Tag: Hindu nationalism

Nepal Christians arrested for “forced conversions”

June 24, 2014 Nepal Converts, Hindu nationalism, India, Nepal

More than 40 Protestant Christian leaders have been arrested for allegedly “forcing the conversions of Hindus.” Nepalese Hindu leaders filed the complaint and the arrest occurred on June 13. A few hours after the arrest, however, most of the detainees were released, though eight leaders remained in custody until June . . . Read More

BJP win elicits mixed reaction from India’s Christians

June 19, 2014 India Assam, Catholics, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Narendra Modi, Pune

From left to right. Indian President Mahinda Rajapaksa and new Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting for bilateral talks in New Delhi, India. May 27, 2014 Mahinda Rajapaksa / Flickr/ Creative Commons India’s Christian leaders aren’t quite unanimous, yet, on the meaning of the May election landslide that swept . . . Read More

India’s government has to limit Hindu extremists

May 15, 2014 India BJP, Dalits, Hindu nationalism, India, Narendra Modi, Women

India’s nationalist “Bharatiya Janata Party” (BJP) has won the election and its leader Narendra Modi, announced “a new era for India, free from corruption and a strong economic recovery”. Indian citizens are hoping for a prosperous future, but according to the Global Council of Indian Christians in order for this . . . Read More

Indian elections: what could they mean for minority Christians?

April 4, 2014 India Catholics, Goa, Hindu nationalism, Narendra Modi

India is gearing up for the largest show of democracy on earth. Ahead of national elections, the silent Christian community in India -reportedly 2.3 percent of its 1.2 billion people in 2001, though experts say this was an underestimate – has become restive and alert. An electorate of 814 million – much . . . Read More

Trouble in the south

March 4, 2014 India Andhra Pradesh, BJP, Hindu nationalism, Hindu Yuva Vahini, Hyderabad, India

Church leaders in India are alarmed over a dramatic increase in attacks on Christians in the state of Andhra Pradesh, where in recent weeks one pastor has been murdered, others beaten, and churches demolished. The All India Christian Council documented 72 incidents of anti-Christian violence and hostility in Andhra Pradesh . . . Read More

Pressure on Christians grew in 2013

January 8, 2014 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, African Union, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, BJP, Buddhist nationalism, Central African Republic, Colombia, Eritrea, FARC, Hindu nationalism, India, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Kyrgyzstan, Middle East, Nigeria, North Africa, North Korea, Pakistan, Peshawar, Religious freedom, Sadad, Sharia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sub-Saharan Africa, Sudan, Syria, Uganda, UN, Yemen

More than ever, some of the hardest places for Christians to live are fragile or failed states where militant Islamist movements flourish, according to an annual report on Christian religious freedom. Pressure on Christians intensified worldwide in 2013, according to Open Doors International, a charity that provides support to Christians . . . Read More

Book review: ‘The Global War on Christians’

November 19, 2013 Global News -- No Particular Country Africa, Asia, Buddhist nationalism, Burundi, Colombia, Eastern Europe, Eritrea, Hindu nationalism, Islamic extremism, Kenya, Latin America, Middle East, Organised crime, Philippines

It has been an astonishing last 12 months for books on the persecution of Christians when there has been such silence on the issue for so long. First came ‘Christianophobia: A Faith Under Attack’ in late 2012; then the more simply titled, ‘Persecuted: the Global Assault on Christians’ in March . . . Read More

Bajrang Dal pressure villagers to leave Christianity

October 16, 2013 India Bajrang Dal, Converts, Hindu nationalism, Vishva Hindu Parishad

For much of the year, Christians in the central India village of Taragaon have been enduring pressure to abandon their religion. In April, elements of Bajrang Dal demolished the church in Taragaon, a small town in the farming- and forestry-dominated region of southern Chhattisgarh state. View Larger Map Bajrang Dal . . . Read More

Hindu nationalists harass villages for weeks, injure 4

June 28, 2013 India BJP, Hindu nationalism, Odisha

Three months of intimidation and assaults in two villages in eastern India has left four Christians hospitalised and others injured, two houses damaged, and the entire Christian community unable to do business or draw water from the town well, church leaders say. The boycott of the Christians of Dangarguda village, . . . Read More

BJP told: ‘Creating unrest won’t pay’

May 29, 2013 India Bangalore, BJP, Hindu nationalism, India, Karnataka

Christians in Karnataka state in southern India hope for a “new social and religious atmosphere” following local elections in which the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Hindu nationalist group, suffered heavy defeat to the Congress Party. “The results of the vote in Karnataka are a warning to the BJP and the entire . . . Read More

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