Andrew Jose – December 22, 2021
Persecution against Christians is on the rise in India — with Christians suffering communal boycotts, physical abuse and legal harassment.
Empowered by vaguely-defined state anti-conversion laws, anti-Christian mobs in many parts of the country scour through villages, seeking Christians to harm, churches to storm, Christian schools to attack and Christian literature to burn, according to a Wednesday report from the New York Times.
“Christians are being suppressed, discriminated against and persecuted at rising levels like never before in India,” International Christian Concern advocacy director Matias Perttula told the outlet. “And the attackers run free, every time.”
In some cases, according to the Times, authorities assist in these anti-Christian attacks.
A notable example of such an incident where the local police played a part in the persecution of Christians was the Jan. 26 attack at the Satprakashan Sanchar Kendra Christian center in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
According to the Times, a horde of saffron-draped men descended on the Christian center’s stage that day, hollering Hindu nationalist slogans. Pastors were reportedly hit in the head, and women thrown to the ground in the sight of children who hid under chairs.“They kept beating us, pulling out hair,” said Manish David, a pastor who was attacked that day, according to the Times.