There is a profoundly disquieting myth about Hinduism which has been put about by its adherents so often and so successfully that it is in danger of crystallising into a truth – that of its essentially pluralistic and tolerant traditions. Recently this viewpoint was repeated in the Face to faith column of this newspaper by Nitin Mehta who argued that “There are thousands of sects within Hinduism, and violence between them is unknown.” This is, at best, disingenuous and, at worst, dishonest. He appears to gloss over the troublesome fact that caste Hindus have been callous towards their own – the Dalits or the “Untouchables” as they were previously known.

Nitin Mehta uses a piece of sophistry to suggest the superiority of Hinduism particularly vis-à-vis Islam without once mentioning Islam by name. He refers to the tolerance of religions that have their roots in India namely, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism – thereby implicitly damning Islam as a “foreign” imposition and as intolerant. Well here are the facts: Islam in India dates back to at least the 7th century. A presence of 1400 years is surely long enough to put down roots; there were nearly 10,000 cases of recorded crimes against Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe members in 2007 and we know that most crimes do not get recorded in India because of a corrupt and brutal police force; many Indians are still reeling from the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002, one of several over the years; and only last year vicious attacks in Orissa left at least 60 Christians dead. It is little wonder that in the recent elections in India, many parties and political candidates defined their agendas in opposition to the BJP (Bharatiya Janata party), the political face of Hinduism.

Also, of course, many of India’s Christians trace their roots back to the ministry of the Apostle St Thomas, almost 2000 years ago.

Ms Gupta points out that religions that have come into contact with Hinduism have been infected with caste-based hatred; witness the recent killing at a Sikh temple in Vienna by upper-caste Sikhs.

Dalits in Vancouver have denounced the killing, calling it an act of terrorism.

Outraged by the killing of their spiritual leader Sant Rama Nand by Sikhs opposed to his sect in Vienna, the Ravidassia community of Canada has called it an act of terrorism and violation of their right to worship .

Considered to be one of their largest groups anywhere in the West, the Canadian Dalits number about 15,000.

Sant Rama Nand, 57, who headed Dera Sach Khand Ballan near Jalandhar, succumbed to his injuries Monday in a hospital after he was attacked by a group of knife-wielding Sikhs inside a gurdwara in Vienna.
[…]
Paying tributes to their sect leader at a candle-light vigil here Monday night, the Ravidassia community – who refuse to be called Dalit Sikhs – said the killing of of [sic] their saint was “the negation” of the Sikh spiritual values.

“The shooting of preachers is an act of terrorism and an attack on democracy and on people’s right to worship,” said Michael Ghirra, president of the local Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha.

Sant Rama Nand was a preacher in the Ravidassia sect of Sikhism whose followers are mainly from lower-class social groups. He is said to have been killed by upper-caste Sikhs who opposed the opening of the Ravidassia temple in Vienna.

Canada’s Ravidassia community appeals for calm in Punjab and urges the governments of India and Austria to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Although Christians make up only some three percent of India’s overall population, in some areas their votes could be decisive.

The Church plays a crucial role in several Christian pockets, especially in Kerala, Goa and some northeastern states. The election comes at a time when Christians are facing challenges from governments and religious fundamentalists in various places.

In the southern state of Kerala, Church leaders are at odds with ruling communists, whose government they claim is trying to smother Christians. Media have accused Kerala-based Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil of Ernakulam-Angamaly, president of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of India, of saying in his recently published biography that communists are a greater evil than the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian People’s Party).

However, Christians in the eastern state of Orissa, where Hindu radicals waged seven weeks of anti-Christian violence beginning last August, have identified the BJP as the force to defeat. The party, which supports a Hindu nationalist ideology, was part of the two-party coalition that ruled the state during the violence. When that alliance split on March 7, Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, head of the Catholic Church in the state, said he was happy.

Beginning last August, Orissa was the scene of widespread and pre-planned anti-Christian mob violence.

