PATTAYA, Thailand – A solemn atmosphere descended upon a room full of culturally diverse evangelical leaders on Wednesday as disturbing accounts of religious persecution poured forth from those living in anti-Christian hotspots.
One by one, panelists shared stories of attacks against Christians in their country that included atrocious acts such as beheadings, gang rape, and genocide.
Stories were especially poignant because of the speakers’ closeness to the actual persecution, of which some were personally experienced.
The Rev. Godfrey Yogarajah of Sri Lanka, the new director of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) Religious Liberty Commission, shared that just a few days prior to his arrival in Thailand for the WEA General Assembly, one of the WEA pastors in his country of Sri Lanka was murdered and the pastor’s body thrown in a river.
A Vietnamese pastor named “Daniel” (full name cannot be disclosed for security reason) on the panel spoke about his father, a pastor, who was imprisoned for six years for his faith following the communist takeover in 1975.
The Vietnamese government now continues its persecution of his family for a second generation by denying Daniel citizenship because of his leadership in a major house church organization. His wife has to carry the burden of representing his family in every legal procedure.
But perhaps the most emotionally-charged testimony came from the Rev. Dr. Richard Howell, the general secretary of Evangelical Fellowship of India and Asia Evangelical Alliance.
Howell went beyond informing the evangelical leaders in the audience about the recent anti-Christian rampage in India to explain the reason behind Hindus’ hatred of Christians.
Hindu nationalist political parties believe and promote an ideology that promotes Hindu nation, Hindu culture, and Hindu people – “nationalism linked to Hindu religion,” said Howell.
“If you are not a Hindu, by definition, you are an anti-national,” he states. “So the hatred of Christian is hatred of Christian identity. They don’t like us not because of what we do – they definitely hate what we do – but also who we are.”
“They want to turn India into a Hindu nation, that is why Christians are hated,” the evangelical leader said.
But more importantly, Christians are hated because they empower the poor, which is the “root cause of any hatred that they incur,” he said.
Empowering the poor Dalit disturbs the caste system, which defines the group formerly known as untouchables as impure.
“A Dalit can never become a Brahmin (the highest position among the four social classifications of Brahminical Hinduism). It is his fate that he is condemned to be an impure Dalit. He should die a Dalit,” Howell explained.
However, the Gospel empowers and liberates Dalits when they become a follower of Jesus Christ, which angers the Brahmins.
“In 1857, every single Christian in Delhi was slaughtered – every single Christian. There was a time in Delhi where every single Muslim was put to death,” recalled a visibly emotional Howell in a loud but trembling voice.
“In 1984, when Mrs. [Indira] Ghandi (India's first and to date only female Prime Minister) was killed, 3,000 Sikhs were butchered – 3,000 of them on the streets of Delhi,” he recalled. “They have killed the Christians, they have killed the Muslims, they have killed the Sikhs, and now it is the time of Christians to be killed.” Continue >>
RSS
Check this out...
http://www.aclj.org/TrialNotebook/Read.aspx?id=683
Amazing how we have such a passive image of hinduism, but it's like any other ideology when it's used for identity purposes. May the Lord have mercy on His suffering children in that benighted land, and may He convict the authorities to uphold a principled rule of law.
wow. what heart-wrenching stories, and we only got a very high level.
Lord, may you protect these evanglists and pastors and believers - both mature and new alike. May your word go forth and may many come to faith in Christ.