Hindus Burn Churches In India

Hindu Hard-Liners Attack Churches In India


Thursday, December 27, 2007
USAToday


NEW DELHI (AP) — Hindu extremists attacked Christians celebrating Christmas in eastern India, ransacking and burning six churches after a dispute over a holiday cultural program that some Hindus believed encouraged conversion, officials said Wednesday.

One person was killed in the violence.

The government in the state of Orissa imposed a curfew in the Kandhamal district Wednesday after two days of violence that included revenge attacks by the Christians, said Bahugrahi Mahapatra, a government official.

Violence started Monday after the Hindus objected to a Christmas Eve cultural program, believing that the display was designed to encourage low-caste Hindus to convert to Christianity, said John Dayal, a spokesman for the New Delhi-based Catholic Bishops Conference of India.

The exact nature of the Christmas Eve program was not immediately clear.

The region has a history of tensions between Hindus and Christians. Orissa is the only Indian state that has a law requiring people to obtain police permission before they change their religion, a move designed to counter missionary work.

India is an overwhelmingly Hindu country where Christians account for a mere 2.4% of 1.1 billion people.

An argument over the cultural program got out of hand and some of the Hindus opened fire on the worshippers, injuring three of them, Dayal said. The Hindus then went on a rampage on Christmas Day, chasing people out of six churches and setting the buildings ablaze, he said.

Also Tuesday, some Christians attacked the jeep of Laxmanananda Saraswati, a local leader of the hardline Vishwa Hindu Parishad group, accusing him of inciting the violence, Dayal said.

Later, dozens of people from each community clashed near Baliguda town on Tuesday evening, Dayal said. One person was killed, but it was not immediately clear which group he belonged to.

Anther 25 people were wounded, the Press Trust of India news agency said.

The area, some 840 miles southeast of New Delhi, has been a hotbed of anti-missionary feeling.

In 1999, an Australian missionary, Graham Staines and his sons Philip, 10, and Timothy, 8, were burned to death as they slept inside their vehicle after a Bible study class at a local church.
The Christians, meanwhile, have challenged the conversion law in court, saying it violates India's constitution.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.


Hindus, Christians Clash Again In India

By GAVIN RABINOWITZ – 1 day ago
(December 26, 2007)
AP.Google

NEW DELHI (AP) — Hindu extremists attacked village churches and burned down the home of a prominent Christian politician Thursday, officials said.

Gangs of Hindus and Christians defied a curfew imposed following two days of attacks by Hindu hard-liners. Local police have been unsuccessful in halting the attacks and the federal government announced it was sending in a paramilitary force.

A mob of Hindus torched the house of Radhakant Nayak, a member of the Indian parliament's upper house and a Christian leader in the area, Nayak told the CNN-IBN news channel.

Superintendent of Police Narsingh Bhol said several churches and prayer houses were ransacked in the Kandhamal district of Orissa state area and some were set on fire. He could not give an exact number.

The Press Trust of India news agency quoted unidentified police officials as saying that 11 small churches and prayer houses were ransacked and burned by Hindu hard-liners in the area.

At least 25 people, belonging to both Hindu and Christian communities, have been arrested for suspected involvement in the violence, Bhol told The Associated Press.

Earlier, police said they had deployed hundreds of officers to the area, restoring calm after hard-line Hindus marred Christmas celebrations, ransacking and burning eight village churches in Orissa state, a corner of the country with a history of violence against Christians. One person was killed.

With the attacks resuming despite the arrests and curfew, the federal government said it was sending in a 300-strong paramilitary force.

"We have to get the violence under control," the junior federal home minister, Sriprakash Jaiswal, told reporters.

In the village of Brahmangaon, a group of Christians burned down several Hindu homes in an apparent retaliation for the attacks on churches. Angry Hindus then burned down the village police station, complaining of a lack of protection, a local police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

India is overwhelmingly Hindu but officially secular. Religious minorities, such as Christians, who account for 2.5 percent of the country's 1.1. billion people, and Muslims, who make up 14 percent, often coexist peacefully. Some have risen to the highest levels of government and business.

But throughout India's history, both communities have faced repeated attacks from hard-line Hindus, with violence against Christians often directed at foreign missionaries and converts from Hinduism.

There were conflicting reports of what sparked the attacks on the churches in the rural district of Kandhamal, about 840 miles southeast of New Delhi. Each side blamed the other.

The Hindu hard-liners said Christians had attempted to attack one of their leaders, 80-year-old Laxmanananda Saraswati of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad group, who leads an anti-conversion movement.

But the New Delhi-based Catholic Bishops Conference of India said the fighting began Monday when Hindu extremists objected to a show marking Christmas Eve, believing it was designed to encourage Hindus at the bottom of the religion's rigid caste hierarchy to convert to Christianity.

Orissa has one of the worst histories of anti-Christian violence. An Australian missionary and his two sons, aged 8 and 10, were burned to death in their car in Orissa following a Bible study class in 1999.

Orissa is the only Indian state that has a law requiring people to obtain police permission before they change their religion. The law was intended to counter missionary work.

Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.


Hindus Burn More Churches In India

Friday, December 28, 2007
TheNews.com.pk

NEW DELHI: Sporadic violence continued in India’s eastern state of Orissa on Thursday after two days of attacks on churches and clashes between Hindu and Christian groups, officials and local news reports said.

PTI news agency reported 11 more churches or prayer houses were ransacked and torched by suspected Hindu right-wing activists in Khandamal district in the early hours of the day.

There were incidents involving shooting at Brahminigam, a Christian-dominated village where the trouble had initially erupted, NDTV reported, and the local police station was surrounded by angry villagers.

State Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik arrived in the tribal-dominated Khandamal district to assess the situation and large numbers of police and paramilitary troops were deployed to contain the violence, district superintendent of police Narasimha Bhol said. We have started holding inter-community meetings of leaders and are confident that we will have results soon, Bhol said. A curfew had been lifted briefly and re imposed in four areas.

Bhol said a few incidents had been reported since Thursday morning but he did not have full details yet as some parts of the district were remote and the region was not well-connected by communications.

The trouble between the communities was reportedly sparked after Hindu right-wing organisations objected to plans by local Christian groups to celebrate Christmas in a big way.

About 100,000 of Khandamal’s 650,000 populations are Christians while most of the rest are Hindus.