This year India jumped from No. 30 to No. 22 on Open Doors’ World Watch List of countries where Christians suffer the most severe persecution. The increased violence is driven by rising anger among Hindu extremists over Christian conversions and the growth of Christianity. Some Hindus charge that the conversions are forced on poor Indians, mostly the lower-caste Dalits, by Christian missionaries. Five states in India have passed anti-conversion laws and two more states are preparing to implement laws.
[…]
Since August in Orissa more than 60 Christians have been killed, 252 churches and 1,500 homes razed or destroyed and an estimated 50,000 Christians displaced. Around 1,500 Christians are still living in refugees camps — and living in fear. Open Doors is partnering with organizations to help the displaced with basic food supplies and medicines.

Abhishek Singh, the director of Open Doors in India, expects persecution to continue to increase in India.

Persecution watchdog organisation Open Doors has initiated a prayer campaign for India and the Christians who live there. A three-page backgrounder with prayer items is posted here. This is the prayer campaign video:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoijxxIw6f0[/youtube]

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty calls this “the world’s most important election”, of even greater significance than last November’s US election.

[A]n election [is] pending which will have far more important economic impact on the fate of mankind, causing a fifth of the world’s population either to remain mired in poverty, or to move rapidly toward economic growth and prosperity. That election is in India.

Read the whole thing for analysis of the economic policies and electoral prospects of the various parties.

BBC News has posted a detailed map with brief state-by-state election previews.

h/t: International Christian Concern and The Black Kettle

Mr. [Ashok] Sahu made the provocative speech at a public meeting at Raikia town April 5. He allegedly accused the church of indulging in conversion. He also allegedly claimed that Congress Rajya Sabha MP Radhakanta Nayak was using foreign money to spread Christianity.
[…]
Mr. Sahu, a senior functionary of VHP [World Hindu Council] and belived [sic] to be mastermind in engineering attacks against christian minority, had also made similar remarks during the communal violence last year. Christian leaders had immediately refuted the allegations.

After listening to a recording of Mr Sahu’s speech, the Election Commission filed additional charges against him under two other sections of India’s Penal Code.

The Evangelical Fellowship of India has issued a statement condemning the use of hate speech by BJP candidates.

The BJP has also nominated for office Manoj Pradhan, who is now in jail accused of being a ringleader in Orissa rioting.

In India in the last five years, more Christians have been beaten or killed and more houses and churches burned than in all other countries of the world combined. What has happened? Why have so many fanatics arisen among the Hindus? Thousands of Dalits (formerly untouchables), have found Christ. This is a threat to their masters, the land-owning higher caste Hindus. Still opposition at such as anti-conversion laws in India has not stopped the evangelistic explosion there.

The impoverished Dalits, regarded as dirt to be walked on, are now breaking out in joy, sons and daughters of God. Their delight, their passion to tell others about Jesus, stuns Hindu powerbrokers, who thought the Christian problem was conquered when the white-skinned missionary was banned from their country. The Dalits seize every opportunity to witness, in spite of overwhelming odds.

The article includes this photo and caption:

Militant Hindus in Orissa state, India, distributed this notice before a rally against Christians. It says, “In order to make it a grand success, you all are requested to please come and join the rally with all your traditional weapons, like arrow, axe, appear, sword, etc.”

A recent book based on a careful analysis of events in Orissa charges that anti-Christian mob violence in Kandhamal district was not a “spontaneous” reaction to the murder of Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati.

[T]he zig-zag route of the funeral procession taken out in defiance of curfew, the author of the book Anto Akkara said the procession taken along even un-motorable roads was “a ploy to whip up communal passions and execute the anti-Christian agenda that had been chalked out much earlier and put to test on a limited scale during Christmas 2007.”

Pope Benedict XVI has announced that the plight of Christians in India will be a focus of meditations in this year’s Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) set to take place this evening in Rome. The meditations will be written by Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil S.D.B. of Guwahati, India.

