ICC Note:
In a statement endorsed by the National United Christian Forum, the Archbishop of India has expressed serious concern over recent developments related to the persecution of Christians. In December, there have been many incidents of persecution leading many to believe 2015 will be a hard year for Christians in India. The Archbishop called on India’s Prime Minister to speak out on these issues, which he is yet to do, and reminded everyone that Christians have played a vital role in India’s history for hundreds of years. Please pray for Christians as they face increasing persecution in India.
12/23/2014 India (Times of India) – Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao has endorsed a statement by National United Christian Forum (NUCF) members expressing serious concern about certain developments related to minorities, especially Christians, and announcements and statements made by some groups linked to right wing ideology.
NUCF comprises three leading churches of India, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) and Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI).
Ferrao has also raised concern over the current situation and certain incidents, especially, the recent happenings in Bastar forcing the school to put the statue of Saraswati in a Catholic school and forbidding the children to address the principal with the honorific ‘Father’; the burning of a church in Delhi; the declaration of ‘Good Governance Day’ on December 25 to undermine the importance of Christmas; the provocative call by some fundamentalists to convert 4,000 Christians to Hinduism in Agra on Christmas Day and the regular targeting of the Christian community, calling them even anti-national is a cause of great concern for us. Pointing out that the Christian community has been always in the forefront of providing service to the nation, NUCF appealed to Prime Minister, Narendra Modi to remind people that development cannot take place amidst attempts to disrupt peaceful communal harmony prevailing in the country for centuries.
The Christian community comprises just 2.33 percent of the population, doing its day-to-day work in a peaceful manner and setting a good example of how dutiful citizens must abide by law, but, recent development are distressing.
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