Appeals
violence against Christians in parts of India by militant Hindu organisations has been reported for some time. We set out below
In reading this report, it should be noted that the Mennonite denomination, whose members and ministers are among those targeted, is a Peace Church which completely renounces violence.
The Revd Henry Mayor reports ...
This message was passed on to me by Evangelist Samuel Thomas of the Manchester Christian Believers Assembly, a Pentecostal church with South Asian membership which meets in one of our local Anglican churches. It is a text message sent from an Indian
colleague earlier this evening, Monday 15th September
"Please pray for Paul Thangala in Bangalore. RSS planned to kill him. They burned 20 churches yesterday night and planned to destroy 200 churches in Orissa. BJP (extreme right-wing Hindu political party) has planned to kill 200 pastors in the next 24 hours. Please pray for at least 2 minutes and forward to all Christians".
... while I can't personally vouch for the accuracy of the message, it's in line with what I hear from Christain Solidarity Worldwide about recent persecution of Christians by extreme Hindu groups. So I'm more than glad to forward this to you and ask for your prayers for them.
and Ekklesia reports ...
Anabaptists in India say they have been horrified that Christians have had to the jungle with nothing but the clothes on their backs, fearing for their lives because of communal violence in a country once known for religious tolerance.
Brutal violence against Christians in Orissa erupted on 24 August 24 2008, in the Kandhamal district in southern India. It lasted for 12 days. The fury was set off by the fatal shooting of Laxmananda Saraswati, a leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a militant group, and four of his followers.
Saraswati had been accused of targetting Christians for a long time. Although the Indian government has said that Maoists (Anti-Communal Forces) are suspected of his killing, Christians are being blamed by the VHP, and all Christians and some NGOs (non-government organizations) are targets.
“There have been threats, beatings, and persecution for the last 20 years, but the [current] situation is very tense. People have been brutally murdered, hacked to death, women have been gang raped, and more than 100 churches in all six districts have been burned. Brethren in Christ members have been attacked but not killed,” he reports.
In 2001, a Brethren in Christ pastor was martyred, the first such incident, and an Australian missionary along with his two sons were burned to death. Then, in December 2007, violence erupted again. Neither of these episodes, however, was as widespread as this summer’s outbreak, which has been the worst that Christians of all denominations in Orissa have ever experienced. Estimates put the current death toll at more than 60 people.
In August 2008, a crowd of up to 4,000 Hindu militants attacked the Brethren in Christ Girls Hostel at Nuagoan, one of nine such facilities funded through the Scholarship Program for International Children’s Education (SPICE). The mob set the hostel and church ablaze, destroyed its water tank, and demolished the campus. Ten policemen who were on guard at the hostel fled when they saw the approaching crowd. Staff, girls, and local believers, some of whom were beaten, managed to flee. The Cuttack-based offices of the Brethren in Christ Church in India were also a target, and several pastors and church planters lost all their belongings when their homes were looted and burned.
“People, including pastors, who are still hiding in the forest have lost everything. They have no clothes, no food and are at risk of snake bites and malaria. They have no medication. It is not yet safe to help them,” says the church leader. Anyone offering assistance would be at risk, he notes.
And is the leader himself at risk? “Of course,” he answers. “All church leaders are targets.” But he will return to Cuttack, where his office is still closed. He cannot run away; he must serve, he declares. Several times over the past 25 years this leader has been threatened, sometimes by a mob of hundreds of people. Once, his house was set afire but not destroyed, thanks to an alert neighbour. But always, he claims, “the Lord protected me.”
He believes that the current situation is politically motivated. An election is scheduled for next year, and the government is “buying votes,” he says, by offering rewards to people who leave the Christian faith and return to Hinduism. The government is providing some food for people affected by the August violence, but only for non-Christians.
In the immediate future, IBICA and MWC officials will send a letter to government officials and the BIC Church leaders in India will send a delegation to the state government asking it to put pressure on the local government to protect its citizens and to restore peace and harmony.
The church official cited four actions which are currently underway or have been planned: calling the global Church to pray for Christians in Orissa; meeting with 15 to 20 church leaders from the immediate area in late September to plan a response to the violence and its victims; seeking financial support to rebuild homes, churches, and institutions; and meeting later with up to 200 church leaders in the broader area to hear from them how to help their people who have been victimized
new page 27th September