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****ing racist Dotheads are as bad as the diaper heads.
____________
Christians Under Siege in Indian State
By Patrick Goodenough
December 27, 2007
(CNN) - Three days of violence against Christians in India have raised
fears that the recent election victory of a Hindu hardliner in India's
most-developed state may be prompting other activists to turn on
non-Hindu minorities.
A curfew has been imposed in a remote part of eastern Orissa state
after clashes over the Christmas holiday that reportedly left at least
one and possibly three people dead.
Up to 12 churches and dozens of homes of Christians were ransacked or
torched, state officials and Christian groups reported.
India is predominantly Hindu, although the affected district has a
population of more than 100,000 Christians out of a total of 650,000
people.
Christian and Hindu organizations blamed each other for sparking the
latest violence.
The fundamentalist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP, or World Hindu Council)
accused Christians of trying to attack one its leaders, 80-year-old
Laxmanananda Saraswati, and said the clashes began when Saraswati's
followers prevented the attack.
However the All India Christian Council (AICC), a coalition of
Christian denominations and groups, said in a letter sent to Indian
President Pratibha Patil on Christmas Day that Saraswati's vehicle had
been attacked after an earlier clash instigated by local Hindus
opposing a Christmas event.
AICC secretary Sam Paul said in the letter that three Christians had
been shot during the clashes, and that Hindu fundamentalists had been
"roaming about disturbing the peaceful celebrations of Christmas at
gunpoint." He urged the president to intervene.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) in New Delhi said
Hindus in Orissa had objected to any Christmas event, and alleged that
Christians were trying to encourage low-caste Hindus to convert.
It said in a statement that a "known fundamentalist political
activist" had been warning Christians not to celebrate Christmas in
any way.
"On Dec. 24, he led a mob of over 100 persons, many of whom were armed
with guns and sharp weapons, to attack the Christmas celebrations and
prayers taking place in a pandal [temporary structure] set up in the
area."
John Dayal, president of the All India Catholic Union, said early
Thursday that more violence had occurred on Wednesday, with two parish
churches and about 40 houses attacked. He had also received reports
about a boy being abducted by assailants who "tried to burn him alive.
He survived, it seems."
Dayal urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene and said
Christian leaders would try to see him on Thursday.
"The Hindu attackers are announcing openly, even on television, that
every person who become a Christian becomes an enemy," he said.
Earlier this week, another Christian group, Gospel for Asia, reported
that "anti-Christian extremists" in Orissa had badly beaten one of its
missionaries, Matish Junni, shaved his head and paraded him around his
local village.
It said Junni, who pastors 25 local believers, had just days earlier
begun construction on a small church building.
"The extremists who attacked the pastor on Sunday demanded that the
church members halt construction immediately," Gospel for Asia said.
Hindu hardliners accuse Christians of luring low-caste Hindus to
covert to Christianity.
Hinduism's rigid social hierarchical system places at the very bottom
of the ladder so-called "untouchables" or "dalits." Converting to
Christianity, or Islam, allows dalits to escape from the caste system.
The governments of five Indian states, including Orissa, have passed
legislation declaring "forced" conversions illegal. In Orissa, police
permission is required before a person can change religion.
In 1999, Hindu radicals in Orissa set alight a car in which an
Australian Baptist missionary who ran a leprosy hospital was sleeping,
along with his two young sons. All three were killed. Thirteen men
were convicted in connection with the crime in 2003.
In another Indian state, Gujarat in the north-west, a controversial
Hindu hardliner was earlier this month re-elected as chief minister,
the head of the state's government. Chief Minister Narendra Modi was
sworn in on Tuesday.
One of India's most-senior Catholic leaders, Cardinal Telesphore
Toppo, was quoted as saying of the violence in Orissa that radical
Hindu organizations had evidently been emboldened by the Gujarat
election results.
Modi was chief minister when clashes between Hindus and Muslims in
2002 left more than 1,000 people dead, the majority of them Muslims.
The inter-religious violence, some of the worst in India in 50 years,
was triggered by a Muslim attack on a train carrying Hindu pilgrims.
Hindus then carried out retaliatory attacks against Muslims across the
state.
Critics say Modi did nothing to stop the carnage, and some accuse him
of sanctioning it.
