Christians in India are under attack, church meetings are disrupted, worshippers beaten, and Bibles even burned.
In Chhattisgarh, the rising attack on Christians in India with a recent spike in persecution can be attributed to a series of public rallies put on by radical Hindu nationalists where hate speeches against Christians are common. In one speech, a nationalist leader even called for the beheading of Christians in Chhattisgarh according to a Christian group.
Two Christian pastors were physically assaulted by a Hindutva mob in Chhattisgarh’s Dhamteri district and in their violent spree of attacks also burnt the Bible and asked them to convert or they would be killed, Maktoob Media reported.
According to the report, the assailants disrupted a prayer meeting, beat the two pastors, burnt Bibles, and demanded the Christians to stop holding worship services in Biler Village.
The attack started around 4 p.m. when a Hindu mob led by Rajnikanth Devaghan and Nilambari Sahu roughly intruded into the prayer meeting.
The Hindutva mob had dragged Pastor Sasharath Maanikpuri and Pastor Kesar Manikpuri from the house where the prayer meeting was taking place and verbally abused them and beat them.
The assailants confiscated Bibles and other Christian texts from the pastors and the congregation and burnt them in the street outside of the building where the prayer meeting was taking place.
The fanatics told the Christians to convert to Hinduism and threatened them if they continued to hold worship services, they would be killed.
An attacker has told the Christians that they are not allowed to read the Bible or any other holy book related to the Christian faith.
Responding to the incident, International Christian Concern alleged that the attacks on Christians and their place of worship in India have continued to increase both in number and severity.
Earlier, reports state that fifteen churches were attacked and people, including women, were brutally beaten in different places in India on Sunday, October 3, 2021.
In another incident, a batch of around 20 religious extremists barged inside Pastor Anjeet’s house in Ambedkar Nagar District and severely injured his family.
Yday night, a batch of around 20 religious extremists barged inside Pastor Anjeet's house in Ambedkar Nagar District and severely injured his family.@Uppolice @dgpup @ambedkarnagrpol @PMOIndia @UN_HRC @USCIRF @FredDavieUSCIRF @FoRB_Network @UNHumanRights @IRF_Ambassador — अधिवक्ता😷 (@advocate_tee) November 5, 2021
Over the last few years, there have been intensified attempts to subdue, frighten and even kill Christians. Reports are not taken in by police and the violence or killings are not attributed to religion and media and police try to muffle the communal religious hatred as the root cause of these attacks. The police stand with the perpetrators.
Here in this case, in particular, there is video coverage of an attack in Roorkee, Haridwar, Uttarakhand.
Earlier, a Christian leader called Sister Sadhna was taking service this Sunday morning in the church in Sonali Puram Roorkee Uttarakhand. Suddenly fanatics entered the church and started beating them brutally not sparing the women either and battered the church leaving it in smithereens.
Saral Patel tweeted: “Church attacked by RSS goons in Roorkee, Haridwar. Women were brutally beaten up, Church was vandalized. CM Pushkar Singh Dhami was in the Haridwar District when this happened, Did this attack have a sanction of the state government?”
He shared footage of the attack inside the church:
Footage from inside the church- pic.twitter.com/XxWMLRC0RW — Saral Patel (@SaralPatel) October 3, 2021
Attacks are not new for Christians, and violence, vandalism and attacks, and in some cases killing Christians are rising emboldened by the silence of the government with not enough voices raised up for Christians.
Fake stories of forced conversions are floating around, but in reality, no one can force conversion. New converts have to pay a big price to become a Christian and it is not easy being a Christian, certainly not in India which has always been a majoritarian Hindu always.
The Muslims ruled for over six hundred years in India, the British for nearly two hundred years, and in all this, Hindus remain around eighty percent of the population. While they say that Christians are forcing people to convert, if one thinks about this logically, Christians are 2% plus, so where is this theory that Muslims and especially Christians forced conversions on Hindus?
Today, one must not forget that in USA and UK and other places in Europe, Hindus have the freedom to worship and even propagate Hinduism and no one hurts them for that. In fact, they say proudly that Hinduism is growing fast in Europe and Russia. Yogic centers are all over the USA with Krishna Centers and ashrams, temples, and other worship centers.
Westerners and Americans have embraced Hinduism, and they are not persecuted by their government for it.
Most of the English-speaking people in India studied in Christian missionary schools and there were hundreds of these missionary schools scattered over India and if there were forced conversions, there would be more Christians all over India, which is not the case.
In the 2000s, Christian missions ran 16,500 schools and 6,500 hospitals in India. L. K. Advani Ji, late Arun Jaitley, and many others studied in missionary schools, and we cannot say that people are converting all over because of these schools or hospitals. Christianity immerses itself in good works as an expression of love for others and God. People who studied in missionary schools are still Hindu, Buddhist, or whatever faith they are. They never felt forced to convert, so this is a lie being propagated about conversions.
The woman who is actively instigating the No Conversion movement on Twitter has raised up a movement of violence and it is stunning that Twitter allows such open hatred to a particular religion. Rumors report that this woman lives in the USA, and many such groups with open hatred for Christianity actually live in the United States.
Today, in India when Christians gather on Sunday mornings to worship, their church doors are rammed open, pastors and even congregation in the church are beaten, sometimes so badly that they break their legs, break the churches and the Hindu fundamentalists make reports to the police that these Christians are converting the people to Christ.
People gather in a house for a prayer meeting and the Hindu extremists barge in to stop them, declaring they cannot do that, as this is a Hindu country. (India is declared as a secular democratic republic by our constitution. We now ask, “Is not the law protecting Christians anymore? Today, hundreds of churches have been stopped and shut down. The Hindutva group barge in demanded who is funding them.
