james_bund
[Profile - Diary]
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Sad to see this happening in this day and age.
Hope the central gov't in delhi does more to protect these poor minorities in orissa and elsewhere.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (BWA)—Ten Christians were killed, and about 90 churches and 600 homes torched by Hindu militants in eastern India around Christmas, a Baptist official there reported to the Baptist World Alliance.
“Fifty to 70 Hindu radicals pulled out Pastor Junas Digal from a parked bus, paraded him on the road, all the way beating him with sticks and hands, and finally shaved his head to claim him a Hindu,” said Swarupananda Patra, general secretary of the All Orissa Baptist Churches Federation.
In Bamunigham, in the Kandhamal district of Orissa, two Christians were shot and injured, shops operated by Christians destroyed, 20 churches damaged, and three churches razed on Christmas Eve, Patra reported.
On Christmas, Christians were terrorized, Christmas worship services disrupted and churches forced to close, while Christians hid in “forests to evade attacks from these Hindus,” Patra continued.
The attacks affected about 5,000 Christians, leaving most homeless. They were allegedly the work of Vishwa Hindu Parishad or the World Hindu Council.
BWA General Secretary Neville Callam condemned the attacks and urged Christians, especially Baptists, to remember “our Christian brothers and sisters in Orissa state in our prayers.”
Callam further indicated that the BWA “will respond meaningfully to the needs and concerns of those who have suffered and will make the appropriate representations to make the case for respect for religious freedom in India.”
Already, Baptists in other parts of India have responded to aid those who suffered from the violence. Bonny Resu, general secretary for the Asia Pacific Baptist Federation and BWA regional secretary for Asia, reported local Indian churches are being mobilized to provide blankets and other assistance.
The level and speed of assistance is being tempered by the sensitivity of the situation as overt assistance from Christian organizations, even from within India, could spark further violence, Resu said.
“Orissa is a place where a Baptist community of about 500,000 live, and most of them are in these areas where persecution is most intense. They are also among the poorest of the poor of India, which is why they are often voiceless,” said Resu, who is from Nagaland in northeast India.
Violent anti-Christian attacks are not new to Orissa. In January 1999, Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons were burned to death as they slept in their car in Manoharpur village, Keonjhar district, in rural Orissa.
India’s Christian population is estimated at 3.5 percent of a total 1.12 billion people. There are several Baptist conventions and unions in Orissa state that are member bodies of the BWA, with total membership in Orissa of nearly 500,000 baptized believers and about 3,500 churches.
http://www.baptiststandard.com/postnuke/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=7249
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