News

India: Mob carrying wooden bars vandalizes church as prayers about to begin, five hurt

October 9, 2021

Many Hindus believe that conversion to Christianity is an attack on their culture and way of life, and an imminent threat to both, despite the fact that Christianity has been a presence in India since the days of St. Thomas the Apostle. Instances such as the one described below are the result.

For previous ChristianPersecution.com coverage of the persecution of Christians in India, see here.

“Uttarakhand: Mob vandalises church in Roorkee; 5 hurt,” by Tapan Susheel, Times of India, October 4, 2021:

ROORKEE: An unruly mob, believed to comprise of right-wing activists, went on a rampage and vandalised a Roorkee-based church, attacking five persons during a Sunday prayer meeting.

Two women, who had sustained injuries in the attack, and one other had to be rushed to Dehradun and are said to be in a critical condition.

The attackers alleged that they suspected some religious conversion-related activities were going on in the area….

Sources told TOI that the mob entered the church situated at the Solanipuram locality at 10 am and started abusing and thrashing people who were inside. Some of them were carrying wooden bars with them.

“The prayer was about to begin. Around 10 people were present when the crowd, many of whom we recognised as members of Bajrang Dal and other right-wing groups stormed the church and started beating us and damaging the church property. We know most of the attackers as they keep threatening us to shut down the church. We demand strict action against them. We also want police protection to be provided to us,” said Priyo Sadhna Porter, pastor of the church….

Meanwhile, when queried about the incident, Adesh Saini, general secretary of district unit of the BJP, said, “We condemn the incident but it is also true that residents of the locality have been cautioning against religious conversions….