outfits and Central Sarna Samity.

The state government is committed to an anti-conversion legislation, which is like a red rag to the Church. The law is still not ready but the next Assembly session might see the government placing the Bill before the House.

What is not so certain is whether such a legislation will actually have an impact on the lives of the Church and the Christian population in the state.

Toppo, along with the head of the Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church (protestant church), Bishop Hemant Hansda, stresses that they were strictly opposed to all forms of conversions through fraud and allurement. ?We do not accept any offer from anyone wanting to accept Christianity. We have made the entire process so harsh that no individual could just abandon his original faith for ours. All talk of forced conversions is trash as the issue is being used by parties to further their vested interests,? they say.