[3][4][5][6][7][8][9] Christian priests, nuns, Dalits and similar groups are found in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal.
[20][24] Rajendra Prasad, an Indian historian, said that the Syrian Christians took ritual baths after physical contact with lower castes.
[36] There were a number of conversions from various forward castes in Moghul-era Bihar, the Bettiah Christian community are descendants of those converts.
[37] Majority of Christians in the state hail from the Nadar, Mukkuvar, Udayar (caste), and Adi Dravidar.
[40] Despite the activists' point that Christians are a casteless society, discrimination does not go away easily and Dalits seek equal rights irrespective of the religion they profess.
A Dalit activist with a nom-de-plume of Bama Faustina has written books that are critical of the discrimination by the nuns and priests in Churches in South India (CSI).
[43] During 2003 ad limina visits of the bishops of India, Pope John Paul II criticized the caste discrimination in the Catholic Church in India when addressing bishops of the ecclesiastical provinces of Madras-Mylapore, Madurai and Pondicherry-Cuddalore, the three archbishops of Tamil Nadu.
He went on to say: "It is the Church's obligation to work unceasingly to change hearts, helping all people to see every human being as a child of God, a brother or sister of Christ, and therefore a member of our own family".
[44][45][46] Mass conversions of lower caste Hindus to Christianity and Islam took place in order to escape the discrimination.
The main Dalit groups that participated in these conversions were the Chuhras of Punjab, Chamars of North India (Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh), Vankars of Gujarat, Adi Dravida (Paraiyan, Pulaiyar, Valluvar, Koliyar, Pallan) of Tamil Nadu and Pulayas of Kerala.
Examples include Pulayans in Kerala, Adi Dravida Paraiyan in Tamil Nadu and Madigas in Andhra Pradesh, who are discriminated by members of all religious backgrounds.
[50] The first people converted by Jesuits of the Madura Mission to Christianity were members of Nadars, Maravars and Pallar.
[51] Caste based occupations held by Dalits also show a clear segregation which perpetuated even after becoming Christian.
[52] Occupational discrimination for Dalit Christians goes so far as to restrict not only employment but in some cases for clean sanitation and water.
During the earlier days of Christianity, in some churches in south India the Dalits had either separate seating or had to attend the mass from outside.