Different Hindutva leaders vow to free India of Muslims and Christians by 2021:however American Indian Hindutva supporters enjoy minority rights in the USA but advocate fascism and minority suppression back in India.
Again, among Christians, not all humans are perfect and there will be some bad apples in the basket, and they can be reprimanded or punished by law for anything wrong, but it is incorrect to generalize a whole community because of that and attack any Christian randomly.
In the villages, most of the pastors are poor, and there is no outside funding, but there are fake reports of Christians flourishing because Western funds keep floating around. . And tell me why Hindus would “convert” to Christianity for benefit? It is far easier being a Hindu in India. Conversion is a spiritual experience and a personal choice. Why would people even be willing to die for it if it was not so strong within them?
Today, pastors are taken to prison, or the lockup for claims of conversion. The violates are never punished for beating and even for killing Christians because most of their reports are not taken by the cops.
As Ashok Swain (Associate Professor and Director of the Programme of International Studies, Department of Peace and Conflict Research, from Sweden) said, “Diaspora politics is seductive & populist. It is a dangerous game for both homeland & host country. Pampering to diaspora can make political leaders compromise national interest for the sake of political opportunism. #HowdyModi is good for Trump & Modi but bad for USA & India. And “Indian American Hindutva groups, largely upper-caste Indians, are advocates of minority rights in the U.S., but simultaneously and contradictorily supportive or uncritical of cultural supremacism and majoritarianism in India.”
The tragic incident of Nitish who lived in Bihar, a 14-year-old Christian boy, who had no mother, only a loving father, and a great supportive brother was killed because he and his father and brother had converted to Christianity from Hinduism a few years back. Due to this, the family received a series of threats. One day, the village fanatics threw acid on him leaving him with 60% acid burns. He struggled for his life in agony for a few days and tragically died a week back on Saturday night. The police refused to register a case against the killers and the police write that he died of “suicide”!
Are we looking at freedom, justice, equality, and integrity in the land? Most people are afraid, others speak out not knowing when their number would come, and in the meantime, a lot of Media are like paid parrots, the Courts are slumbering in deep sleep it seems most times, while the rakshasas are dancing in the dark under a silent Heaven
On March 25th, 2020, I saw the comment on Twitter, “Gole maro sale ko.” Well that phrase is picking up. Do you know how dangerous it is?
Christians are 2% plus, so where is this theory that Muslims and especially Christians forced conversions on Hindus? Does it hold water? The British East India Company (colonial rule) never encouraged “conversions” and the foreign missionaries were servers, and not actively “evangelistic.” In fact, the more one tries to force someone to convert, the more they will run away. People could still take the benefits and not convert.
Today, pastors are taken to prison, or the lockup for claims of conversion. The violates are never punished for beating and even for killing Christians because most of their reports are not taken by the cops. Recently, a neighbor asked a Christian for Bible, and they gave it, and the neighbor called the cops on them for conversion. It was a setup! This is happening today!
During the 2008 massacre of Christians done by the Hindu radicals, a friend’s friend wife was pregnant and they cut open her stomach, killed her and her baby. In fact, today, I saw comments asking for revenge for Swami’s death, who was not killed by the Christians, but was an internal dispute among them, as confessed by them later. However, a few Christians are still locked in prison, professing their innocence and that inside story will never be told because they got a good scapegoat in the Christians, I mean 2% of the population, why would anyone care what they think or feel!
In the 2008 massacre of Christians in Odhisa, six pastors were burned alive in a room, after being called to a location, burned alive simply because they were Christian pastors. No media talks of this, no candlelight vigils were held. They locked in six men in a room and burned them alive – a pre-planned murder because he was a pastor.
I am not able to name her for security reasons. When this lady’s husband was burned alive by Hindu extremists, he had no funeral, no candlelight vigils, no media publicity, no sympathy from the public. I had an opportunity to meet this brave young lady and she graciously shared her story with me, crying while sharing it. The Swami was killed by his own people as confessed by them later due to their internal dispute. The Christians were the scapegoats and those in prison are still professing their innocence. The number killed exceeded a hundred due to the burial of the people, unlike what Wiki says. Around 500 people were killed,(though GOI is not accepting this). The reason why reports state over 500 Christians were killed in the 2008 massacre is due to the fact that cremation grounds showed those many skeletons by one report, thousands were injured, 300 churches and 6,000 homes were destroyed, and 50,000 people were displaced, with many forced to hide in nearby forests where many died of hunger and snakebites. It is said in one website, ” It is beyond doubt that the violence was premeditated, pre-planned and the work of a well-disciplined group to ensure simultaneous eruption across the Kandhamal district within hours of the first incident and to sustain it for five days despite the presence of the highest police officers in the region.”
The Hindu activists keep saying Christians are converting Hindus by force. This rice bag theory is fake propaganda too. The untouchable castes were helped by the Christian missionaries medically and given rations, like rice. If the “low castes” were treated kindly by Christian missionaries, would they not be grateful? Especially when the high-castes did not come near them and would not touch them? Many were drawn to Christianity because of no caste-ism perhaps and most importantly, a spiritual pull. By killing Christians thinking they are the converters, religious activists are in great danger of actually fighting with the Divine because free choice is the natural law of nature.
Many wonderful Hindus never support this violence as Hinduism in essence is inclusive.
I hope we realize that life is not forever and we cannot hold on to our earthly identities, our properties.
We don’t have to protect God, dharma…He and it will protect us. Fear is the biggest force driving the world today, which is why people do what they do. Nations are now trying to move the democratic secular way because this is the natural design of creation and God’s natural design for humans. He never made us robots nor did He rule us in dictatorships.
I have one more request. I trust those reading this article are of a higher understanding. I request you to reflect on the violence done to Christians in India over the last few years. Please educate those who are violent because silence will only increase the darkness and evil.
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