Orissa: Six More Churches Set on Fire, Hundreds of Homes Destroyed
The anti-Christian pogrom in the state of Orissa shows no signs of a let-up. In the past three days six churches have been attacked, set on fire and destroyed; hundreds of Christian-owned houses have been devastated and then torched as police remain idle. The number of refugees and missing people is rising. Death threats are made against Christians if they practice their faith but according to the government of Orissa the situation is "under control".
Asianews reports:
Asianews reports:
According to reports that have reached AsiaNews from the diocese of Bhubaneshwar, the Catholic church in Padunbadi was attacked last night, plundered and torn down. Even the church wall was razed to the ground. The Catholic church in the village of Kakadabadi was also attacked yesterday and torched.
On Monday the Baptist church in Durgaprasad, the Catholic church in Chadiapally, and both the Catholic and Baptist churches in Balligada were set on fire and destroyed.
Also on Monday at 4 pm the Catholic church in Mondasore, a heritage building dating back to more than a century ago, was attacked, plundered and then set on fire. The residence and car of the parish priest, Jugal Kishore Digal, saw the same fate.
Rabindra Parichha, from the village of Bhaliapada, which is part of Mondasore Parish, blames police inaction.
"I had called the district control room and asked for the security force and also faxed a letter explaining the danger for the Mondasore Parish," he said. "In spite of this my Parish church was attacked and destroyed."
In an attempt to wipe out Christians and stop conversions radical Hindus have attacked and torched Christian homes. Just in the last three days two houses were set on fire and destroyed in Raikia; 50 in Balligada; three in Kakadabadi; 35 in Tikabali (Beheragano); five in Chakapad and one in G. Udayagir.
Most Christians have fled into the forest or found refuge in makeshift shelters set up by the government; others are facing retaliations and threats.
Christians in the village of Padani have been forced to carry out Hindu ceremonies and have received threats if they dare practice Christianity.
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2 comments:
May GOD be praised!
There is only one and one reason for this outrage against Christians.
The Hindu society cannot function in a casteless manner. There has to necessarily be castes, with people in the upper caste controlling the lower caste. This is very deeply rooted. In my opinion this has actually emerged from the fact that there was really no "religion" Hinduism, if you examine the origin of it, in India. It is entirely foreign (the way we see it today - the visible Hindu religion), brought in by the Aryans and the native tribal beliefs and regional societies had to make way for this foreign religion. The successes that the Aryans had in the north of India didn't really filter down to the south of India till much later. In fact by then the regional religions/ beliefs were accomodated into this mother religion (in an uncomfortable manner), as lower caste people who really didn't have much voice or rights and their duties were well laid out (there were conquered and remained slaves). Thus the temples that they could visit were different from the ones the upper caste people could visit (very evident in Kerala till recently). The real reason is because most of the lower caste temples had different dieties that were not the common ones in the upper caste temples (I would request some expert to verify this). For instance if a woman were to die in the pyre of her husband (sati-a practice very prevalent even in this modern age when her husband dies, she is forced to commit suicide by jumping into his pyre - this practice was outlawed by the British but practised still in north India), they would call her a godess and make a temple for her. These temples are generally frequented by the lower caste than the upper caste.
Thus in this highly structured society (a master - slave relationship for the most part), any attempt to give equal rights and dignity to people would be considered as suicide by the proponents of such a society. Thats why the Christians are hated so much (almost always by the upper caste), as their efforts for the upliftment of the lower caste people, in their quality of life and education is always viewed as a serious threat by them.
It is very easy to convince someone by playing the religion card (they do not see the underlying plots ofcourse!), to claim that Christians are converting by force. Let me categorically state that Catholics do not convert anybody by force, if that were the case, the whole of India should have been Christian by now! Afterall India was ruled by Christian powers (even non-Catholic) and Christianity has been in India since the time of the Apostles, even then they should have converted all of India by now!
Thus these lies are perpetuated by those people who want to retain power and position at the cost of the lower caste, whom they have been exploiting and want to continue doing so without any hinderance. The biggest joke of this matter is (which is not a laughing matter) that State Governments of India have gone ahead and declared laws to restrict religious conversions - under the fear that Christians would convert by force (forgetting the fact that if Christians wanted to do it, India would have been 100% Christian by now!), which shows their level of intelligence and how threatened they feel that their perfectly structured society (without equal rights and liberties), which is actually UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
When will the Government of India under the capable leadership of Shri Manmohan Singh realise this and take quick action (because unless strongly curbed now, it will slowly erode at the life and culture of people - eroding their votebank)?
Binoy A. Mathew
binoyamathew888 at yahoo dot com
Mr. L K ADVANI IS RESPONCIBLE FOR KILLING CHRISTIANS IN ORISA
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