Tag: India

India ‘not a country for Christians’ but Minister says they’re ‘safe under Modi’

November 2, 2017 India Alphons Kannanthanam, Hindu nationalism, India, Meghalaya, Narendra Modi

India is “not a country for Christians” and other non-Hindu faiths – “they have their own countries” – according to an editorial in the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP’s “press organ”, Saamana. The editorial came on the back of remarks by Mohn Bhagwat, head of fellow Hindu nationalist group RSS, at . . . Read More

India: Kandhamal victims wait, a year on, for government to obey Supreme Court

October 26, 2017 India Dalits, Hindu nationalism, India, Kandhamal, Odisha

In northeast India, local Christian leaders are calling on the Odisha state government to enforce a Supreme Court ruling that the compensation paid to victims of the 2008 Kandhamal violence, which left about 100 Christians dead, was “not enough”, reports Asia News. The August 2016 ruling ordered that Odisha should . . . Read More

Indian Christians beaten ‘with rods and sticks’

October 17, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Hindu nationalism, India, Telangana

A Christian man involved in church work across ten villages in the southern Indian state of Telangana was severely beaten earlier this month, a source told World Watch Monitor. The victim, known as Pastor Seviya, “was attacked by five Hindu extremists with rods and thick sticks … until he became unconscious”, . . . Read More

India: ‘Kandhamal seven’ appeal hearings postponed

October 16, 2017 India Hindu nationalism, India, Kandhamal, Maoists, Odisha

Seven “innocent” Christians serving prison sentences for the 2008 murder of a Hindu leader in India’s eastern Odisha state have had their appeal hearings “once again” postponed, according to a Catholic journalist campaigning for their release. The seven men, who are from the Kandhamal district of Odisha, were convicted in . . . Read More

India: Punjab police ‘not serious’ about murdered Christian

October 10, 2017 India India, Narendra Modi, Punjab

Police in India’s north-western state of Punjab dealing with the July murder of church leader Sultan Masih “are not taking the case seriously”, according to his son, Alisha. “Three months have passed since the incident and they have yet to find any concrete leads. In the name of interrogation, we . . . Read More

More than 80 countries ‘favour’ one religion over others – Pew Research Center

October 5, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Apostasy, Armenians, Assyrians, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Cambodia, Central Asia, China, Comoros, Converts, Cuba, India, Iran, Islamic extremism, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Maldives, Mauritania, Middle East, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Africa, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Soviet Union, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam

Over 80 countries favour a specific religion, either officially as a state religion or tacitly through special treatment, according to a new report by the US-based Pew Research Center. Islam is the most common state religion – 27 countries have it as their official religion, including 16 of the 20 . . . Read More

India: Kerala Christians welcome home kidnapped priest Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil

October 2, 2017 India Catholics, India, Kerala, Kochi, Tom Uzhunnalil

Indian priest Father Tom Uzhunnalil, recently released from 18 months’ captivity in Yemen, received a rousing welcome as he arrived home to the southern state of Kerala, a Christian stronghold, yesterday morning (1 October). Over a dozen senior political leaders from a range of parties, and dozens of media personnel, . . . Read More

India: yoga centre accused of forcibly reconverting women and girls to Hinduism

September 29, 2017 India Anti-conversion law, Converts, Ghar Wapsi, Hindu nationalism, India, Kerala, Kochi, Pune, Women

Police in the south-western Indian state of Kerala have launched an investigation into a complaint by a woman in her twenties who says she was detained and harassed for 22 days at a yoga centre because she had married a Christian, according to The Times of India. A case was . . . Read More

India: Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil welcomed home with flowers and tears

September 29, 2017 India Alphons Kannanthanam, Bangalore, Delhi, India, Kerala, Kochi, Narendra Modi, Tom Uzhunnalil

Indian priest Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who has been the focus of world media attention after his 12 September release from 18 months’ captivity in Yemen, was given a rousing welcome as he landed in New Delhi yesterday morning (28 September). Dozens of journalists jostled for photos and videos as he . . . Read More

India: church fire attack in Karnataka

September 26, 2017 India Converts, India, Karnataka

A church that opened three years ago in the south-west Indian state of Karnataka has been broken into and its contents destroyed in an intentional fire, reports Global Christian News. The leader of the Shalom Assembly of God Church, Pastor Vaddar Nagaraja, said that all the items in the church, . . . Read More

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