The Voice of the Martyrs Newsletter is available free to Canadians.  Click here for more information.

As has been suggested before, the reason Christians are hated is that they reject the caste system. Christians are persecuted because they refuse to persecute Dalits. From the section of the EFC report headed “A Culture That Promotes Persecution”:

Today one fifth of the Indian population are Dalits, and Hindu extremists (who see Dalits as “less than human”) are angry with Christians for converting those who are poor and uneducated. It is important to recognize that the issue of Dalits is both divisive and controversial for Christian and Hindu groups alike. This causes a twofold problem: One, that Christians who care to reach out to this large people group are seen to be undermining the Hindu culture; and Two, that this evangelism and conversion of Dalits provides the Indian states, in which these people live, with greater social and economical problems that the Christians cannot solve (for only the governments in these various states have control over the political, social and economic agenda that ultimately affects the livelihood and futures of these “forgotten people”). Recognizing these issues requires a greater call of unity for all religious, non-governmental and political groups.

Christians in India, who are descendants of low caste Hindu families, have historically rejected the caste system and still suffer the same sort of social and economic discrimination that low caste Hindus do (even from some Christians who are descended from high caste families). Additionally, low caste Hindus that convert to Christianity lose their eligibility for any sort of government affirmative action program. Consequently, discussion of the current status of religious freedom for Christians in India must be conducted and understood in this context.

In Orissa, Hindu extremists are forcibly “re-converting” Dalit Christians through intimidation and violence.

As noted in the above excerpt, the caste system is so ingrained in Indian society and culture that some Christians from high-caste backgrounds discriminate against Dalits.   Clearly, the church has to do more to educate believers about the implications of the faith.

As Christianity continues to undermine the caste system through evangelisation and through Christian public projects such as schools and hospitals, ongoing persecution from radical Hindus can be expected.

h/t: Anglican Planet

What worries the Sangh Parivar is not the welfare of dalits but a possible reduction in upper-caste Hindu numbers. Their prejudice is so entrenched that they are not in a position to sense the agony of those who suffer under the caste-based system. In general, Hindu believers treat the disadvantaged as sinners reaping the fruits of a past life. Thus, a leper is to be shunned; the exploitation of dalits is justified. On the contrary, a Christian finds an opportunity for spiritual fulfillment in serving the leper and healing the sick. Before they build churches, Christians normally build schools and hospitals. Why do major Hindu religious establishments involve themselves only in collecting donations and not in performing such community services?
[…]
Unless the problems inherent to Hinduism are addressed, conversion can never be stopped. A Christian marries his or her co-religionist; a Muslim does the same. Is that possible for Hindus across caste? Are the upper castes ready to welcome reservation for their Hindu brothers? Is their society ready for inter-dining and for inter-caste marriages? Without these conditions being fulfilled, no one on earth can stop the rejection of Hinduism by the socalled lower castes.

A recent Christian initiative makes it unlikely that this clash will end soon.  The Global Ecumenical Conference on Justice for Dalits held last month in Bangkok, Thailand, called on Christians around the world to fight against caste-based discrimination.

Caste-based discrimination severely affects some 260 million people worldwide, an estimated 200 million of them in India alone. In India, considered the biggest democracy in the world, these discriminated people, once labeled and treated as “untouchable” due to Brahmanic ritual traditions viewing them as “polluted” or “polluting,” now call themselves Dalits (“oppressed”, “crushed”).

Conference participants issued the Bangkok Declaration, pledging to make Dalit liberation a central mission objective.

Of the 27 million Christians in India, over 18 million are Dalits. India has implemented free education and affirmative action for Hindu, Buddhist, and Sikh Dalits, but Christian and Muslim Dalits are specifically excluded.

