India featured in Release International’s latest Persecution Report
Anti-Christian riots in India have left more than 2,500 believers homeless, according to International Christian Concern.
ICC report that Hindu supremacists looted and vandalised hundreds of Christian homes during the Christmas and New Year holidays.
One survivor described a furious mob advancing towards his village in Chhattisgarh carrying sharp weapons and sticks.
Pastor Kanan said told ICC: ‘They would have killed me and my family had we not fled to the jungle.’
Blanket ban
Chhattisgarh is one of a growing number of Indian states to have passed anti-conversion laws, and momentum is building to impose a blanket ban across the entire sub-continent.
These laws are aimed primarily at Muslims, to prevent so-called ‘love jihad’, where Muslims are said to be marrying Hindu women in order to convert them.
But Christian communities are also in their sights, as more members of the Dalit underclass turn to Christianity.
The anti-conversion laws have established a climate of intolerance, encouraging mobs of Hindu radicals to attack religious minorities.
Another survivor from the recent attack, Ajay from Shantinagar, told ICC: ‘There was nothing left for us, including the house. They broke the front door and destroyed everything.’
Five Christian families were chased out of another village for refusing to renounce their Christian faith when confronted by a mob on Christmas Eve.
Death threats
The Hindu extremists threatened them with death if any returned to the village, according to ICC. The mob said they could only return if they re-converted to Hinduism.
Release International has named India as a country of particular concern in our 2023 Persecution Trends report.
And India is featured in Release International’s February Persecution Report, which is broadcast on Christian television in the UK and is syndicated worldwide. You can watch it below.
Persecution Report and other Release International stories feature each month in Revelation TV’s flagship programme, The Persecuted Church.
As well as being broadcast on Sky, the channel is now available on Freeview, where 63,000 viewers tuned in to watch in the first two weeks.
You can catch up on The Persecuted Church programme on a Revelation TV’s website, here
Source: International Christian Concern.