News

India: Persecution of Christians spikes dramatically, with 77 incidents in January and February

March 9, 2019

As this article shows, the persecution of Christians is worsening in India. Christians are often treated as “Untouchables” and aliens by the Hindu majority, despite the fact that the Christian faith has been in India for nearly 2,000 years, brought there by St. Thomas the Apostle. This article illustrates the fact that this persecution is becoming increasingly violent.

This threatens Christians of all faith traditions; Christians of the ancient apostolic Churches are less often subjected to this treatment than are evangelical Protestants, but no Christians in India are secure. The Order of Saint Andrew the Apostle, Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, calls upon the Indian government to uphold every Indian’s freedom to worship as his or her conscience dictates.

“Pastors Knocked Out, Christians Killed as Persecution Spikes Dramatically in India,” by Ericah Jones, CBN News, March 8, 2019:

India is seeing a dramatic rise in persecution as more and more churches and Christians are coming under attack in 2019.

The newest figures show cases of hate and violence against India’s minority Christians have jumped 57 percent in the first two months of this year.

According to the Evangelical Fellowship of India, a total of 77 incidents were documented against Christians between January and February.

Referring to two murder cases in two different Indian states in February, EFI General Secretary Rev. Vijayesh Lal said, “We have reasons to believe that both men, who were in their 40s, were killed because of their faith.”

“We have recorded cases where Christians have been facing social boycott and have been excommunicated from their villages, and in a few instances have had to flee to save their lives,” Lal said….

Open Doors has ranked India as the tenth-worst country in the world for Christian persecution.