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DENOUNCING what they called a “master plan”
to wipe out Christianity, bishops of India’s troubled Orissa region
have written a letter to that state’s Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik,
concerning the persecution of Christians at the hands of Hindu extremists
– in particular, the Sangh Parivar nationalist movement.
The Catholic News Agency (CNA) reported that the
bishops’ November 10 letter claimed Christians are being forcibly
converted to Hinduism “under pain of divine punishment.”
They said Christians are also being prevented from
harvesting fields unless they become Hindus, and that one man was denied
burial in his village because he was not a Hindu.
In addition, CNA reported, many of the criminals
involved in anti-Christian attacks are still at large. The bishops
contended that Christians are still being chased away from their homes and
villages, and that the state government has not fulfilled its promises to
allot land and money to those made homeless. According to the bishops,
criminals are still looting and burning Christian homes and churches.
CNA reported that the bishops challenged
characterizations of the anti-Christian attacks as an ethnic conflict.
They said, “Hindu fundamentalist groups have been
trying to name the communal violence as an ethnic conflict between the
Tribals and the Pano Christians.
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“A cursory look at facts reveals that this
conflict is a calculated and pre-planned master plan to wipe out
Christianity from Kandhamal district, Orissa, in order to realize the
hidden agenda of Sangh Parivar, of establishing a Hindu nation.”
The bishops asked that churches be built or repaired by
the first week of December, to allow Christmas preparations to begin and
spiritual traditions to be observed.
– Jeremy Reynalds, Assist News Service
December 2008
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