United Christian Forum (UCF), a human rights group based in New Delhi that monitors atrocities against Christians in India, reports it has confirmed 154 incidents of violence in 17 states in the first half of the year alone in the mostly Hindu country.
“This year hasn’t been any different for Indian Christians except that Indian Christians across the globe came together to establish an exclusive day for themselves on July 3 and launched a decade of celebrations (2021-30) to honor the 2,000th anniversary of the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ,” the UCF said in a statement.
According to UCF, mob violence is usually accompanied by a police team arriving at a place of worship disrupting prayer or church services.
These violent acts continue despite many directives by the country’s Supreme Court to stop attacking Christians.
More than 600 women and over 400 tribal people and Dalits, the lowest group in the Hindu caste system, have been injured in these incidents, as well as churches and places of worship damaged or destroyed.
New anti-conversion laws have led to many false accusations and attacks against Christians. However, the UCF reports not a single Christian has been convicted of forcing anyone to convert.
As CBN News has reported, Christians in India have faced dramatically increased attacks and persecution since Prime Minister Modi took power in 2014. Verified cases of persecution skyrocketed from 147 in 2014 to nearly 328 in 2019. The increase comes largely due to the rising level of Hindutva ideology throughout Indian society that emboldens radical Hindus to attack Christians through mob violence.
The UCF reports much of the increased intolerance and violence can be blamed on the fact that perpetrators of anti-Christian violence can get away with it. It also blames anti-Christian rhetoric often espoused by BJP politicians. Stirred on by that, many radical Hindu nationalists feel they have the tacit approval of the BJP government when attacking Christians and their places of worship.
As of the 2020 census, Christians make up 2.3 percent of India’s population of 1. 38 billion.
India is ranked 10th on Open Doors USA’s 2021 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.
The remainder of this article is available in its entirety at CBN