Suspected Hindu militants broke up a Christian prayer meeting and forced two women leading the gathering to stop evangelizing in India’s southwestern state of Karnataka, as part of several attacks against devoted believers across the country, Christians told Worthy News.
The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir stayed further proceedings against an Anglican clergyman.
Evangelical Christians in southeastern India were due to worship Sunday, January 29, amid heightened tensions after Hindu hardliners attacked a pastor and church members, representatives said.
Hindu militants twice attacked evangelical Christians in India’s southern state of Karnataka, injuring several believers, including women and children, Christians told Worthy News.
More than 30,000 Christians recently took part in a prayer meeting in Hubli, Karnataka despite efforts by pro-Hindu groups to disrupt them.
The leader of a hardline Hindu group wants India’s constitution to legalize the killing of Christian evangelists and, for instance, promoters of other non-Hindu religions.
Following complaints from radical Hindu groups, police recently closed Pentecostal churches in the districts of Hassan and Bangalore.
Four Pentecostal pastors in Madhya Pradesh were recently beaten and arrested on charges of forced conversion, spending a night in jail before making bail.
Christians are regularly attacked in Karnataka by Hindu nationalists, while the authorities “turn a blind eye,” according to Sajan K. George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians, concerning yet another case of abuse against so called forced conversions.
Authorities backed by Hindu militants have halted the reconstruction of a Baptist church that was destroyed in deadly anti-Christian violence in India’s volatile state of Orissa, local Christians said.
For two consecutive Sundays, church service was disrupted in Karnataka while clergy were roughed-up and arrested on false forced conversion charges.
Christians who were recently relocated to Nandagiri have been ordered to suspend construction of their small church to satisfy the region’s radical Hindus.
After days of searching, the body of Christian activist Micael Digal was found near the village of Mdikia in Kandhamal; after an autopsy, police ruled the death as “accidental”.
Police arrested three pastors of the Gospel Messengers Team along with the couple who hosted them in Bighapur on false charges of forcibly converting people of other religions.
Several Gospel for Asia missionaries are encountering intense opposition, but persecution is not uncommon in this part of the world: entire families have been forced to leave their homes and villages because of the cause of Christ.
An international advocacy group urged the U.S. government Friday, June 17, to condemn Indian authorities for reportedly asking three American Christians to leave India because they allegedly participated in evangelism.
An Indian evangelist and pastor still needed medical treatment Wednesday, May 4, a month after Hindu militants opposing evangelism beat him in front of his children in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, Christians said.
India’s anti-terror agency was under pressure Monday, March 28, to investigate anti-Christian violence amid allegations that right-wing terrorists played a key role in the massive killings of Christians in India’s state of Orissa and violence in Karnataka state.
Relatives of a pastor found dead in a secluded area of Kandhamal district last week have accused local police of a cover-up.
Human rights officials on Saturday, January 22, welcomed a decision by India’s top court to confirm the life sentence given to a Hindu who burned to death an Australian missionary and his two young sons outside a church in eastern India over a decade ago.