Tag: RSS

Sri Lanka: Sharp increase in violence against Christians

October 29, 2018 Sri Lanka Buddhist nationalism, Constitution, Hindu nationalism, RSS, Sri Lanka, UN

Buddhists visiting a temple in Sri Lanka. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Christians in Sri Lanka have experienced a sharp increase in attacks this year, with 67 reported cases between January and September, according to the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL). September saw the highest number of cases, with 12 documented attacks. Comparatively, in the first five months of . . . Read More

Modi speaks out against ‘menace’ of mob attacks for first time

August 15, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, Bajrang Dal, Bihar, BJP, Dalits, Ghar Wapsi, India, Madhya Pradesh, Minorities, Narendra Modi, Pentecostals, RSS, Vishva Hindu Parishad

Attacks on Christians in India by Hindu extremists are on the increase and often their church buildings are destroyed as well, like this one in central India.

India’s prime minister Narendra Modi has for the first time condemned violence against minorities, saying that everyone has a duty to fight the “menace” of mob lynchings. But his critics say that, after four years in power at the head of a Hindu nationalist government, the comments have come too . . . Read More

Hindu extremist violence on the rise in southern Indian states

August 3, 2018 India Andhra Pradesh, Bajrang Dal, BJP, Caste, Churches, Converts, Dalits, Hindu nationalism, House churches, Hyderabad, India, Narendra Modi, Police, Religious freedom, RSS, Telangana

Good Fruit Ministries church in Sangameshwar village of Siddhipet District, Telangana state was demolished by a bull dozer on the directions of uppercaste Hindus who follow Vaastu shastra.

Religious freedom advocate ADF India has noted a rise in incidents of religiously motivated violence in India’s two Telugu language-speaking southern states, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, including the brutal murder of an elderly Christian woman. So far this year, ADF India says it has verified 17 incidents of anti-Christian persecution . . . Read More

Anti-Christian violence in India’s Uttar Pradesh ‘part of the state machinery’

July 20, 2018 India Beef, BJP, Hindu nationalism, Hindu Yuva Vahini, Hindutva, India, RSS, Uttar Pradesh, Vishva Hindu Parishad

The northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, one of several to be ruled by the governing BJP party, is emerging as a new centre of anti-Christian violence as politicians use a fundamentalist form of Hinduism to intimidate minority communities. According to the religious freedom NGO ADF-India, Uttar Pradesh experienced the . . . Read More

India: 16 more Christians detained under Jharkhand’s ‘anti-conversion law’

July 10, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Caste, Dalits, Hindu nationalism, India, Jharkhand, Missionaries, Proselytism, Religious freedom, RSS

A number of the Christians who were arrested by police, after they held a prayer service at the house of a Christian family in Phulpahari, India. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A group of 16 Indian tribal Christians who visited another tribal family in the eastern state of Jharkhand to talk to them about Christianity are in police custody after the local village head accused them of “conversion by inducement”. Last year, Jharkhand became the seventh Indian state to introduce a . . . Read More

India: Police slow to register case after church burnt down by suspected Hindu extremists

June 15, 2018 India BJP, Churches, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, India, Pentecostals, Police, Puducherry, RSS, Tamil Nadu

A church in Puducherry in southern India was set ablaze recently, after upper-caste Hindu neighbours had objected to worship services in the area. Puducherry, formerly Pondicherry, was a French colonial settlement until 1954. Pastor David Santosham and members of the Bible Presbyterian church in Karaikal District left for home after . . . Read More

India: 15 Christians accused of ‘conversion’ in Jharkhand

June 7, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Catholics, Constitution, Goa, India, Jharkhand, RSS, Uttarakhand, Vishva Hindu Parishad

Seven Indian states have an “anti-conversion law”; the Hindu nationalist BJP is the ruling party in six of them. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Police in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand have arrested four and are investigating 11 other Christians on charges of conversion, reported Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). The arrest of the four in the village of Podkher, Simdega district, on 29 May is the first reported case since Jharkhand introduced anti-conversion . . . Read More

Closure of India’s Emmanuel Mission office halts education of 74 children

May 31, 2018 India Bangalore, BJP, Children, Education, Hindu nationalism, India, Jaipur, Rajasthan, RSS

Seventy-four children have had to leave their Christian-run hostel in India’s north-western state of Rajasthan, after the high court dismissed a petition challenging the child welfare committee’s seizure of the central office of Emmanuel Mission India. Emmanuel Mission International (EMI), founded in 1960 by Archbishop M.A. Thomas, is well-known in . . . Read More

India: Archbishop of Delhi calls for prayer in run-up to 2019 elections

May 22, 2018 India Bangalore, BJP, Catholics, Delhi, Elections, India, Karnataka, Narendra Modi, RSS

Preparations for an Hindu festival. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The Archbishop of Delhi’s call for a ‘prayer campaign’ in India, ahead of next year’s elections has been criticised by the governing party. In a circular to all Catholic churches in the capital, dated 8 May, Archbishop Anil Couto asked for a weekly day of fasting “for the nation”, Indian . . . Read More

Indian Christians charged with ‘hurting religious sentiments’ by handing out Easter tracts

April 5, 2018 India BJP, Churches, Easter, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, Hyderabad, India, Police, Proselytism, RSS, Telangana, Women

Four Christians, including the wife of a church leader, have been charged with “hurting religious sentiments” after they handed out Christian tracts during an Easter procession in India’s southern Telangana state. Rayapuri Jyothi, 38, Meena Kumari, 52, Mahima Kumari, 35 and Bagadam Sudhakar, 45, were taken into custody by police . . . Read More

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