Three years ago, Manu, a 37-year-old day laborer in Chhattisgarh, India, came to faith in Jesus after experiencing a miraculous healing.
Then, roughly two months ago, he started to pay a price for his Christian faith.
“I was thrown out of my house because I follow Jesus,” Manu told International Christian Concern (ICC).
Manu’s eviction from his home is one of 334 verified incidents of targeted attacks against Christians over the past seven months, according to an Aug. 4 informe by the Evangelical Fellowship of India Religious Liberty Commission (EFIRLC).
The watchdog group’s report found that two Indian states, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh, account for 54% of the violations against Christians since January. “These states have emerged as areas where Christian families face immediate violence and prolonged legal challenges under anti-conversion laws,” researchers stated.
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Since January, the report by the EFIRLC finds the top categories of violations across India are threats/harassment (107 incidents), false accusations (67 verified reports), and arrests (49 documented cases). The group typically issues an annual report but released this supplemental report with the rise in reported incidents.
Manu is one of the hundreds of Christians who have been evicted from their homes and banned from their villages in Chhattisgarh because of their faith in Jesus. Hindu nationalists, who want India to be a purely Hindu nation, are increasingly forcing Christians to become homeless and destitute. The goal of the violent attacks is to force the believers to return to Hinduism.
Manu, his wife, and their two children have taken shelter in a temporary bamboo shed since May 21.
“My children are getting sick ever since we moved into this shed,” Manu said. “The small bamboo shed does not protect us from rain, wind, and extreme weather conditions. This shed was used as a chicken shed prior to our occupation, with no facilities for people to live.”
The persecution didn’t end with the family losing their property. Hindu villagers also shunned the family, preventing them from purchasing products from certain vendors and hindering Manu from securing employment.
“I was denied peaceful existence,” Manu said. “People in the village knew I was socially boycotted, that they should not associate with me and my family. They knew that they should not employ me for any kind of daily wage work in the village. The little I earn goes towards medical expenses, and I struggle to provide sufficient food to my wife and children.”
When asked what keeps him from giving up on his faith, Manu is quick to answer.
“Jesus gave me life, he gave me peace, and I am willing to make any sacrifice and bear all these hardships,” he said. “I know it’s all worth it.”
Abishek, 31, was brutally attacked and forced out of his home with his 2-month-old daughter, not knowing where she would sleep that night. Despite his sudden hardship, he won’t return to Hinduism.
“We are determined to follow Jesus, no matter what,” Abishek said.
Abishek built his own shelter with polythene covers. He still struggles to find regular work.
“I travel around 10 km (about 6 miles) to find a job, so that I can feed my family,” Abishek said. “Almost every day when I travel, I think of my family back in the village. Wild thoughts haunt me of ‘What if my family is attacked again? What if tortured in my absence?’ When I pray to God, my heart is peaceful, and I am comforted through the messages I hear during the Sunday worship.”
Amrita and her mother were violently attacked with sharp iron weapons by Hindu nationalists in Chhattisgarh on July 15. Amrita’s mother sustained multiple fractures and is fighting for her life in an intensive care unit.
With her mother in the hospital, Amrita and her siblings are staying in the home of another believer in a different village.
“My brother and sister cannot go to school, as we were displaced to a different place,” Amrita said. “We do not know how long we will stay here. One thing I am sure of is that we cannot go back to our village.”
A local Christian leader who wished to remain anonymous said it is increasingly more difficult for Christians to live in Chhattisgarh, but it shouldn’t be.
“They tell you, ‘You either deny Christianity, or we deny you living in our village or house.’ In most cases, authorities pay no attention to these issues. This is terrible and unacceptable,” he said. “People are living in fear and intimidation. People need freedom to practice the faith of their choice, which the Constitution of India guarantees.”
Josh Shepherd contributed to this article, a version of which originally appeared at persecution.org y ha sido reimpreso con permiso.
Founded in 1995, International Christian Concern (ICC) is a Christian organization. It’s an ecumenical, non-governmental, and non-partisan group focused on protecting the human rights of Christians and religious minorities.
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9 Responses
And yet the world media is constantly hollering that the #1 threat to world peace is “Christian Nationalism!!!” lol.
It’s funny that every religion is allowed to have theocracies in its lands but Christianity (and Judaism).
I think that what people are saying is “This is bad for people in India; we don’t want it here.”
If Christianity were like any other religion it could easily overtake this country.
But it wouldn’t be Christianity then would it?
Well a theocracy in the US would go against the Constitution. Remember that whole freedom of religion part?
And isn’t a Christian theocracy an oxymoron when you look at scripture?
To say the least it can be very difficult if not dangerous for Christians and faith communities in some parts of the world and nations like the US which has extensive soft power should advocate for such people.
That said, some Christians and faith communities contend with hostility because Christianity is now wrongly perceived to be a US – Western religion that’s linked to US and Western hard and soft powers negative influences and impact throughour the world, as was the case with European colonial powers in days past.
At its core Christianity is not affiliated with world power and any form of nationism and nationalistic theocracy.
Rather its a whole new universal narrative that emphasises the Kingdom of God in the present and a Kingdom that will one day come to full fruition through Christ. Hence Paul’s revelation to the faith community in Galatia.
Gálatas 3:28
Christianity has a history in India going back to Thomas, and a long one in China as well. There, it is Marxism that is the alien import.
I agree with this, Ian. So many have seen a false Christianity that is conflated with specific cultures and nationalistic politics – and are rightfully rejecting it. We as the body of Christ need to get back to sharing and representing the gospel of the Bible ALONE – without the “pro-US”, “pro-West”, “pro-political stance/party” stances – trusting in the power of the gospel ALONE to change lives and save souls.
I continue to pray for both the lost and those missionaries who set out to save them.
we should be sending our money to the christian missonaries, ministries.wko feed and protect,,and provide for these people . not spending it on conferences. in luxury hotels . and convention centers.we as chrisrians have it better in the usa . than most other places in this world..and we need to concentrate.on helping those in need. and not on upscale mega..and entertianment/ pagentry based churches.and by the way .you cannot join all these other religions. with us .to achieve. world peace. it does not work like that
I grew up in India among missionaries and my grandparents were elders in the local church. I know from first-hand experience, that missionaries are not any different from the pastors and Christian ministries. Some are good and sincere, some are corrupted and evil. They are at a far distance and even less accountability. It is a stereotypical myth about the missionary living in poverty and persecution in some far off country with illiterate natives and being the source of salvation and education for them. It is no longer true anymore.