He expressed the community’s dismay and shock that persecution had arisen in India – a land known for its tolerant spirit. But now that persecution has arisen against Christians, he encouraged the believers to look to the cross for comfort and encouragement during persecution. He said that forceful conversion was not plausible in a democratic society. The Archbishop Emeritus said conversion was by conviction and was the work of God and not of man. He reminded the audience of the history of the church and the Roman dictum “Christians to the lions.” He said as the persecuted, we are to pray for the persecutors and be strengthened by the Holy Spirit sent by Jesus. He encouraged the believers with Jesus’ promise to reward those who suffered for him in heaven and reminded them of their inheritance and place kept in Heaven for them. He quoted Jesus who said, “Do not be afraid for I have overcome the world” and urged the believers to apply the merits of Jesus’ salvation to their lives by being filled with love, joy and peace.

Amen to that!

Believers who had survived widespread and prolonged anti-Christian mob violence in Orissa state were among those attending the three-day meeting, which was organised by the Global Council of Indian Christians.

Manoj Pradhan is the prime accused in last year’s ethno-communal riots in Kandhmal and currently behind bars. But that hasn’t stopped BJP from giving a ticket to Pradhan to contest from the communally-split G Udayagiri assembly seat.

More than 600 people were arrested in connection with the violence that left over 120 people dead in Kandhmal after the killing of senior VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati in August last year. Cops described Pradhan as a “prize catch”. […] “Pradhan was the field commander who allegedly led mobs at various places and engaged in violence,” police said.

Police have charged Pradhan in over a dozen cases of arson and murder.

Another BJP nominee, Ashok Satu, blamed “Christian terrorists” for Swami Saraswati’s murder that touched off the mayhem. In fact, however, the swami was murdered by a Maoist group that took credit for the killing.

Over 3000 Orissa Christians remain in relief camps, fearing their lives are at risk if they return home.

A rape victim has told a city court that she wants to marry her violator. Almost four years after Sheila was allegedly raped by Ali (both names changed), she has converted to Islam and is ready to accept him as her husband.
[…]
Sheila, who had earlier identified the accused and deposed against him in court, pleaded that after registration of the case in 2005, people in her locality were constantly maligning the image of her family. “The rape case has made my life hell and jeopardised my future prospects of leading a happy married life. I want to marry Ali, as our marriage would end my ordeal,” Sheila told the court.

She even requested the court to release the accused on bail, so he could marry her.

The court agreed with the prosecution that bail was inappropriate in a case involving such a violent crime.

An advocate for rape victims said that Ali’s mother had pressured Sheila into agreeing to marry in hopes of getting her son out of jail.

The last laugh may be on Charlie Chaplin, cinema’s funny man who mocked prejudice and fascism. The Left-leaning, suspected communist sympathizer was called many names during his eventful life, but `Christian’ wasn’t one of them. But the new tag comes courtesy BJP activists in Baindur, near Udupi. They have blocked installation of Chaplin’s statue saying it would hurt Hindu sentiment.

The statue was being put up by Karnataka film director Hemant Hegde for the shoot of his movie `Housefull’ and was meant for a song sequence. On Friday, local BJP leader Suresh Batwadi stopped the film unit from going ahead with the project, claiming that the land on which the statue was to be erected belonged to the Someshwara temple and the crew lacked the requisite permissions.

Hegde said he had obtained all the clearances and had discussed the shoot with the officials. “I had apprised the gram panchayat and the Udupi deputy commissioner. The BJP activists questioned me as to why I was not installing Vivekananda’s statue,” he said. He said he planned to shift the shoot elsewhere.

Swami Vivekananda was an influential 19th-century Hindu mystic, but I doubt he was as funny as Charlie Chaplin.

