India Church Leaders Nearly Killed In Karnataka Attack Amid Rising Pressure On Christians

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

NEW DELHI (Worthy News) – Two church leaders are recovering after they were reportedly nearly killed by Hindus while evangelizing in southwest India’s Karnataka state, underscoring growing hostility toward Christians in the world’s largest Hindu nation.

In remarks obtained by Worthy News on Tuesday, the believers said they were attacked “during Holy Week” as they distributed Christian literature in a village in Karnataka’s Shivamogga district.

One of the injured men, identified as “Madhan,” aged 60, said he sustained injuries to his face, chest, head, and eye. Due to his age and condition, he experienced breathing difficulties and required emergency medical care, he added.

“We would have been killed if police had not intervened in time,” Madhan said in comments shared by advocacy group International Christian Concern (ICC). “The police eventually arrived at the scene, rescued us, and took us to the hospital for treatment.”

The two men, part of a Brethren Assembly congregation, said the problems began when they visited a neighboring village in Shivamogga district to distribute Gospel tracts and Bibles on March 31. Initially, two Hindu nationalists approached them, ICC said.

ATTACK DURING EVANGELISM

“The men verbally abused them, pushing and dragging them as they attempted to return to their vehicle. The attackers accused them of attempting religious conversion and ‘spoiling Hindu culture,’ while asserting that the local community did not need a ‘foreign God’,” the group added.

The confrontation reportedly escalated as others joined the men and soon the attackers assaulted them and took their literature, ICC said, prompting police to intervene and rush them to hospital.

The attack highlighted broader concerns about the situation in Karnataka, one of several Indian states with “anti-conversion” laws in place.

Critics have argued that Hindu nationalists have misused such laws to target minorities, including Christians.

India currently ranks 11th on the World Watch List compiled by Open Doors, which tracks countries where Christians face the most severe persecution, underscoring growing pressure on believers in the nation.

SCRUTINY OVER RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

Nearly 80 percent of India’s 1.4 billion people are Hindu, and a growing number want to see India as a purely Hindu nation, Christian researchers say.

Christians comprise roughly 2.3 percent of the population—about 32 million people—according to ICC estimates.

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