Tag: India

Indian bishop: Hindu nationalists fear ‘another 1947’

August 10, 2017 India BJP, Dharm Jagran Samiti, Hindu nationalism, India, Pakistan

Church in central India destroyed by Hindu extremists (2015). They fear that if Christians grow in number and influence, there will be another Pakistan. (Photo: Open Doors International)

It is concern for the unity and integrity of India and the overwhelming fear of another split like the 1947 partition of Pakistan and India that drives the agenda of the Hindu nationalist movement in India, says Bishop Joseph D’Souza. The bishop, founding president of the ecumenical All India Christian . . . Read More

Indian Christians faced almost as many attacks in first half of 2017 as all of 2016

August 8, 2017 India BJP, Chhattisgarh, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, India, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Narendra Modi, RSS

In the first six months of 2017, Indian Christians were harassed, threatened or attacked for their faith in 410 reported incidents (248 in the first quarter) – almost as many as the total for the whole of 2016 (441). This is according to figures compiled by partners of Open Doors, . . . Read More

India: Cross desecrations continue in Goa, despite arrest of Catholic ‘culprit’

July 28, 2017 India BJP, Crosses, Goa, Hindu nationalism, India

Crosses continue to be desecrated in the Indian state of Goa, despite the police claiming to have captured the ‘culprit’, a 50-year-old Catholic who, from what police say, appears to be mentally ill. Francis Pereira was arrested on 14 July, but the desecrations have continued, most recently on 27 July . . . Read More

Murdered pastor was told: stop preaching or we’ll kill you

July 21, 2017 India India, Ludhiana, Punjab

The son of a church leader shot dead in north-western India on Saturday (15 July) has revealed that his father had received threats that if he continued to preach, he would be killed. Alisha Masih, 22, who is also training to be a pastor, said his father, Sultan, who was . . . Read More

India: Christians in shock after pastor shot dead in ‘safe’ Punjab

July 17, 2017 India India, Ludhiana, Pentecostals, Punjab

The Christian community in Ludhiana, the largest city in India’s north-western state of Punjab, is in shock after a pastor was shot dead outside his Pentecostal church on Saturday evening (15 July). Sultan Masih, 47, who also ran a school for the poor, was gunned down by two people on . . . Read More

BJP candidate favourite to win India’s presidential election

July 17, 2017 India Beef, BJP, Dalits, India, Ram Nath Kovind, RSS

Ram Nath Kovind (L), the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) governments's candidate for the upcoming presidential election, gestures as he leaves an NDA meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) and top Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani (C) in New Delhi on June 23, 2017.

Today (17 July) Indian lawmakers are expected to elect Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind as the nation’s next president in a move that will strengthen the position of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist party. According to Reuters the victory of the candidate put forward by Modi’s ruling . . . Read More

G20 ‘missed opportunity’ to tackle major global issue: religious freedom

July 14, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Angela Merkel, China, Eritrea, G20, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Mexico, Migrants, Refugees, Religious freedom, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey

By not discussing international religious freedom at the G20 summit in Germany last weekend, world leaders failed to address the root cause of major global issues like the migrant crisis, says David Curry, CEO of Open Doors USA. As a result, “we can expect more violence from religious intolerance, a . . . Read More

‘Change your image of India from a nice backpacking trip to Taj Mahal!’

June 26, 2017 Bhopal, BJP, Donald Trump, Europe, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Narendra Modi, Pakistan, Ram Nath Kovind, Saudi Arabia

India, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan top the list of countries where religious freedom is under pressure, according to the Annual Interim Report 2017 of the European Parliament Intergroup on Freedom of Religion or Belief and Religious Tolerance’s, presented in Brussels last week. “Forget the image of a nice backpacking trip . . . Read More

Relatives of Coptic ‘martyrs’ join summit on persecuted Christians in US capital

May 11, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Chad, Converts, Copts, Donald Trump, Egypt, India, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Libya, Mexico, Mike Pence, Pakistan, Refugees, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, USA

A “World Summit in Defence of Persecuted Christians” has started in Washington DC, and is expected to be addressed by the US Vice-President Mike Pence today (Thursday, 11 May). It has been organised by American evangelist Franklin Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. 600 participants have come from 136 countries: including Egypt, . . . Read More

Protests as Mumbai officials remove cross from ‘private land’

May 4, 2017 India Crosses, India, Mumbai

A local authority in Mumbai is being taken to the High Court over the removal of a 122-year-old cross that is reported to have stood on private land, reports New Delhi Television. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) removed the cross in Bandra, a wealthy Mumbai suburb, on 29 April in . . . Read More

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