Persecution in India
by Shannon Whiting
Last week, the wife of an Indian pastor was forced to flee to the forest with her child when a group of rebels set torches to her home. She was nine months pregnant.
“For days no one knew where she was,” reported Dr. K.P. Yohannan, founder and president of Gospel for Asia. “That is a story of thousands.”
The “thousands” are the Christians in India’s Orissa state who have suffered brutal attacks since August 23, when Hindu priest Swami Laxmananand Saraswati and four followers were gunned down. Though Maoist guerillas claimed responsibility, Christians were blamed for the killings. 
After this, “people went on a rampage, tearing down homes,” Yohannan said.
So far there have been 27 deaths, at least 50 churches burned and 4,000 homes destroyed – 1,000 of which belonged to Gospel for Asia church members, according to Yohannan.
Evangelicals are not the only ones suffering. Yohannan believes Catholics may be seeing the worst of it, as their nuns are raped and orphanages burned. Neither is the suffering bound to Orissa, as reports have started coming from Karnataka and Jarkhand states.
Locals thought the action would die down within a few days, but “all of the sudden we realized this may have been very well planned, in light of the election coming up in a year,” Yohannan said.
While politically, the rampage may not be a surprise, the events are still shocking.
“In my 40 years of being in Christian service, I have never witnessed this kind of intense persecution in [such short time and] any one place,” Yohannan said. Though the India Constitution guarantees freedom of faith choice, practice and propagation, Orissa is dealing with what Yohannan calls “a conversion issue.”
The swami was a prominent crusader in the long-standing demand that Christians convert back to Hinduism. But the attackers “do not represent Hinduism or the sentiment of the government,” Yohannan clarified. Rather, they are radical extremists “just like the Taliban in the Islamic trade,” he said.
All the same, the government has done little to stop Orissa’s Christian minority from being chased down with swords, burned alive in their homes and forced to set flames to their own Bibles.
Saddest of all, Yohannan said, is how impossible the extremists have made it for the media to enter for reports and photographs. Some ministries like Gospel for Asia have been able to snatch a few photos undercover and smuggle provisions to “tent cities” and government shelters, yet due to recent flooding, this is not enough for the more than 10,000 who are displaced.
In spite of such great struggle, Yohannan believes God to be working significantly in India, as he hears testimonies of Indians willingly losing homes and watching loved ones beaten to death for the gospel.
“This gives me great hope,” Yohannan said, reporting a “sense of unity” among various churches who are putting aside differences to gather for prayer. This exciting result is no more a surprise than the attacks themselves to Gospel for Asia. 
As a scheme from powers of darkness, Yohannan calls persecution, “the dumbest thing ever to do. Every church testifies – whether Catholic, Baptist, Methodist – they have seen more people come to Christ in those places [of suffering] than ever before.”
Though promising seeds are being planted in Orissa’s churches, outside support is still crucial.
“This is another huge opportunity God is giving the Free Church to identify their lives with the suffering body,” Yohannan said, challenging other believers to rally in support of Orissa through prayer, letters to political leaders and finances.
With its 1.2 billion people, Yohannan finds India to be “a very significant place. I think there are going to be a lot more people praying for India,” he said.
For further updates and ways to help Orissa, visit Gospel for Asia.
Photos used with permission by the Global Council of India Christians.
Unless otherwise noted, all materials on the urbana.org web site are Copyright InterVarsity Christian Fellowship / USA. All rights reserved.
Print
Email
Comments
Be the first one to add a comment.
To post a comment, please login or register