Church in India Facing Increasing Threats, Ministry Leader Says
Most Christians understand the threat posed by Islamic fundamentalism around the world, but few are aware of a virulent strain of Hindu radicalism targeting believers in India.
Most Christians understand the threat posed by Islamic fundamentalism around the world, but few are aware of a virulent strain of Hindu radicalism targeting believers in India.
Saudi Arabian authorities transferred the last five of 14 foreign Christians from their Jeddah prison cell to a deportation center yesterday, according to nine other Christian prisoners already moved there on December 22 and 23.
More than a dozen foreign Christians remain jailed in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah, where local authorities have for months ignored inquiries and notes of protest from consulates requesting diplomatic access to their imprisoned citizens.
A further six Christian men have been arrested in the coastal city of Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, as the crackdown on believers in the city escalates, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide.
At least 13 foreign Christians have been arrested since mid July in Jeddah, where Saudi Arabia’s religious police are apparently trying to track down Saudi nationals thought to have contact with expatriate house churches in the city.
NEW DELHI, India (BP)–Another day, another bombing.
That’s the impression being created, at least, by a mounting wave of attacks on Christians and churches in India.
Vandals recently broke into the office of a Bible school in India, tied up the schools’ cook, and destroyed the office.
The vandals seem to have thoroughly planned their attack. The school is housed in two buildings, and both buildings were ransacked at the same time. About thirty-five people live at the training center.
Dr. Joseph D’Souza, president of the All India Christian Council, is calling for urgent prayer for India’s millions of dalits, since over a million of them are getting ready to change their religion.
Indigenous ministries in India, helped by donations given through Christian Aid, are hard at work assisting the survivors of January’s deadly earthquake. The Indian government recently approved one ministry’s request to “adopt” a village.
As numbers of lower caste Indians embrace Christ, and in the face of the increasingly violence against Christians in India at the hands of Hindu militants, Dr. Joseph D’Souza, President of the All India Christian Council, is asking for Christians from around the world to pray for his nation during the month of July. God is mightily at work in India and so it should not surprise us that persecution should be on the rise as well.
WASHINGTON (BP)–The State Department’s second report on global religious liberty presents a challenge for the U.S. government to act against persecution, the chairman of a federal commission said.
BANGALORE, India (Compass) — The Indian government has launched its own “war on terrorism” against two fronts: terrorists and missionaries. The Hindu fundamentalist government is planning to introduce two bills that are being condemned as “draconian” by religious minorities in India.
(Ann Arbor, Michigan) – A lawsuit brought by the Indiana Civil Liberties Union (ICLU), on behalf of two plaintiffs, to take down a Ten Commandments monument that has stood in front of the Knox County Courthouse since 1958 was recently dismissed by a federal judge.
ISTANBUL, November 27 (Compass) — More than a dozen foreign Christians remain jailed in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah, where local authorities have for months ignored inquiries and notes of protest from consulates requesting diplomatic access to their imprisoned citizens.
LOS ANGELES, CA (ANS) — Most Christians understand the threat posed by Islamic fundamentalism around the world, but few are aware of a virulent strain of Hindu radicalism targeting believers in India.
Indian Christian, Prabhu Isaac, is due to be deported from Jiddah tonight after spending more than six months in Saudi prisons in connection with his Christian faith.
Turkmenistan has moved to fifth place on the Open Doors World Watch List of worst persecutors of Christians, behind Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Laos and China, causing “great concern” to persecution watchers around the world.
A militant Hindu hate website displaying the names of international evangelists, secular and Christian scholars from India, and other “enemies of Hinduism” on its “hit-list” was back on-line after it was salvaged by a radical Jewish organization in Brooklyn, New York. The website calls on militant Hindus to commit violence against the men and women listed.
INDIA – (Compass, July 9, 2001) – A militant Hindu hate website displaying the names of international evangelists, secular and Christian scholars from India, and other “enemies of Hinduism†on its “hit-list†was back on-line after it was salvaged by a radical Jewish organization in Brooklyn, New York. The website calls on militant Hindus to commit violence against the men and women listed.
In a fresh attack on Christians and Muslims, the Hindu nationalist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in demanding the “Indianization” of Christians and Muslims in the country.