There is a bizarre thing happening in Assam, one of India’s states. A bill is winding its way through the political process that would make it illegal for someone to pray for a sick person to be healed, Christianity Today reports.

The bill, which has been passed by the state legislature, has only one final hurdle to climb before it becomes legally binding. It must be signed by India’s president.

With a population of 31 million, Assam is located in the Northeastern part of India and is 85% rural. Over the past several years, Christians living in this northeastern area of India have been subject to attacks because of their faith.

Many believe the legislation, which is called the Assam Healing (Prevention of Evil) Practices Bill, 2024, is directly targeting Christians who often pray for the sick.

Though the legislation does not specifically refer to Christianity, it refers to what it describes as actions related to ‘magical healing’:

“No person shall take any part in healing practices and magical healing propagation for treatment of any diseases, any disorder or any condition relating to the health of a person (relating to human body) directly or indirectly giving a false impression of treatment to cure diseases, pain or trouble to the human health.”

The bill essentially criminalizes praying for the sick and could result in a first-time offender being sentenced to three years in prison. A repeat offender could be sentenced to five years. In addition, they would also face a fine of 50,000 rupees (US$600) or 100,000 rupees (US$1,200) for repeat offenses. This is a significant amount of money for those living in the largely rural state.

While some insist that the bill is not specifically targeting Christians, comments by supporters of the legislation suggest otherwise

“We want to curb evangelism in Assam, so in that direction, the banning of healing … will be a very, very important milestone,” said Assam’s head minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. He is also a member of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which helped pass the bill.

The legislation would also allow authorities to legally access meetings to investigate if prayer for the sick is taking place. Many suspect this is specifically targeting Christian healing meetings that are becoming increasingly popular in India and involve those who have been healed providing testimonies of what happened to them.

Obviously, prayer for the sick by Christians is having an impact on the growth of Christianity in the world’s most populated country. But the only reason this is happening is that some people are being healed.

“Healing is the work of God, not the work of Christians,” said C. Cho-o, who heads Chakhesang Baptist Church Council in Nagaland, a state bordering Assam. “So, when divine healing takes place, Christians cannot claim responsibility, nor can they be blamed for it!”

The Pharisees also challenged the legality of Jesus healing the sick. They specifically accused Jesus of working and breaking Jewish law, when the Lord healed people on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:10).

In fact, a significant number of Christ’s healing took place on the Sabbath, this included healing Peter’s mother-in-law (Mark 1:29–31). There were also at least two instances where the Lord healed a man’s withered hand (Mark 3:1–6) and a crippled woman (Luke 13:10–17) during synagogue services.

Jesus countered the Pharisee’s claim He was working on the Sabbath, by citing their own hypocrisy (Matthew 12:11) and pointing out that He was only violating their interpretation of the law. Jesus added that “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).