Christian Persecution in India Escalates

Anti–Christian violence, targeted on former Baptist Mission Society centres, has reached new heights in the east Indian state of Orissa. According to the Evangelical Fellowship of India, eight churches have been torched and at least fifteen Christians have been murdered by Hindu extremists in recent days.

The Kandhamal district in the heart of Orissa has experienced some of the worst attacks.  Fresh violence has claimed two lives in Mutungia Village, one in Petaponga Village, one in Borimunda Village, three in Katinga Village, three in Tianga Village, three in Adikuppa Village and one in Bakingia Village.

Christian persecution in Kandhamal is nothing new.  It has a grim history of religious intolerance in which over four hundred Christian homes have already been burnt to the ground.

Northwest of Kandhamal, is the village of Mursingh, home to a community of Christian weavers.  Here there have been reports of pastors being attacked, doused with petrol and set alight.  Baptist churches have been hardest hit in Baliguda and in the Phulbani District.

The violence has also spread to Barakhama and Bargarh where three people have been burnt to death after their houses were set alight during a twelve hour curfew across Orissa State. Another four people including one child were also killed in the attacks.  In Bhubaneswar, a man has been hacked to death and the premises of the NGO, Compassion, have been ransacked.

These attacks follow the recent killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, leader Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati.  According to local news reports, Hindu extremist groups, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party had formerly accused Christians of being implicated in his murder, but Maoist leader, Azad, has allegedly since claimed responsibility for the killing.

Over five thousand Christians have shown their solidarity by gathering at Orissa Bhawan in New Delhi, the office of the state resident commissioner.  As a result of the protests, all forty five thousand Christian educational institutions closed throughout India.

Raphael Cheenath, Catholic Archbishop of the Bhubaneshwar, has condemned the violence and has accused India’s police of being mere “bystanders” as rioters have rampaged one village after another.
 
According to the Evangelical Fellowship of India, the Hindu extremists are systematically working through a hit list of Christian targets, and one NGO worker Heather Payne, a Delhi-based Social Development Consultant, told Lapido Media that sources indicated that former Baptist Mission Society sites were being targeted.

Payne said she had organized a petition, and sent a detailed report to Tear Fund.  She said: ‘The time for justice is now. Pastor Ivan prayed with much emotion at the close of our service yesterday. This is the worst sustained persecution that Christians have experienced here.

‘The village, Mursingh, near Bolangir where weavers live whom I have helped start a loan fund with help from the Delhi church, has been attacked. ASHA, the CNI, social and justice NGO, works there and the husband of one of the ASHA community staff was beaten and treated in hospital.

‘Many pastors have been beaten up and at least two saved by police from being set alight after a dousing of petrol. I know one of these pastors, Rev Senapati, in Khariar who visited my parents while studying in Birmingham.’

India’s Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik, has reportedly said that necessary measures are in place to maintain peace and security, yet police protection has proved totally ineffective.

The death toll is expected to rise as many more are feared dead. Thousands of Christians are fleeing to the forests for refuge.

The National United Christian Forum is appealing for calm and calling for restraint amongst Christians.  They have declared Sunday 7th September as a Day of Prayer and Fasting for Christians in India who face persecution for the sake of the Gospel.