Persecution of Christians in India

Some of you may have read of the terrible persecution of Christians in the Indian state Orissa in the last 2 weeks. Hundreds of Christians have been killed by Hindu fundamentalists, and hundreds of churches and houses of Christians have been burned or demolished. Some Christians have even been cut into pieces or burned alive.

Many Christians in Orissa have fled into the jungle. Thousands of Christians are in refugee camps, and Hindu fundamentalists now try to poison their water sources. These Hindus are trying to forcibly reconvert Christians back to Hinduism. Hindu fundamentalists have vowed to destroy Christianity in Orissa, and then in India as a whole. For reliable information, see http://www.efionline.org/ (the Indian evangelical alliance). Their official report of last week is here: http://www.efionline.org/articles/1620.htm

Please pray for the Christians in Orissa, for their protection and for boldness that their testimony will stand, for the Hindu fundamentalists that their hatred will disappear, and for the government and authorities that they will do their duty to protect minority groups.

Comments

Jim Deardorff said…
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. All the U.S. political news had drowned it out for me.

One of the news stories started out with:
"Violence against Christians in India's Orissa state persisted more than two weeks after the Aug. 23 assassination of a Hindu swami sparked mob attacks on Christian villages, churches and homes."

So who was it carried out the assassination?
Anonymous said…
It seems that Naxalites (Maoists) claimed responsibility for the assassination, but Hindu fundamentalists (VHP, RSS) took this opportunity to leash out at Christians in the Kandhamal district of Orissa. The most recent report of EFI states that over a hundred Christians have been killed and about 78,000 have been displaced (13,000 in refugee camps). Meanwhile, the Orissa state government fails to keep law and order.

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