09/16/2020 India (International Christian Concern) – According to Asia News, a small Christian community in India’s Uttar Pradesh state was terrorized by radical Hindu nationalists last Sunday, September 13. The radicals reportedly attacked the Christians after they claimed that the local pastor had attempted to convert Hindus to Christianity.
On Sunday, September 13, members of Yuva Shakti Sangathan, a radical Hindu nationalist group, attacked the home of Santosh Kannaujia, a Pentecostal pastor, in the village of Bela. The radicals accused Pastor Kannaujia of attempting to convert Hindus to Christianity in the nearby village of Cholapur.
Pastor Kannaujia was defended by members of his community and local police were able to intervene before any serious violence broke out. However, arrests were made on both sides of the confrontation.
Radicals in India often used the false allegations of forced or fraudulent conversions to justify their attacks on Christians. Due to growing religious intolerance, many radicals in India view almost all conversions to non-Hindu faiths as forced or fraudulent.
“Conversion is not illegal,” Sajan K. George, President of the Global Council of Indian Christians, told Asia News. “It is a constitutional right like praying. Worshiping is not a crime, yet these right-wing groups, on the basis of mere rumor or fake information, bother and terrorize small Christians communities.”
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