Gospel for Asia (GFA) native missionaries–including a state leader–have been driven away, beaten and even arrested by police at the site of the Ardh Kumbh, a massive festival during which millions of Hindu pilgrims bathe in the confluence of two sacred rivers at the north Indian town of Allahabad.
Seven youths beat Pastor Robert Kennedy of Bangalore in Karnataka state on Sunday (January 7), after asking him to “pray for a sick friend.†The pastor required 16 stitches to his head and back after the assault.
Police in the southern Indian state of Karnataka have ordered several Christian leaders not to hold Sunday worship services saying Hindu militants planned to attack their churches, an official told BosNewsLife Saturday, September 23.
Dozens of Hindu militants stormed a house church Saturday, September 16, in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, where several other Christian gatherings were attacked earlier in the week, a Christian official said.
Thousands of Dalits in India’s Tamil Nadu state faced a difficult Saturday, September 9, amid fresh reports that they may be deported from their homes. Elsewhere in India, pastors were attacked on charges of “forcibly converting” villagers.
Dozens of Hindu militants stormed a Christian school in Lucknow, the capital of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh late Sunday, September 10, threatening nuns and vandalizing the complex, Indian Christians told BosNewsLife.
Hindu extremists investigating the activities of Varghese Thomas, an evangelist in Karnakata state, laid a trap for him on Sunday (September 3), before beating him and his wife. Thomas is 60 and his wife, Leelama, is 57.
The demand for Bibles is rising in China and India, the most populous countries of the world.
Tensions remained high Wednesday, September 6, in an area of India’s Jammu and Kashmir state after dozens of Hindu militants stormed a church and attacked Christians, including women and children, as they were attending a Sunday worship service, local Christians said.
Two pastors and five Bible school students were reportedly free Saturday, September 2, after a court in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir granted them bail following their detention on charges of “concealing identity” and “forced conversion.”
Multiple attacks and arrests in recent weeks demonstrate ongoing hostility towards Christians in India. Police have cooperated with Hindu extremists, in some cases claiming “tremendous pressure” to charge Christian ministers with forced conversion.
The Congress Party-led government of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh has decided to enact a law banning preaching of any religion other than Hinduism in Tirupati, a “temple town” in large measure under the administration of its shrines.
Tensions remained high Thursday in India’s northeastern state of Manipur after a pastor was killed and five others injured when Indian security forces reportedly opened at a Baptist church.
Hindu extremists on Sunday (August 20) beat four Christians, including a pastor, who were later arrested on charges of ‘forced conversion’ in Madhya Pradesh state.
Native Christian missionaries in India say recently passed anti-conversion laws in several states have added to an atmosphere of hatred against them and will makes it more difficult to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, BosNewsLife learned Thursday, August 17.
A group of 45 to 50 Dharma Raksha Sena Hindu extremists on Monday (August 14) mobbed Pastor Vinod Karsal, 50, as he was praying for the healing of another pastor in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.
A group of about 15 Hindu extremists in the southern state of Karnataka on August 4 entered a jail and attacked a Christian businessman accused of compelling his wife to commit suicide.
Christians in several states of India braced themselves Sunday, August 13, for a period of more violence amid fresh reports of attacks by Hindu militants and the adoption of tougher anti-conversion laws aimed at halting the spread of Christianity in the world’s largest Hindu nation of over one billion people.
Gospel for Asia (GFA) native mission leaders in India are moving quickly to bring aid and hope to victims of what is reported to be the country’s worst flooding in 200 years.
One of India’s largest evangelical mission groups continued operations Friday, July 11, after legal victories, but there were fresh terrorist threats by Muslim militants against areas where it has been active, including Mumbai.