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Situation out of control: Christians violently killed in India

Radical militant Hindus have violently attacked Christian institutions over the past several days in India’s state of Orissa -- deaths are mounting, as well as physical damage, reports The John Birch Society.

Attacks on churches, schools, homes, hostels, a convent, missionary hospitals and individuals have occurred since December of last year, and even as far back as 1999 when missionary Graham Staines and his two sons were burnt to death in their car by militant Hindus.

But this latest round of violence has been sparked by the murder of a radical Hindu leader, Swami Laxanananda Saraswati, who actively sought to reconvert both Hindus and tribal people from Christianity back to Hinduism.

Police in Orissa blame the re-eruption of violence and killing on local Maoist rebels who try to win support among the region's poorer tribes, fomenting and carrying out acts of violence against both Christians and Hindus. Police efforts to stem the violence has been met with physical resistance – in Kandhamal district, villagers blocked roads with logs and boulders to stop police from entering while TV cameras showed them vandalizing a church and torching furniture.

On Monday, August 25, as many as 40 homes of Christians were destroyed; one hospital was entered and its patients and priests were beaten; the Archbishop’s house was attacked and damaged; one Catholic parish was entered and two priests remain missing from the site; one Baptist church and several Christian schools were torched; and several boys were beaten and injured at a boys’ hostel.

But the worst violence occurred in the Konjamendi region where a priest was horribly beaten and a religious nun raped. There are reports that the priest and nun are still being held against their will in Durga Mandap, which is a Hindu place of worship. Details are sketchy because of the remote location and poor phone connections in this heavily forested area of India, but there are some reports coming from the region via emails, and Reuters and BosNewsLife both are reporting the incidents, along with AsiaNews, accompanied by a few photos.

Asianews.it showed an image of a burning jeep and reported:

Shouting “Kill Christians and destroy their institutions,” thousands of Hindus from the militant Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) stormed the Pastoral Centre of the diocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar, laying it waste. The same fate was visited upon a social centre in K. Naugam, a church and parish residence in Kandhamal, and a chapel in Sundergarth. A van owned by the Sisters of Mother Teresa was attacked as it made its way to Bhavanipatni whilst another that belonged to the Daughters of the most Precious Blood was burnt in Udayagir.

The VHP, Saraswati’s organization, is known for its opposition to Christian activism, and outright anti-Christian violence, and favors the ancient caste system and Tribals. As usual the Maoists are playing both ends against the middle here, happy to create chaos and forment religious persecution.

By accusing the VHP of creating ethno-religious conflict and threatening him, they elicited a response from Saraswati that called for protests against Muslims. Days later, Saraswati was assassinated in his ashram. The radical Hindus then blamed Christians for the violence and murder of Saraswati.

The Vatican has condemned the violence calling it “bullying.” Unfortunately, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran from the Vatican’s inter-religious affairs department thought that perhaps the Vatican doesn’t “understand Hinduism as well as it should.”

What the Vatican really needs to know and understand is the agenda of the Maoist guerillas and the various radical Hindu parties. Former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda says there is a “larger conspiracy to turn state after state into a Hindutva laboratory.” If that is case and it is achieved, all efforts of missionaries will be stopped completely, along with the humanitarian services these groups provide – and that would be a great loss for the impoverished people of the region.

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TAGS: Radical militant Hindus Swami Laxanananda Saraswati persecution India Orissa Maoists Christians Hinduism missionary Maoist guerillas

[08/27/2008]

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