India: Hindus Work to Annihilate Christians
By George Thomas
CBN News Reporter
January 11, 2008
CWN.com - It's been three weeks since Hindu radicals launched a brutal attack against Christians in the Indian state of Orissa.
Hundreds of homes and churches were destroyed.
More than 2,000 Christians are in refugee camps. Hundreds more are hiding in the jungles for fear of another attack.
CBN News reporter George Thomas gained access to some of the hardest-hit areas in Orissa's Khandmal District.
Getting to these areas is no easy task.
For the past several weeks, Indian authorities have not allowed journalists, religious leaders or aid workers to travel to some of the most affected villages.
But with the help of local contacts, CBN News got a first-hand look at communities gripped with fear and anxiety.
"As the mob was destroying our churches, I could hear them chanting "victory to our Hindu gods, "said Solomon Naya, a pastor in Kandhamal. "All we could do was hide in our homes and pray."
The troubles started on December 23.
Christians in a village, some 800 miles southeast of New Delhi, were preparing for a special Christmas service. According to church leaders, Hindu radicals were opposed to the event and began attacking Christian homes and churches.
Hindu hard-liners insist the fighting started only after Christians tried to attack a prominent Hindu leader in the area.
More than 700 homes were destroyed in three days of fighting.
"They burned everything that I had," said Obed Diggal, a resident in Kandhamal District. "This is all I have left, what I'm wearing."
Four people lost their lives.
"I saw my grandfather burned to death right in front of my eyes, and I could do nothing to save his life," said Nabaghana Naik, another resident of Kandhamal District.
Across this district, church after church became targets for the raging mob.
"They warned us not to spread the love of God and not to tell others about Jesus," said Sunderson Digal while standing on what is left of his small village church.
Digal's church is just one of the close to 100 churches that were destroyed in the attacks that began on December 23.
Despite all of the violence and destruction, all of the residents that CBN News spoke with said that in due course, these churches will all be rebuilt.
Sajan George, who heads the Global Council of Indian Christians, was asked if he had any evidence that the violent onslaught was a coordinated and planned attack.
"This was well-coordinated, well-orchestrated because it has happened in 80 different places," he replied.
Dr. Sajan's organization documents the persecution of Christians in India. He says the attacks weren't just random acts of violence.
"They marked the houses, they knew where the churches were and they spontaneously went and attacked," said Sajan.
Sajan and other Christian leaders believe the attacks are part of a much larger campaign by Hindu fanatics to stop lower-caste Hindus, known as Untouchables or Dalits, from converting to Christianity.
"God is moving among the Dalits and setting us free," said Daniel Digal, a Dalit convert. "The Hindus don't like this, so they accuse us of bribing and forcing others to convert, and this is not true."
Umasankar Acharya is a top leader of Bajrang Dal, a Hindu extremist group that often uses violence against Christians and other minority faith groups. He accuses Christians and foreign missionaries of using conversions to try and lower the number of Hindus in India.
"This is a problem, and we will deal with it," said Umasankar. "We will get all the Hindus together, the whole Hindu nation, and whoever stands against the rights of Hindus, we will finish them."
In an effort to counter the spread of Christianity, Orissa and several other Indian states have laws that require people to get permission before they can change their religion.
"They want to annihilate the Christians of India," said Pastor Solomon. "They want to turn this country into a Hindu nation."
This is a goal that Archirya and other extremist Hindu leaders say is worth fighting for.
"Every time you read the pages of history, you see that Hindus have fought for this nation and for their religious rights," said Archirya. "india has always been, is, and forever will be a Hindu nation."
These are words that do little to comfort the Christians living here in Kandhamal District.
On a recent Tuesday morning, a group of Christian villagers stood in the ruins of their church and sang of their commitment to their faith and their determination to pray for those who've carried out these acts of terror.
"I am praying that through this devastation, people will experience the love of Jesus," said Sunderson Digal, a resident of Minia Village.
"And the bottom line is that if we live, we'll live for Christ," said Babulok Maliga, a pastor in Kandhamal. "If we die, we'll die for Christ. Whatever happens, we will worship our Lord."
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