Posted on 06/30/2015 3:32:44 PM PDT by markomalley
The Evangelical Fellowship of India has reported a violent attack against Christians in the country that was committed earlier this month when over 200 Hindu radicals stormed a Protestant church in the town of Attingal, Kerela, beating up the pastor and some of the worshipers, and breaking the altar.
EFI shared the news with Fides News Agency, reporting that the attack took place on June 14. The radicals apparently shouted slogans like "Bharat Mathaki Jai" ("Hail Mother India") during the attack, which was broken up after police arrived.
Christians in Attingal have since staged a protest march in the city, calling for harmony and religious freedom, while counter-demonstrators reportedly chanted anti-Christian slogans and threats.
Although Christians are only a distinct minority throughout India, their numbers have been rising, and followers of Christ make up as much as 40 percent of the population in Kerala.
The rise of Christianity in numbers has been met with attacks and hostility from Hindu radicals, who have often accused Christians of trying to convert Hindus to their faith. Several church services have been attacked throughout the country, and there have been at least two gang rapes of Christian nuns reported this year.
Voice of America reported last week that a nun in the Indian city of Raipur has been gang raped, in what Christian community leaders called an ongoing "anti-Christian hate campaign."
"We are 100 percent sure that the nun was raped yesterday. There cannot be any dispute over this fact. And it appears to be part of the ongoing anti-Christian hate campaign across the state," said Arun Pannalal, president of Chhattisgarh Christian Forum.
Some Hindu radicals have also suggested that Christians and Muslims in India be forcefully sterilized, and said that Hindu gods and goddesses should be placed in churches and mosques.
"The population of Muslims and Christians is growing day by day. To rein in this, Centre will have to impose emergency, and Muslims and Christians will have to be forced to undergo sterilization so that they cannot increase their number," Sadhvi Deva Thakur, vice president of All India Hindu Mahasabha, said back in April.
India finds itself ranked No. 21 on Open Doors' World Watch List of countries where Christians face the most severe persecution for their faith, with violent attacks carried out by Hindu extremists cited as the main cause.
Most Hindus don’t commit or approve such crimes (really, THEY DON’T) but they ar getting prevalent in areas where Christians have successfully evangelized non-caste and tribal people. There are long-held tensions such areas, and fears that the tribals, now Christianized, will now gain the ascendancy.
Dear Indian Christians,
They’re called “guns”. Get some.
Now.
L
Strange, I grew up hearing the fiction that Hindoos were peaceful. It appears that veneer has peeled off.
Well sometimes drinking urine and laying naked with teenage girls makes one do crazy things.
Wow! I thought it was just the moslems who acted like this in those parts.
That’s right folks....Christians around the world are beaten and killed. Routinely and with rancor. DOn’t lecture me about how ‘love wins’
Not as crazy as your agenda.
Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias must be heartbroken. May God protect His children everywhere.
Mrs. Don-o — while you are correct about tribal and caste matters playing a role, it may not be true in Kerala — Kerala is about 30% Christian (mostly the ancient MarThoma church — the Church of the Apostle Thomas — or derivatives). In the south a lot of the issues have been because, allegedly, pastors print materials calling hindu gods and goddesses as demons.
it’s illegal in India.
Hindus are not peaceful — hinduism is a group of various religions with no central edict. Some religions are peaceful, some aren’t
Next to none of them do that.
Interesting set of alternatives:
We've seen examples of the latter before: e.g., Santaria, the cult of Santa Muerte...and it's not too pretty.
But there is also a component of Indian nationalism that is involved as well. Particularly the Bhjaratiy Janata Party (BJP) and the more extreme Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). They both see Christianity as a remnant of European dominance. In fact, the VHP has a program of attempting reconversion of Christians (and, to a degree, Muslims). In some cases those attempts at reconversion are not exactly voluntary.
I'm not saying that this is anywhere near as bad as Muslims' actions in regard to the sanctioned idea of dhimmitude. But it exists.
No, it’s not.
the bjp and the WHP are both sub-groups of the RSS
There are so many variations of Hinduism, some of them arguably demonic (those that hate Christ and hate their low-caste neighbor are surely demonic!), and some leaning more toward ethical deism or toward Buddhism (non-theistic), with the various deities representing philosophical ideas or even folk heroes (equivalent of Paul Bunyan.)
I could not say it is all demonic.
I'm influenced by some pro-life Hindus I met when I stumbled upon a street fair in Oakland, CA celebrating community "involvement". I had on a pro-life T-shirt and decided to try my luck handing out leaflets.
I was soon approached by some very menacing people, mostly black and white, who gave off vibes of imminent harm. Then a couple of Indian women intervened --- they were running a booth touting vegan food and whatever god(dess) they were devoted to --- who yelled at the abortion enthusiasts and made them back off.
These ladies then patted my hands, gave me some dabs of hearty food to eat, and showed me pictures which indicated they thought abortion was "veddy bad, veddy bad." They didn't believe in killing anything.
This probably contributes to my friendly bias in their favor.
Some of Hinduism is a falling-short due to honest ignorance, some of it replete with natural virtue and without a vicious element. (I mean, every human culture has a vicious element, but the POST-Christian cultures are probably the worst.)
Everyone, without exception, needs Christ the only Savior; but some may have devoted themselves to Him as Way or Truth or Life --- as the Light that enlightens every man who comes into the world--- without knowing, even, that this is Christ.
As Paul said, these people "might seek God, and even perhaps grope for Him and find Him, though indeed His is not far from any one of us." (Acts 1:27)
Hinduism is too vague a "catch-all term to make any definite statements about it.
True.
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