Tag: India

Indian state’s ‘anti-conversion law’ to be repealed

June 29, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, Arunachal Pradesh, Baptism, BJP, Catholics, Converts, Hindu nationalism, India, Minorities, Missionaries, Narendra Modi, Proselytism, Pune

Christian groups have welcomed a surprise announcement by a nationalist chief minister of a state in north-east India that he will ensure that a law preventing conversions from one faith to another is repealed. Pema Khandu, a Buddhist who heads the nationalist BJP-led state government in Arunachal Pradesh, told an . . . Read More

India ‘world’s most dangerous country for women’, as five activists gang-raped

June 27, 2018 India BJP, Caste, Converts, Dalits, India, Jharkhand, Rape, Women

Indian National Congress party activists hold placards and shout slogans during a protest against the abduction and gang-rape of five women in Jharkhand's Khunti district on 23 June 2018. (Photo: -/AFP/Getty Images)

Five women about to perform a play in a remote area in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, to raise awareness of human trafficking, were abducted and gang raped last week, as a new survey suggests India is now the most dangerous country for women. The incident occurred on Tuesday . . . Read More

Increase in religious harassment globally – Pew

June 22, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Bangladesh, China, Hindu nationalism, India, Sinicisation

Restrictions on religion around the world continued to climb in 2016, as more governments tightened controls on religious practices, populist parties increasingly used rhetoric to attack religious minorities, and the harassment of religious groups increased. A 138-page report by the Washington-based Pew Research Center into global restrictions on religion in . . . Read More

Indian pastor beaten up, then detained, after 11 Hindus convert to Christianity

June 22, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, Bajrang Dal, Converts, Hindu nationalism, India, Uttar Pradesh

An Indian pastor was beaten up by Hindu nationalists, then arrested by police on Monday (18 June) for allegedly forcing some local families in Muzaffarnagar, a city in Uttar Pradesh state, to convert to Christianity, reports The Times of India. Dipender Prakash was reportedly attacked by members of Bajrang Dal, . . . Read More

India: Police slow to register case after church burnt down by suspected Hindu extremists

June 15, 2018 India BJP, Churches, Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, India, Pentecostals, Police, Puducherry, RSS, Tamil Nadu

A church in Puducherry in southern India was set ablaze recently, after upper-caste Hindu neighbours had objected to worship services in the area. Puducherry, formerly Pondicherry, was a French colonial settlement until 1954. Pastor David Santosham and members of the Bible Presbyterian church in Karaikal District left for home after . . . Read More

Ad in Vanity Fair tells #MeToo celebrities of women who suffer for their faith

June 8, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Boko Haram, India, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Italy, Kidnapping, Nigeria, Religious freedom, Women, Yazidis

Rebecca Bitrus was abducted by Boko Haram in 2014 and suffered because of her faith. (Photo credit: Claire Giangravé/Crux news agency)

An ad in the Italian edition of Vanity Fair has called for the global #MeToo campaign to include women who suffer violence because of their religion. The Vanity Fair ad includes an open letter to some of the actresses who spoke out as part of the #MeToo initiative, like Asia . . . Read More

India: 15 Christians accused of ‘conversion’ in Jharkhand

June 7, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Catholics, Constitution, Goa, India, Jharkhand, RSS, Uttarakhand, Vishva Hindu Parishad

Seven Indian states have an “anti-conversion law”; the Hindu nationalist BJP is the ruling party in six of them. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Police in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand have arrested four and are investigating 11 other Christians on charges of conversion, reported Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). The arrest of the four in the village of Podkher, Simdega district, on 29 May is the first reported case since Jharkhand introduced anti-conversion . . . Read More

Closure of India’s Emmanuel Mission office halts education of 74 children

May 31, 2018 India Bangalore, BJP, Children, Education, Hindu nationalism, India, Jaipur, Rajasthan, RSS

Seventy-four children have had to leave their Christian-run hostel in India’s north-western state of Rajasthan, after the high court dismissed a petition challenging the child welfare committee’s seizure of the central office of Emmanuel Mission India. Emmanuel Mission International (EMI), founded in 1960 by Archbishop M.A. Thomas, is well-known in . . . Read More

Indian Christians threatened, images of Pope trampled on

May 31, 2018 India Bhopal, BJP, Delhi, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh, Narendra Modi, Pope Francis

Hindu leader Om Swami Maharaj (with microphone) accuses Indian Christians of promoting terrorism and Maoism and demands they leave India. (Photo: still taken from video)

A controversial Hindu leader has called for Christians to leave India in a video that shows a group stomping on images of Pope Francis. The video, posted on 26 May, shows Om Swami Maharaj and a group of around 20 people carrying placards and banners with pictures of Pope Francis, . . . Read More

India: 2017 saw 20% increase in atrocities against Christians, says lawyer

May 30, 2018 India BJP, Catholics, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Hindu nationalism, India, Kandhamal, Karnataka, Minorities, Narendra Modi, Odisha

Amid growing extreme Hindu nationalism in India, dozens of speakers have called for concerted action to uphold the country’s constitution and fundamental rights, at a conference to mark four years of government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “There is a grave threat to plurality,” Professor Ganesh Narayan Devy, a . . . Read More

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