Thursday, August 28, 2008

Hindu-Christian Violence Flares in India

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/26/world/asia/26india.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[The New York Times] 28 Aug 2008--The remote, destitute state of Orissa, marred for years by Hindu-versus-Christian violence, erupted in a retaliatory killing on Monday after the murder of a Hindu leader led a mob to burn small Christian churches, prayer halls and an orphanage that had housed 21 children.

The police said a woman’s body, charred beyond recognition, was found inside the church orphanage. The church’s pastor, whom the police did not identify and who was injured in the fire, told the authorities that the body was that of a nun working there. No children were injured.

The attack on the orphanage on Monday, in an isolated district called Bargarh, came after the killing Saturday of a Hindu leader who had been associated with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, or World Hindu Council, and who was leading a drive to wean local villagers from Christianity. Radical Hindu groups like the council are vehemently opposed to conversions to Christianity, which in India tend to focus on traditionally downtrodden lower-caste and indigenous groups, and have lately taken to conducting mass ceremonies to convert them back to Hinduism.

Related articles:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iDVYqrQRIM5s2IZAHYRHLFRvgT2wD92Q42580
Hindu-Christian clashes kill 8 in eastern India - The Associated Press
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4618690.ece
Vatican condemns anti-Christian violence by Hindu extremists in Orissa - Times Online
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/more.christians.killed.in.india.violence/21306.htm
More Christians killed in India violence - Christianity Today UK

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