Fwd: EFI NEWS Persecution Watch, August 10, 2012
Finney Philip
Regards,
Finney
From: Evangelical Fellowship of India <ma...@efionline.org>
Date: Sat, Aug 11, 2012 at 12:24 PM
Subject: EFI NEWS Persecution Watch, August 10, 2012
To: finn...@gmail.com
Christian worker Harassed in Madhya Pradesh
Pastor Accused of Forceful Conversion; Prayer Meetings Stopped in Karnataka
Police Warned Christians Not to Indulged in Forceful Conversion in Madhya Pradesh
An Appeal to Authorities
August 10, 2012
Christian worker Harassed in Madhya Pradesh
A group of anti-Christian people severely beat up a Christian worker, forced him to declare the name of a Hindu god on August 8 in Satna.
Our correspondent, Pastor David Singh reported that Bro. Stephen was distributing gospel tracts when one man invited him to his home. Stephen went with the man and he met another man who
asked him inside the compound.
Thereafter, the two men took him into a room, and started to beat him and forced him to say the name of a Hindu god.
Another extremist came and the three of them mercilessly beat up Stephen, mocked him and took a photograph of him holding the tracts close to his face.
The three men further threatened the Christian worker with dire consequences if he did not vacate his home the next day.
Kindly pray for Bro. Stephen.
Pastor Accused of Forceful Conversion; Prayer Meetings Stopped in Karnataka
Alleged Hindu extremists barged into the prayer meeting of Gypsy Mission Church, falsely accused the pastor of luring people to convert to Christianity, beat him up and tore his shirt on
August 5 in Gopi Shetty Koppa, Shimoga District.
Our correspondent, Rev Noel Kotian reported that at about 11:30 a.m, a group of 30 extremists forcefully entered into the prayer hall and started to verbally abused Pastor Ventakesh Naik,
the church members and forcefully took Bibles and song books.
Speaking to EFI NEWS, Pastor Naik said, "The group accused me of luring people to convert to Christianity and began to question each church member on how much money I have offered them to convert
to Christianity. The believers said that they have come to attend the prayer meeting voluntarily because Jesus has healed them and saved them from their sins," he added.
The extremists become more enraged and lodged a police compliant against Pastor Naik of forceful conversion. The police reached the spot and took the pastor, his wife and six believers to the
Thana, questioned them and detained them for about 8 hours. The police also seized the pastor‘s bike and auto rickshaw.
Later, at the police station, the anti-Christian group along with one local television channel massed up ,"The police station in charge, Davendrappa tried to forced Pastor Naik to publicly
apologize and to give a statement in front of the camera that he will not be involved in any conversion activities in future. However, the pastor refused." Advocate Moses Muragavel told EFI NEWS.
The pastor, at press time, has stopped conducting prayer meetings. Area Christian leaders are taking steps to solve the matter.
Police Warned Christians Not to Indulged in Forceful Conversion in Madhya Pradesh
Police warned pastors not to indulge in forceful conversion or force anyone to attend prayer meetings after a mob of alleged Hindu extremists forcefully entered into a gospel meeting, accused
the Christians of forceful conversion on July 27 in Dhanpuri in Shahdol district.
Our correspondent Rev. Akhilesh Edgar reported that a mob of about 300 extremists barged into a gospel meeting arranged by a new believer identified only as Kori at his house. Kori invited the
local pastor and six pastors from the neighboring areas.
At about 7 p.m., some extremists barged into the house while some surrounded the house and accused the Christians of forceful conversion and alerted the police.
Police took the pastors and some believers to Dhanpuri Thana and questioned them. The police recorded the statements of the Christians and advised them not to indulge in forceful conversion or
force anyone to attend their prayer services. All the pastors and believers were released at about 1 a.m. in the night.
Madhya Pradesh has a Christian population of 170,381, only 0.3 percent of the total in the state, according to the 2001 census. The state's history of religious intolerance runs deep, with an
"anti-conversion" law passed in 1968 that serves as a pretext for harassing Christians.
An Appeal to write to Authorities
As concerned people, kindly write to the Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh &
Karnataka appealing them to safeguard the rights of the minority communities and to
provide protection to churches against attacks and to take immediate action against the perpetrators of violence.
Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan
Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh
Email:
c...@mp.nic.in
(O) Tel: +91 755 2441581 ; 2441033
(O) Fax: +91 755 2441096
(R) Tel: +91 755 2442231 ; 2735876
Shri D V Sadananda Gowda
Chief Minister of Karnataka
Email:
c...@kar.nic.in
(O) Tel: +91 080 22253414 ; 22253424
(O) Fax: +91 080 22253115
Issued By:
Rev. Dr. Richard Howell,
General Secretary
Evangelical Fellowship of India
New Delhi, India
Evangelical Fellowship of India (established 1951) is a charter member of World Evangelical Alliance, an accredited NGO with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations