India (MNN)–Hindu militants are stepping up their campaign to terrorize Christians in India. Grand Rapids-based Mission India’s Dave Stravers says this was proven true yet again with a new church plant in Assam State. “The 24 members of this church were attacked in the middle of the night. About 70 Hindus raided their homes, beat them up, chased these families all out of the village and they are now homeless and living dispersed in several other villages nearby with friends or relatives.”
This attack happened late December 18th, and leaves the church body without a safe place to worship right before Christmas. We asked why now seems to be marking the increase in attacks. According to the Global Council of Indian Christians,there have been similar attacks elsewhere in India, which also included the stoning of Christian missionaries and the rape of a pastor’s wife.
Stravers thinks that the militant Hindus are stepping up their aggression because of how people are responding to the Gospel. “The Hindu militants, themselves, have been publishing some inflammatory material. One of the articles published by a political group called the RSS said, ‘Wake up, Hindus! If the present trends continue, our country will be majority Christian by the year 2050.'”
Analysts say these incidents especially occur in rural areas outside main cities. Christians represent a tiny minority of the nearly 27 million people living in Assam. Roughly 4% of the population professes faith in Christ–that’s significantly higher than in many other States, especially in the anti-conversion States of India.
Muslims represent 67% of the region’s population, while 29.6% of the people follow the Hindu faith. That means that for many Christians, it’s hard to avoid danger. Please pray for those who are working to share the hope of Christ in their communities as opposition is expected to increase in proportion to evangelical work.
