India » Where God Weeps

The situation of the church in India

The Christian community in India is still overshadowed by the 2008 attacks against them. Violence erupted in Kandhamal in August 2008, following the assassination of Hindu monk and political leader Laxmanananda Saraswati by Maoists. His party, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), blamed Christians for the killing, which sparked a campaign of anti-Christian violence resulting in the torching of 4,640 houses, 252 churches and 13 educational institutions. Although the All India Christian Council's figures for the number killed stands at 70, many are still missing giving credence to a figure of more than 500 deaths as suggested by the Communist Party's report into the events. 54,000 were made homeless during the riots, and even in 2010 many were still living in displacement camps. Many in the camps were reluctant to return home because of fear of renewed violence.

Victims of the attacks have been unhappy with the official response. The fast-track courts created to hear cases relating to Kandhamal have been slow and many cases were rejected due to "insufficient evidence". There is also a fear that no compensation will be received for the damage done to Christian homes. The Sampradayik Hinsa Prapidita Sangathana (the Association of the Victims of Extremist Violence) was created in 2009 with the support including the Catholic bishops of Bhubaneswar and Berhampur and the Evangelical bishop of Bardhan to monitor ongoing problems.

The 2008 attacks, and much of the continuing persecution of Christians in the country, are due to Hindutva groups and political parties. Hindutva is a right-wing form of Hindu nationalism, which broadly speaking regards India as a Hindu country, which should not tolerate other religions or cultures. "The trend of attacks on the Christian community by rightwing Hindu groups goes unabated. Overall, the Christian community still feels insecure," said Dr. Dominic Emmanuel, spokesperson for Delhi Catholic Archdiocese at the end of 2009.

In 2009, Ajay Maken, Minister of Internal Affairs, presented a report to the Indian parliament's upper house (Rajya Sabha) indicating religious-based violence has risen steeply over the past five years. It described more than 3,800 attacks by extremists, with numbers of reported attacks rising from 677 in 2004 to the 943 in 2008. The country sees an average of two attacks every day. The states named as having the highest number of reported incidents are Maharashtra (681), Madhya Pradesh (654) and Uttar Pradesh (613).

While in 2010, India did not see attacks against the Christian community on the scale of those that took place in 2008, a high number of isolated incidents of violence continued to afflict the community. Many of these assaults occurred in the context of false accusations of forced conversion. The north-central states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Orissa in the east, Gujarat in the west and Himachal Pradesh in the north have laws forbidding "forcible conversion". These laws only apply to converts to religions other than Hinduism. Should a Hindi wish to convert he must inform the district magistrate and obtain permission, if he does not his conversion is legally annulled. Hindu hardliners routinely have Christians arrested on such charges. In particular, attacks against small Evangelical denominations appear to be on the rise, particularly in Karnataka in south India. Evangelical Christians' aggressive, and sometimes culturally insensitive, evangelistic approach can lead to increased tension with local Hindu communities.

The Dalit question continues to be of significance, as many Dalits have converted to Christianity. Dalits - traditionally referred to as untouchables - are perceived as the bottom of the rigid caste system, leading to the distinction between religion and social status to blur. In March 2010 several bishops were detained in Tamil Nadu state after police halted a march protesting against the discrimination of Dalit Christians.

How you can help

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) supports several projects in India. You can support these projects by donating via their national offices.

Below you can find one or more finished projects ACN supported in the past.

New books for the Aquinas College in Gopalpur-on-Sea, Orissa

Ever since the introduction of an anti-conversion law - contrary to the principle of religious freedom enshrined in Article 25 of the Indian Constitution - in the state of Orissa in northeast India, there have been repeated outreaks of anti-Christian violence in the region. Hundu extremist groups in particular view Christians as a potential threat, fearing they will undermine the existing caste-based social order with its built-in priviledges for the higher castes. They accuse Christian missionaries, who care above all for the poor, the Dalits and the members of the ethnic tribal groups, of seeking to convert them with money, trickery and force. Read more >>
Training of 82 major seminarians of the Little Flower Congregation, Kerala

India is a multi-ethnic nation. Over 8% of the population consists of indigenous tribal peoples, with well over 600 different tribes. For the most part they are outside the Hindu caste system and are thus severely disadvantaged. Read more >>
The Vincentian Congregation of Malabar

The Vincentian congregation of Malabar is a home-grown religious congregation within the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. It was established in 1904 in Kerala. Currently the congregation has 381 priests, two brothers and 209 major seminarians and is active worldwide in the missions, although mostly in India and Africa. Read more >>
Training Programmes of Madhya Pradesh Regional Commission for Family and Laity

The Regional Commission for Family and Laity organises regular training programmes in Sagar, one of the major cities in the heart of the central Indian province of Madhya Pradesh, not far from the state capital Bhopal. The focus of these programmes is one of pastoral and spiritual guidance for families and lay people in the nine dioceses of the state of Madhya Pradesh. The work of this commission is important for the Catholic Church in India, for although religious freedom is enshrined in Article 25 of the constitution, in reality it is not respected in all the states of India. Read more >>