wfn.org | Churches protest atrocities against minorities in India

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

Recent killings prompt fresh probe into extremist cadres

CHENNAI, India/GENEVA, 23 September 1999 (lwi) - In the face of
continued violence against religious minorities particularly Christians
in India, churches, mission agencies and other related organizations in
the sub-continent are demanding that all criminal groups associated with
fundamentalist organizations be banned.

At a press conference organized mid-September by the National Council of
Churches in India (NCCI) following the murder of a Catholic priest Fr.
Arul Doss on 2 September and Muslim trader Sheik Rehman on 29 August,
leaders of churches and related organizations also demand that
appropriate action be taken against the responsible government
representative and police for issuing misleading statements against
minorities in the eastern state of Orissa where most of the violence has
taken place.

"The fact that 'communal cleansing' is the national agenda of (Hindu)
fundamentalists and their criminal cadres has been established once
again" by the recent murders, stated a press release issued at the
conference. Among the six signatories to the statement is the NCCI
President Dr. Kunchala Rajaratnam, who is also the executive secretary
of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) National Committee in India, Rev.
Dr. Prasanna Kumari, one of the LWF vice-presidents and executive
secretary of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India (UELCI) and
the Catholic Archbishop of Mylapore, Rev. Dr. Aruldas James.

The NCCI, which represents 13 million Christians, groups 29 Protestant
and Orthodox churches, and related organizations. The UELCI comprises 10
Lutheran churches, nine of which are LWF member churches.

Prior to the joint press meeting, Dr. Kumari in a pastoral letter to the
UELCI bishops and presidents condemned the killing of Fr. Doss and urged
fellow church leaders to express similar protests against
fundamentalists for propagating the continued division of the Indian
society in the name of caste.

The UELCI executive secretary called for nation wide prayers seeking
God's intervention in the context of atrocities against Christians in
India, and said that the situation is deteriorating particularly in the
context of the ongoing general elections.

India's nationwide polls, in which 600 million voters are expected to
cast their ballots began on 5 September and end on 3 October 1999. The
end of the violence-marred process will put in place the national
parliament, which should convene by 21 October. The election was called
after incumbent Prime Minister A. B. Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) and its coalition of more than 20 parties lost a parliamentary
vote of confidence by one vote last April.

"I request the churches to pray collectively and individually for God's
Spirit to strengthen us at a time like this. Let our fellow citizens in
India and the world know that we will continue to be faithful to Christ
in spite of the threats and persecutions that the church is facing,"
Kumari said in the pastoral letter. The recent incidents took place in
the tribal areas of Orissa in the east, not far from where an Autralian
Baptist missionary and his two young sons were burnt alive as they slept
in a van last January.

Kumari noted that although the churches' contribution to the development
of the Indian population particularly among the most oppressed in the
villages and tribal areas has been widely recognized through various
community-based programs, "the fundamentalists want the society to
continue to be divided in the name of caste. Therefore the churches
contribution is seen as a threat to their motives," she said.

She underscored that such caste-based division will promote injustice
and oppression, which is contrary to the message of the Gospel. She
reminded the UELCI leadership that God's mission is to challenge such
oppressive forces and to establish justice, dignity and peace among all
people.

About 80 per cent of India's population estimated at one billion people
are Hindus. Christians are 25 million.

(The LWF is a global communion of 128 member churches in 70 countries
representing 58 million of the world's 61.5 million Lutherans. Its
highest decision making body is the Assembly, held every six or seven
years. Between Assemblies, the LWF is governed by a 49-member Council
which meets annually, and its Executive Committee. The LWF secretariat
is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information is the information service of the Lutheran
World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted, material presented
does not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various
units. Where the dateline of an article contains the notation (lwi), the
material may be freely reproduced with acknowledgment.]

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Lutheran World Information
Assistant Editor, English: Pauline Mumia
E-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
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