Orissa’s Archbishop Raphael Cheenath recently reported that, while Christians are free to move around their relief camps, most are too fearful to return to their villages. Christians who have returned to their villages have been forced to ‘become Hindus’ or pay a fee. Archbishop Cheenath reports that ‘humiliating and discriminatory rituals are imposed upon the Christians by the Sangh Parivar [Hindu nationalist] elements with impunity’. He says the Christians are not permitted to use the public restrooms when Hindus are there; they must salute tribals whenever and wherever they meet them; and Christian women are forced to wear humiliating clothing. ‘If a Christian is riding a cycle and happened to meet a “Hindu” Tribal, he has to get down from the cycle and walk. While bathing in the pond in the village, tribal “Hindus” have to … bathe first, only then Christians can bathe.’ Furthermore: ‘Christians are threatened with dire consequences if they dare to go to the Church. If they still make an attempt they are prescribed sanctions like they will have no access to drinking water wells, ponds, gathering of firewood, etc.’

Such discriminatory treatment belies government claims to have restored peace in the troubled region.

Hate speech and anti-conversion laws are cropping up around the globe in what, on the surface, seems to be an effort to protect religious freedoms. In reality, these laws are generally aimed at preserving the rights of only one religion and restricting and even criminalizing the expression of others.
[…]
Sri Lanka Bill

It may be surprising to note that the most recent example of this trend is the largely Buddhist country of Sri Lanka. Seen in the West as a tolerant, meditative religion, Buddhism is the driving force in Sri Lanka’s introduction of a bill that would make it illegal to distribute religious literature or condemn any other religion, and would prohibit faith-based charities from operating openly.
[…]
India Anti-Conversion Laws

The bill being considered in Sri Lanka is based on several similar laws already in place in another unlikely country: India. India touts itself as the largest secular democracy in the world, but is in the middle of an internal struggle with Hindu extremists who want to make India a Hindu-only nation.
[…]
Apostasy and Blasphemy Laws in Muslim Countries

The laws in India and Sri Lanka, however, pale in comparison to apostasy laws that carry the death penalty for Muslims who convert to another religion. There are at least eight Muslim countries that prescribe the death penalty for apostasy, and many more where apostasy is such a stain on a family’s honor that Muslim fathers are even willing to torture and kill their own children for the offense. Many Muslim countries also have laws against blasphemy that prohibit anyone from speaking critically of the Koran or Muhammad.
[…]
Hate Speech Prohibition in UN from Muslims

Muslim countries are also seeking to make their blasphemy laws binding on the entire world through a resolution in the United Nations.

Our freedoms are God’s gifts to us to be used to worship and serve our Lord and to spread the Good News. In the face of persecution, the first believers prayed for boldness in speaking God’s Word. May that be our prayer today.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has sent a letter to 13 prominent Muslim organisations in India with a curious request — that they declare, in a fatwa, India to be a “friend” of Islam, or a Dar-ul-Aman, therefore making jihad against India and Indians invalid.

The Dharm Raksha Manch, a congregation of Hindu leaders, also asked the Muslim leadership to declare that Hindus were not “kafirs” and therefore should not be targets of jihad.

VHP head Ashok Singhal sounds downright presumptuous about the whole thing.

“We are expecting the said organisations to respond to this appeal in a positive manner. We firmly believe that till the time Islamic leaders do not condemn religion inspired violence, terrorism in this country will not come to an end,” Singhal said. “If Islam is a religion of peace, as they propagate, then we expect them to issue a fatwa clearing these views,” he added.

Cheeky but brilliant.  “If Islam is a religion of peace, as they propagate …”  Non-Muslims should use that line more often.

“We are taking a serious note of repeated attacks against women in Karnataka. The fascist elements are trying to create a communal divide in the society and we cannot let it go on,” Chowdhury told reporters here [New Delhi].

“There is a complete breakdown of law and order in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled state and the state government has lost control over the situation. The Central government will intervene if state government fail to take any action,” said Chowdhury.

She also said, “Talibanisation is happening”.

Last month, self-appointed morality police from Sri Rama Sene assaulted women in a Mangalore pub.  The same outfit is said to be responsible for kidnapping and beating an MLA’s daughter because she spoke to her Muslim friend’s brother on a bus.  Five people have been arrested in connection with the kidnapping.