____________
Christians Under Siege in Indian State
By Patrick Goodenough
December 27, 2007
(CNN) - Three days of violence against Christians in India have raised
fears that the recent election victory of a Hindu hardliner in India's
most-developed state may be prompting other activists to turn on
non-Hindu minorities.
A curfew has been imposed in a remote part of eastern Orissa state
after clashes over the Christmas holiday that reportedly left at least
one and possibly three people dead.
Up to 12 churches and dozens of homes of Christians were ransacked or
torched, state officials and Christian groups reported.
India is predominantly Hindu, although the affected district has a
population of more than 100,000 Christians out of a total of 650,000
people.
Christian and Hindu organizations blamed each other for sparking the
latest violence.
The fundamentalist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP, or World Hindu Council)
accused Christians of trying to attack one its leaders, 80-year-old
Laxmanananda Saraswati, and said the clashes began when Saraswati's
followers prevented the attack.
However the All India Christian Council (AICC), a coalition of
Christian denominations and groups, said in a letter sent to Indian
President Pratibha Patil on Christmas Day that Saraswati's vehicle had
been attacked after an earlier clash instigated by local Hindus
opposing a Christmas event.
AICC secretary Sam Paul said in the letter that three Christians had
been shot during the clashes, and that Hindu fundamentalists had been
"roaming about disturbing the peaceful celebrations of Christmas at
gunpoint." He urged the president to intervene.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) in New Delhi said
Hindus in Orissa had objected to any Christmas event, and alleged that
Christians were trying to encourage low-caste Hindus to convert.
It said in a statement that a "known fundamentalist political
activist" had been warning Christians not to celebrate Christmas in
any way.
"On Dec. 24, he led a mob of over 100 persons, many of whom were armed
with guns and sharp weapons, to attack the Christmas celebrations and
prayers taking place in a pandal [temporary structure] set up in the
area."
John Dayal, president of the All India Catholic Union, said early
Thursday that more violence had occurred on Wednesday, with two parish
churches and about 40 houses attacked. He had also received reports
about a boy being abducted by assailants who "tried to burn him alive.
He survived, it seems."
Dayal urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene and said
Christian leaders would try to see him on Thursday.
"The Hindu attackers are announcing openly, even on television, that
every person who become a Christian becomes an enemy," he said.
Earlier this week, another Christian group, Gospel for Asia, reported
that "anti-Christian extremists" in Orissa had badly beaten one of its
missionaries, Matish Junni, shaved his head and paraded him around his
local village.
It said Junni, who pastors 25 local believers, had just days earlier
begun construction on a small church building.
"The extremists who attacked the pastor on Sunday demanded that the
church members halt construction immediately," Gospel for Asia said.
Hindu hardliners accuse Christians of luring low-caste Hindus to
covert to Christianity.
Hinduism's rigid social hierarchical system places at the very bottom
of the ladder so-called "untouchables" or "dalits." Converting to
Christianity, or Islam, allows dalits to escape from the caste system.
The governments of five Indian states, including Orissa, have passed
legislation declaring "forced" conversions illegal. In Orissa, police
permission is required before a person can change religion.
In 1999, Hindu radicals in Orissa set alight a car in which an
Australian Baptist missionary who ran a leprosy hospital was sleeping,
along with his two young sons. All three were killed. Thirteen men
were convicted in connection with the crime in 2003.
In another Indian state, Gujarat in the north-west, a controversial
Hindu hardliner was earlier this month re-elected as chief minister,
the head of the state's government. Chief Minister Narendra Modi was
sworn in on Tuesday.
One of India's most-senior Catholic leaders, Cardinal Telesphore
Toppo, was quoted as saying of the violence in Orissa that radical
Hindu organizations had evidently been emboldened by the Gujarat
election results.
Modi was chief minister when clashes between Hindus and Muslims in
2002 left more than 1,000 people dead, the majority of them Muslims.
The inter-religious violence, some of the worst in India in 50 years,
was triggered by a Muslim attack on a train carrying Hindu pilgrims.
Hindus then carried out retaliatory attacks against Muslims across the
state.
Critics say Modi did nothing to stop the carnage, and some accuse him
of sanctioning it.
