India (MNN) — Large-scale riots targeting Indian Christians barely made a blip on the news radar.
Radical Hindu nationalists targeted believers in 20 villages in central India the week before Christmas, International Christian Concern reports. When Christians described the attacks, the police told them to fend for themselves.
Church partners throughout the country tell World Mission’s Greg Kelley, “Because the leadership of India is predominantly Hindu, it has a blind eye turned to it (persecution). [Furthermore], there’s a lack of accountability, so it shouldn’t surprise us when we hear about the attacks on Christianity.”
Persecution rose tremendously after 2014 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power. Yet the West remains indifferent. Last month, the United States State Department failed to list India as a Country of Particular Concern on its religious freedom watch list.
“There’s tremendous frustration within India [about] the global community and their lack of responding to these things,” Kelley says.
“These [believers in India] are crying out, ‘Hey, global community, how come you’re not holding our leaders accountable as they’re doing these atrocities upon innocent people?’”
You can help persecuted believers through World Mission. Choose “Humanitarian Outreach” from the drop-down list here.
“We go into these hottest areas where the persecution is at its height,” Kelley says.
“We come alongside Christians [and] tangibly help to meet some of their physical needs.”
Most importantly, pray. “We need to pray for Christians who are enduring this harsh persecution; that God would comfort them, give them grace,” Kelley says.
Header image courtesy of World Mission.
