Tag: India

India: jobs for Jat caste ‘sidelines’ Christians

March 1, 2016 India Caste, Haryana, India, Jat, Madhya Pradesh

Church leaders in India have condemned as a the government’s decision to offer job quotas, usually reserved for more disadvantaged castes, to the relatively wealthy Jat community. The federal government agreed on 21 Feb. to introduce a Jat quota bill at their March assembly, after violent demonstrations across Haryana state . . . Read More

76 Christians reconverted to Hinduism in India

February 11, 2016 India Ghar Wapsi, Hindu nationalism, India, Odisha, Vishva Hindu Parishad

Seventy-six Christians from 21 poor tribal families have been forcibly reconverted to Hinduism in the Indian state of Odisha, local sources told World Watch Monitor. Attacks on Indian Christians were in 2015. These included the arrest of hundreds who were charged with attempting to forcibly convert Hindus. Y. Raghavulu, national . . . Read More

India: fines for saying ‘Christian’ prayers

February 8, 2016 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Converts, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh

Four people have received fines for practising Christianity from a village council in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. One of the men, Shankar Singh, that they were fined 5,000 rupees (US$75) each. The arrests followed accusations by a Hindu group that the people at the gathering were attempting to . . . Read More

Indian priest in critical condition after attack

February 4, 2016 India Anti-conversion law, Converts, India, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh

An Indian priest is in a critical condition in hospital, after he and three lay officials were attacked by a mob in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, . Fr. Jose Kannumkuzhy and the laymen were attacked by a group of around 35 men, as they waited in a car . . . Read More

2016 World Watch List drawn from world headlines

January 13, 2016 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, Bibles, BJP, Boko Haram, Central Asia, Charlie Hebdo, Churches, Egypt, Hindu nationalism, India, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Kenya, Libya, Middle East, Mosul, Niger, Nigeria, Nineveh Plains, North Korea, Paris, Sub-Saharan Africa

Some of the most urgent headlines of the past 12 months, from the global spread of jihadist violence to North Korea’s test of a putative atomic weapon, intersect with an updated list of the most difficult places to live as a Christian. For the 14th straight year, North Korea is . . . Read More

BJP’s Bihar defeat a vote against ‘intolerance’

November 12, 2015 India Beef, Bihar, BJP, Haryana, India, Narendra Modi

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the UK – a first visit by an Indian head of state for a decade – comes on the back of a heavy election defeat in the key state of Bihar. Modi is expecting an even greater reception in London than that which . . . Read More

Global Church meets to seek unity in face of persecution

November 6, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Albania, Aleppo, Algeria, Catholics, Churches, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, India, Iraq, Islamic State, Kenya, Kidnapping, Lebanon, Myanmar, Nigeria, Nineveh Plains, Orthodox, Pakistan, Pentecostals, Protestants, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, Yohanna Ibrahim

Twenty-five years ago, on 4 Nov. 1990, a priest risked his life to hold a mass in a cemetery in Albania. In 1967 his president, Enver Hoxha, had declared that he had “abolished” the Christian faith, and that his country was henceforth the world’s first atheist state. On 4 Nov. . . . Read More

Indian court provides ‘minor relief’ from ban on Christianity

October 21, 2015 India Chhattisgarh, Human rights, India, Raipur, Religious freedom, Vishva Hindu Parishad

The high court of Chhattisgarh state in central India has asked the state government to ensure that anti-Christian resolutions passed by village councils will not infringe religious freedom. A Christian organization challenging the local resolutions said the court order is “only a minor relief.” In July 2014, the village of . . . Read More

Report: Christianity contracting in MidEast, Africa

October 16, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, Belarus, Boko Haram, China, David Cameron, Egypt, Eritrea, Europe, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, London, Middle East, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Pope Francis, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Turkey, Turkmenistan, UK, Ukraine, Vietnam

Christianity is fast disappearing from entire regions, most notably a huge chunk of the Middle East, and could vanish from Iraq within five years, according to a new report by Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need. Released in the UK’s House of Lords on Tuesday, the report, “Persecuted and . . . Read More

Anti-conversion laws threaten another Indian state

October 15, 2015 India Anti-conversion law, Gumla, Hindu nationalism, India, Jharkhand, Vishva Hindu Parishad

Hindu extremists have called for “anti-conversion laws” to be introduced in India’s Jharkhand state, after local media reported that 300 tribals had converted to Christianity. But Catholic Cardinal Telesphore Toppo told UCA News the reports were false and that the indigenous people were already Christians. Jharkhand has a higher than . . . Read More

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