India | Ain't Complicated

Alert: India Email

Did you get this email?

You may have recently gotten an e-mail prayer alert that reads like this: “Please pray for churches in India. Buddhist extremists in India burned down 20 churches last night. Tonight they plan to destroy 200 churches in the province of Olisabang. They plan to kill 200 missionaries within 24 hours.”

Rev. Samuel Stephens with India Gospel League says this message is false. He writes, “If this were true, I would have been one among the first few to receive such information because of the presence of our extensive network of pastors and church planters spread over a good part of the country. Further, there are no provinces in India. We have states and districts. There is no state or district named Olisabang.”

Another fact that debunks the e-mail’s veracity: Buddhist extremist groups are prevalent only in Sri Lanka, not in India. Violent attacks on Christians and pastors and the destruction of churches by Buddhist extremists are becoming increasingly frequent and widespread in Sri Lanka.

However, IGL says Buddhists and Christians in India have lived peacefully and in amity with each other for years. Stephens notes: “I am led to believe that this message is a deliberate, planned and mischievous attempt by Hindu extremists to damage the good relationship between Buddhists and Christians. It is intentionally sent out to create animosity between these two groups.”

Source: E-mail rumor spreads anti-Christian sentiment

I didn’t.

Under Siege

Another Christian executed in Somalia

Earlier this month, underground church leader Madobe Abdi escaped an attempted kidnapping in Somalia.

Compass Direct News reports Islamic militants caught up with him March 15 and murdered him. What made his death more alarming is that Abdi was an orphan raised as a Christian rather than a convert from Islam.

Islamic militants have hunted leaders of the underground church movement as a means of discouraging others from responding to the Gospel.

Is it working?

1,000 attacks on Christians in 500 days

A study shows that in 500 days, there were 1,000 attacks on Christians in India’s Karnataka state alone, reports Compass Direct News.

India has not exactly been known for its peaceful attitude toward Christians, especially after several months of attacks in Orissa state in 2008. At that time, attacks were predominately made by Hindu extremists, as they appear now to be in Karnataka. Karnataka, however, never seemed a likely target for Christian persecution.

“[Karnataka] is not in that area of India where you would expect there to be as many attacks,” says Dave Stravers of Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Mission India. “It’s in the south; the northern part of India is where more of the radical Hindus live. One of the reasons it’s not surprising, however, is that this is one of the places where the church is growing faster in India.”

[…]

“What’s happening in Karnataka is perhaps a little bit ominous because a Hindu political party has control of that state,” says Stravers. “Even though these attacks are not legal attacks, nevertheless when a Hindu party gets in power, it seems to encourage the unruly elements in the country to undertake this kind of violence.”

And I feel bad because our pet hen died this afternoon….

Perspective. How we all need good perspective.

India: More Extreme Extremists

I am again grateful for religious freedom here in the United States.

New anti-conversion legislation coupled with more “extreme” Hindu extremist cells rising up across India make the future of Christians throughout the country look much more challenging.

First, “To further its campaign against Christianity, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party BJP has demanded an amendment in the Indian constitution to check religious conversions,” according to Christian Today.

While seven states across India already have anti-conversion legislation, if this amendment passed, all of India would have to abide by its regulations and not just scattered states throughout the country.

[…]

In addition to anti-conversion legislation, accompanying the good news of BJP slowly losing ground and facing “a potentially uncertain and unstable future,” according to Christian Today, there is also more bad news for Christians.

As BJP loses popularity, new extremist groups who claim to breakaway factions of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Hindu extremist umbrella organization, are launching their campaign against Christians. These groups go by names such as the Abhinav Bharat (Pride of India), the Rashtriya Jagran Manch (National Revival Forum) and the Hindu Dharam Sena (Army for Hindu Religion).

These new organizations viewed RSS and BJP as “too mild,” according to Baptist Press, and they advocate increased violence against Christians. These beliefs have been supported in their actions with several attacks in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Jabalpur since 2006.

As persecution worsens in India, Christians need to step up and not be afraid to share their faith, Stavers said.

Also, though many actions are restricted, Christians can still do several things to reach the searching of India.

Source: Mission Network News: Political climate makes conditions even worse for Indian Christians.

A Different Mumbai Story

The Times of India reports: Four hurt as mob disrupts baptism

MUMBAI: At least four persons were injured in an attack on the Christian community at Gangapur dam near Nashik on Monday.

The incident occurred when members of Navjivan Fellowship Church were conducting a baptism ceremony at the dam. A group of 10 to 12 unidentified men, armed with sticks and cricket stumps, disrupted the ceremony and roughed up those present at the event. “They did not even spare women and children as the rampage continued for over one hour. The attack was so meticulously planned that the group did not leave behind a single clue, which could help ascertain their identity,’’ said Winston Daniel, who was injured in the head during the assault.

An hour?

Did these Christians not defend themselves?

Orissa Ten Years Ago

Widow of Graham Staines: “Do not give up hope, pray for India”

10 years ago in Orissa, Hindu extremists burned alive the Christian Graham Staines and his two sons. His wife, back in India, connects the recent anti-Christian persecution to her husband. To the many recent widows of Kandhamal, she speaks of forgiveness and strength “in Christ.”

[…]

Staines says that she will always continue working to fulfil her husband’s dream to live in peace and harmony, and work together for the good of all. “I forgive the other, because I have first received forgiveness from Jesus Christ – I have encountered the presence of Jesus in my life and this is the spirit I share. When we forgive, there is no bitterness and we live our lives and continue the task entrusted to us – with His grace and peace. These Kandhamal widows have also been touched by Jesus. All Christians who have known the intervention of Jesus in their lives will have this gift to forgive and to be the witnesses of His peace and presence. Support them with your solidarity and prayers.

“To the people of the world I say, do not give up hope, pray for India.”

And all the congregation said….

Ho hum? 😯

Another Orissa Update

I know I’m blogging here only once a week now!

But it seems urgent I remind us of Orissa.

Orissa: insecurity and hatred await Christians forced out of refugee camps

There is no sign that the long journey of suffering by Orissa’s Christian community is anywhere near its end. The government has decided to shut down refugee camps and force Christians to leave but no one is providing them with any guarantee as to their security against further violence once back home; instead, they are still the object of hatred and rejection.

[…]

“Christians in Kandhamal are treated like animals. They live in fear and cannot find shelter, anywhere. They cannot live in dignity. The money they got [from the government] is not enough to buy food; their fields lie abandoned, burnt; their homes all but destroyed.”

Object of Worship

As a father and a grandfather and a Christian, this makes me sad:

In this April 8, 2008 file photo, mother Sushma holds her daughter Lali at their residence in Saini Sunpura, 50 kilometers (31 miles) east of New Delhi, India. The baby with two faces, two noses, two pairs of lips and two pairs of eyes was born on March 11 in a northern Indian village, where she is doing well and is being worshipped as the reincarnation of a Hindu goddess, her father said.

Source: Yahoo! News