Tag: Hindu nationalism

COVID-19 exacerbates discrimination against minority Christians globally

January 13, 2021 Global News -- No Particular Country Boko Haram, China, Fulani herdsmen, Hindu nationalism, Human rights, India, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Middle East, Minorities, Nigeria, Religious freedom, Turkey, Women

• Christians refused coronavirus aid in countries from India to Yemen to West Africa • COVID-19 legitimises increased surveillance and restrictions by authoritarian governments • Organised criminal groups use virus as means to extend their control, including over churches • Nationalism driven by majority religious identity rises in countries such . . . Read More

Church surveillance, COVID-19 controls affect China’s Christians – 1 of 5 global trends

January 13, 2021 Global News -- No Particular Country Boko Haram, China, Churches, Egypt, Fulani herdsmen, Hindu nationalism, Human rights, India, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Minorities, Nigeria, Religious freedom, Turkey, Women

The emergency that dominated the globe during the past year — the novel coronavirus — also dominated the countries of the World Watch List published by Open Doors International today (Jan 13) and the lives of the estimated 340 million Christians . . . Read More

India: Supreme Court orders seven Kandhamal Christians freed on bail after 9 years in prison

December 13, 2019 India BJP, Hindu nationalism, Human rights, India, Kandhamal, Minorities

Eleven years ago today, 13 December 2008, an Indian man was arrested. Initially, he suspected it would be quickly resolved – he was active in local politics and assumed it was for something minor connected to that. But it was to be over ten years before he would get his . . . Read More

India: Supreme Court orders Kandhamal Christian freed on bail after 10 years in prison

May 22, 2019 India Hindu nationalism, India, Kandhamal, Minorities

Gornath Chalanseth's stepmother greets him as he leaves Indian jail, 21 May 2019 (Credit: Anto Akkara)

Gornath Chalanseth, one of seven Christians jailed for life for the murder of a Hindu swami in the Kandhamal district of Odisha state in eastern India, has been freed on bail by India’s Supreme Court yesterday, May 21. The seven – three of whom are Dalits, the other four tribals . . . Read More

‘In context of gender justice, women’s right to freedom of religion pretty much ignored’

March 19, 2019 Global News -- No Particular Country Converts, Hindu nationalism, Human rights, India, Minorities, Religious freedom, Women

Anurima Bhargava (USCIRF) and Helene Fisher (Open Doors) at UN NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief CSW side event, 14 March, 2019

She is a woman who can be identified only as “Z”, for her security. She is a Christian in India, a country that is overwhelmingly Hindu. And she is a lawyer defending women and youth from exploitation by landlords and employers, so she was pleased when she got the opportunity . . . Read More

Political party campaigns for Nepal to become a Hindu state

March 1, 2019 Nepal Hindu nationalism, Minorities, Nepal, Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal

Christians are concerned about a campaign to make Nepal a Hindu nation. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A pro-Hindu political party in Nepal has launched a campaign calling for the country to become a Hindu theocracy, reports Asia News. The right-wing pro-Hindu Rastriya Prajatantra Party launched the initiative in all seven provinces with a conference in the capital Kathmandu on 27 February. The party has been calling . . . Read More

From China to sub-Saharan Africa, Christians experience high levels of persecution in 73 countries

January 16, 2019 Global News -- No Particular Country Buddhist nationalism, China, Colombia, Copts, Egypt, Hindu nationalism, India, Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Libya, Mexico, Myanmar, Nigeria, Somalia, Vietnam, World Watch List

In its latest annual survey of 150 countries monitoring how difficult it is to live as a Christian, out today, the overall trend in the 2019 World Watch List is that almost half (73) showed extreme, very high or high levels of persecution. A year earlier, it was 58 countries. . . . Read More

Key trends show in 2019 List of countries where it’s most difficult to live as a Christian

January 16, 2019 Global News -- No Particular Country BJP, Blasphemy, Boko Haram, China, Egypt, Hindu nationalism, India, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Middle East, Minorities, Nigeria, Religious freedom, World Watch List

WWL 2019 key trends, gender, China, woman (photo: VPA)

In its 2019 World Watch List, Open Doors International reports that 11 countries score highly enough to fit into the ‘extreme’ category for the level of persecution of Christians. It was the same last year, but five years ago, only North Korea was in that category. From roughly 2006, and accelerating from 2012, the NGO says the . . . Read More

Indian Christians heave sighs of relief as Hindu nationalists lose elections in key states

December 12, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Christmas, Delhi, Elections, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Minorities, Police, Rajasthan

Christians can heave sighs of relief as the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP has been thrown out of power in three key states in central India that have reported dozens of incidents of anti-Christian violence and harassment. The BJP, which had enjoyed unstinted power in two of the states – Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh – for 15 . . . Read More

Nepal ‘anything but progressive’ on religious freedom

December 6, 2018 Nepal Anti-conversion law, Churches, Hindu nationalism, Nepal, Proselytism, Religious freedom

The situation for Christians in Nepal has “worsened” since a new criminal code came into effect earlier this year, writes human rights activist Prakash Khadka for the Catholic news site UCAN. Nepal only became a secular country in 2007. Until that time it had been a Hindu monarchy for centuries . . . Read More

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