I have been seeing an increasing number of reports from India of attacks on Christians ever since the election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is the most recent example from Premier Christian News,
A Christian pastor in India has been assaulted by Hindu extremists who accused him of "distributing blood" during communion.
A video - uploaded by the attackers themselves and shared on social media - shows the group entering a small church in Solapur in Maharashtra last month.
The so-called 'cow protectors' confronted the pastor over the communion wine and although he explained that it was grape juice, the group demanded to see a license for distributing it. They then seized the remaining juice and assaulted him.
The persecution watchdog Open Doors said the Hindutva nationalists claimed the pastor gathered 20 to 25 women and gave them “addictive” red wine. He was also falsely accused of using bribes to carry out coercive conversions.
In another false post circulating on social media the church is accused of “forcefully offering red wine to the women believers and intoxicating and defiling them.”
In much of India, alcoholic beverages are banned.
Open Doors local partner Radhika ( name changed for security reasons) said: “Hindu extremists distort and fabricate claims to fit their agenda and incite fear and hostility against Christians.
“Recently, incidents of church disruptions have become increasingly common in Maharashtra.
“There is immense pressure from Hindutva-led state government and Hindutva extremist groups to enforce a new anti-conversion law in the state.”
There are currently 11 states in India which have enacted anti-conversion laws. They are ostensibly put in place to curb religious conversions carried out through inducements or coercion. However critics argue that in reality they give a free hand to Hindutva nationalists to marginalise and fuel violence against minority religions.
Radhika added: “Several Hindutva political leaders are known to be spreading hate speech and accusing the Christian community of coercive conversion.
“The extremists continue to attack the churches and pastors.”
India is number 11 on Open Doors’ World Watch List, an annual ranking system of the 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution.
Since the Mughal empire brought Islam to India, there has been backlash from the Hindus against forcible conversions. Even though St. Thomas brought Christianity to India early on, it seems that hostility towards the Christian minority was not too severe until after British colonialism came in. After India's independence from the British we first saw terrible Muslim vs Hindu violence and the mass exodus of Muslims to Pakistan, and they are still leaving India today. Christians are the obvious next target of the Hindu extremists who want to rid the country of all "foreign" influences. Never mind that Christianity has been there for nearly 2000 years.
My Indian friends say that this stuff just goes on in the "villages" where there is a lot of ignorance.
I say that P.M. Modi could stop it if he wanted to.
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We lived in Maharashtra State in India for two years, about twenty years ago. I think your Indian friends are right to say that much of the violence against Christians goes on "in the villages," and I would add also in urban areas among less-educated and poorer Hindu castes. I knew Christians who had been assaulted or knew people who'd been assaulted or murdered for their faith.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that Indian Christians, in particular Anglicans or evangelicals, could be bribing Hindus to convert is ludicrous. These Christians converted mostly from lower castes and the churches remain poor. Indian law prohibits donations to religious groups from outside India.
Catholics in India are in a somewhat better situation. Catholics are found in large numbers in Goa, western India, which was a Portuguese colony. Many Catholic families there were previously Brahmin, the highest caste, and they fare better economically. But even so there has been violence against Catholic churches around India.
It should be remembered that Hinduism is a collection of ancient pagan cults. The accusations against Christian holy communion mirror things said against them in apostolic times. In many ways Indian Christians are living in a New Testament hostile environment. Sadly, there is no Constantine to stop the persecution.
As an aside, one of our best memories of our years there is of sitting on the roof at Sula Vineyards, now India's largest wine producer, sipping estate-bottled wine along with olives and cheese. Hindus in theory do not drink alcohol. The fact is often somewhat different.
I have been at parties in "dry" states in India where alcohol was being openly consumed. That was much safer than drinking the water!
ReplyDeleteIndeed! We were never sick in the two years we were there, but we were very careful.
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