More vigilantism is already planned for the coming week.

Sri Ram Sene activists are set to prevent the lovers from celebrating Valentine’s Day here on February 14. Around 500 activists will be on the prowl for the purpose.
[…]
Sene activists will take out a rally of students on the main streets of the city while Sene’s women’s wing will submit a memorandum to the district administration in this regard.

So, women have signed on with a group that oppresses women.  Similarly, women have accepted the dismal teachings of Wahhabist Islam.  Another reflection of “Talibanisation”?

The church in Batticola was rased to the ground and burned last August, at the beginning of the violence against Christians. Now, a foundation about one meter high has been laid in order to build a Hindu temple there. “On Feb 2nd around 12 noon, about 17 people, mostly men, left the G. Udaygiri relief camp to check on conditions at the Dokewadi hamlet in Jhimangia village before returning there. These Christians were surrounded by the Hindu villagers and given a dire warning: if they wanted to come back to the village, they had to convert to Hinduism.”
[…]
Other sources say that some Christians who have gone back to Batticola have faced constant humiliation and discrimination. The Hindus in the village have instituted 15 unwritten rules against the Christians. One of them is that Christians should always give way to Hindus in the street; that in the public baths, the Christians should bathe last; etc.

The Supreme Court of India has ordered the Orissa state government to protect Christians and other minority groups from mob violence.  It remains to be seen if the government is willing or able to do so.

Young men and women who get married without permission of their families risk retaliation. Sometimes they aren’t safe even in a courthouse.

On a typical day at the Punjab & Haryana High Court in Chandigarh, 10 or 12 couples who have tied the knot without their parents’ consent try to seek protection from their parents’ wrath.

Very often, goons hired by their parents waylay and abduct them before they can enter the court’s sanctuary.

Recently, Sangeet and John of Hoshiarpur were unable to file a petition for ten days because every day their parents and relatives stood at all three gates to the high court, waiting to nab them. Finally, Sangeet wore a burqa and John disguised himself as a lawyer to enter the court and ask for protection. Others aren’t so lucky. It’s a common sight for newly married couples to be chased down the court corridors by relatives brandishing sticks and firearms.

Courts in north-west India have been deluged by couples seeking legal protection from their families. An Indian high court judge recently said that, of 26 cases coming before him on 23 June 2008, 10 involved marriages between young adults (aged 18-21). Four days later, he saw 27 such cases.

Police are frequently part of the problem. They are prone to enter complaints of kidnapping and rape against the groom simply because the bride’s family insists.

The police, who often come from the same social milieu and culture as the parents, sympathise with them and are quick to register FIRs [First Information Reports] against the boy for kidnapping the girl. More often than not, the police—especially those in the lower ranks—turn into exploiters, demanding bribes and putting the fleeing couples under extreme pressure.

Judges have ordered police not to hand adult brides over to parents without the bride’s consent, but such orders are generally disobeyed.

Tragically, courts sometimes get involved in honour crimes too late. A “youth” in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering his aunt whom he suspected of having extramarital affairs. The news report says that he was convicted because of the victim’s dying declaration. All other witnesses refused to co-operate.

h/t: International Campaign Against Honour Killings

Activists of a self-styled pro-Hindu moral brigade called Sri Rama Sene barged into a pub in the coastal city of Mangalore on Saturday and bashed up a few young girls for “violating traditional Indian norms”, police said Sunday.

At least two girls were punched and their hair pulled by the activists 4 pm on Saturday at the pub Amnesia – The Lounge in Mangalore, about 350 km from here. The young men accompanying the girls to the pub on the busy Balmatta Road were also assaulted when they tried to protect their friends.

Punching girls and pulling their hair.  Such manly behaviour.  Does that fall under “traditional Indian norms”?

Police arrested ten of the attackers.

Hindu fanatics want the film banned in India because it offends Hinduism.

