Christians targeted: Families in India must convert to avoid death or expulsion
Families must convert to avoid death or expulsion
They were ordered to get on their knees and bow before the portrait of a Hindu preacher. They were told to turn over their Bibles, hymnals and the two brightly colored calendar images of Christ that hung on their wall. Then, Digal, 45, a Christian since childhood, was forced to watch his Hindu neighbors set the items on fire.
"Embrace Hinduism, and your house will not be demolished," Digal recalled being told on that Wednesday afternoon in September. "Otherwise, you will be killed, or you will be thrown out of the village."
India, the world's most populous democracy and officially a secular nation, is today haunted by a stark assault on one of its fundamental freedoms. Here in eastern Orissa state, riven by six weeks of religious clashes, Christian families like the Digals say they are being forced to abandon their faith in exchange for their safety.
The forced conversions come amid widening attacks on Christians here and in at least five other states across the country, as India prepares for national elections next spring.
India is no stranger to religious violence between Christians, who make up about 2 percent of the population, and India's Hindu-majority of 1.1 billion people. But this most recent spasm is the most intense in years.
It was set off, people here say, by the killing on Aug. 23 of a charismatic Hindu preacher, who for 40 years had rallied the area's people to choose Hinduism over Christianity.
The police have blamed Maoist guerrillas for the swami's killing. But Hindu radicals continue to hold Christians responsible.
Hate has been fed by economic tensions as well, as the government has categorized each tribe differently and given them different privileges.
Recent comments
It is the Brahman class that wants to turn India into a "Hindu" nation…
It is all a class war | Oct. 13, 2008 at 8:11 p.m.
google Christian church fires for the last 5 years!
Anonymous | Oct. 13, 2008 at 3:52 p.m.
We need to embrace diversity as a country; there is no advantage…
Didymus | Oct. 13, 2008 at 12:21 p.m.