The Goa unit of a Hindu organisation has demanded a ban on the release of `Slumdog Millionaire’, saying the award-winning film hurts the religious sentiments of the majority hindu community.
[…]
They alleged that there are a few scenes in the movie that denigrated Lord Ram.

The film has now opened in India, so the attempt to have it banned failed.  Nevertheless, attacks continue.  Some accuse the film-makers of exploiting poverty for the sake of profit.

Some representatives of the city slums are attacking [director Danny] Boyle’s work, viewing the word “Slumdog” in the title as an insult. A few dozen of them have organized small demonstrations with banners like “Poverty For Sale” and “I am not a dog.” The court in Patna has even registered a complaint by the secretary general of the slum inhabitants, accusing musical director AR Rahman and the actor Anil Kapoor of defaming slum inhabitants by calling them “dogs.”

But Ruth Manorama, an activist for Dalit women, sees the matter differently. Speaking with AsiaNews, she says that the film is an “an exposition of how slumdwellers live in our part of the world, it has brought awareness to the international audience through this movie. This film has brought to light on the international stage the problem of these urban poor.”

Ms Manorama better be careful or she may get hauled into court.  As just mentioned, the film’s music composer and a lead actor are being sued for “depicting slum-dwellers in a bad light and violating their human rights”.

Mr [Tapeshwar] Vishwakarma objected to the use of words such as “slumdogs” to describe the millions of inhabitants of India’s cramped shantytowns, and filed a defamation case against the duo in the east Indian city of Patna, according to media reports Thursday.

His lawsuit alleges that the very name of the movie is derogatory and an affront to the dignity of India’s many slum-dweller.

Vishwakarma did not sue director Danny Boyle because “he hardly expected anything positive from a British filmmaker as their ancestors described us as ’dogs’.”  That’s very insulting.  Maybe Boyle should sue him.

After watching the film’s fascinating trailer, I’d go see it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0DKHKVWwkg[/youtube]

h/t for link to The West: Overlawyered

Shortly after midnight on 23 January 1999 Graham Staines, an Australian Christian missionary to India, and his two boys, Philip, 10, and Timothy, 8, were sleeping in their car when it was set upon and torched by a mob of Hindu fanatics armed with axes and pitchforks. The mob prevented Mr Staines and his children from escaping and they burned to death.

Mr Staines ministered among Indian lepers for 34 years. He met his wife Gladys in India and they were married in 1983. Both were originally from Australia, but they dedicated their lives to serving ostracised leprosy sufferers in a foreign land.

The Global Council of Indian Christians commemorates the life of Graham Staines and his sons Philip and Timothy.

On the night of 22nd January 1999, Graham Staines, Philip and Timothy, slept in their station wagon.

It was around 12.20 a.m. on 23rd January 1999, mob armed with sticks and tridents surrounded the station wagon,as they approached it, they began screaming.

Dara Singh struck first, wielding an axe at the tyres, deflating them. The others broke windows and prevented the Staines from escaping and then torched the jeep………….in seconds, the vehicle was on fire.

Graham Staines (1941-1999) his sons Phillip & Timothy were Burnt Alive.

During the funeral service, Gladys and Esther sang this song along with the believers: “There is no friend like Jesus who is humble. He knows our struggles. He will lead us”.

At the funeral, Esther said, “I thank God for choosing my father as a martyr for Him”.

Ten years have passed since that fateful day, Orissa continues to burn Christians.

Earlier this week, Gladys Staines told Asia News, “Do not give up hope, pray for India”.

Glenn Penner of Voice of the Martyrs Canada posts his tribute here.

I remember this terrible incident well, for it marked the first time that persecution of Christians in our day became a real concern to me.  Graham Staines was a kind and generous Christian man, yet his self-sacrifice aroused great enmity.  The murderous hatred shown him was, to me, not only manifestly unjust but baffling.  It was so wrong, but as our Lord says: “People will hate you because of me.”