In a development that has been welcomed by the Christian community of India and particularly the state of Odisha, the Vatican has granted approval to initiate the beatification process for 35 Christians who were martyred for their faith during the 2008 anti-Christian violence in Kandhamal, Odisha. Violence that started in Kandhamal district in the month of August 2008, spread to 14 other districts and was probably the worst case of anti-Christian violence in India till that time. It was orchestrated by right-wing Hindu nationalists and the violence that lasted for over three months had claimed over 100 lives and left thousands homeless, forcing them to take shelter in the jungles for days. Over 6,000 homes were demolished or destroyed as well as over 300 churches and more than 50,000 people were internally displaced. In a recent message to Archbishop John Barwa of the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar archdiocese, the Vatican granted permission to initiate the process of canonization for one of the victims who lost their lives in the attacks, along with 34 of his companions. The process of canonization is associated with Kanteswar Digal, a Catholic catechist who fell victim to a mob attack during the 2008 violence that was fueled by rumors that Christians

MUMBAI – Police in India have detained a man who claimed responsibility for multiple explosions at a Jehovah’s Witnesses prayer meeting that killed three people and left at least 50 injured, but have not yet confirmed that he was actually the author of the attack. The man, named Dominic Martin, claimed “full responsibility” in a six-minute Facebook video which was online for about four hours before it was removed. Reportedly employed as an English teacher, Martin described himself in the video as a former member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses who had become disenchanted with what he called their “anti-national” teachings. In contemporary India, the charge of being “anti-national” is often lodged against critics of Hindu nationalist movements and leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A statement from India’s Syro-Malabar Catholic Church suggested the bombings may have been “a deliberate and planned attempt to destroy the secular nature of Kerala,” referring to the southern Indian state in which the attack occurred. A spokesman for the Jehovah’s Witnesses said Martin is not a registered member of the group, and was unaware if he was in attendance at the prayer meeting where the blasts took place. A police spokesman confirmed that there were at least two major explosions,

Kandhamal, an obscure jungle district in Odisha –one of the least developed among 766 districts in India– is now known all over the world. The credit goes to the poor but valiant Christians who embraced martyrdom like the ‘Early Christians’ when they were threatened with death to forsake their faith in Christ. I was thrilled when Apostolic Nuncio to India Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli announced the news of the Vatican granting green signal for initiating the beatification process for 35 Catholic martyrs of Kandhamal. The October 18 ‘nihil obstat’ from the Vatican Dicastery for Causes of Saints has cleared the path “to initiate the process of beatification for the Servant of God Kantheswar Digal and companions, martyrs of Kandhamal” from the 2008 persecution of Christians. Encounters with these martyrs’ kins and thousands who survived martyrdom over the past 15 years have changed the course of my life. I have visited the ‘holy land of India’ sanctified by the blood of heroic Christians35 times. Now the roads are clear for Archbishop John Barwa of Cuttack Bhubaneswar that covers Kandhamal, to set the canonization process in motion. The first step is an Archdiocesan council meeting to decide the date and plans for officially initiating the process.

In Chhattisgarh state, tribal Christians have to choose between an indifferent ruling party and the pro-Hindu rival Tribal Christians in central Indian Chhattisgarh state are confused about whom to support in the upcoming elections as the ruling Congress party has failed to protect them from the worst-ever anti-Christian violence, says a Catholic bishop Chhattisgarh, along with four other Indian states, goes to polls in two phases on Nov. 7 and 17 for its 90-member assembly. The ruling Congress party is banking on the performance of its Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel to win a second term. Its rival, the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is striving to make a comeback after it lost power in 2018 following a 15-year rule. “There is a cloud of confusion among tribal Christians,” said Bishop Paul Toppo of Raigarh in Chhattisgarh state referring to the Congress' inability to safeguard the tribal Christians, especially in Narayanpur and Kondagaon districts in the past couple of years. “Tribal Christians are dejected because they had voted for the Congress in previous elections. But when they were in trouble, the party failed to bail them out,” the prelate told UCA News on Oct. 31. The attacks by hardline Hindu groups, with tacit support from the BJP, started on Dec. 9, 2022, and continued until January. Several

         A principal and 55 members of the teaching staff at a Christian school have been booked by police under the stringent anti-conversion law in a northern Indian state.        Principal D S Dasan and his teaching staff at Eton English Medium School in Bansi in Uttar Pradesh’s Siddharth Nagar district have been accused of trying to convert people belonging to indigenous tribal and Dalit (formerly untouchable) communities. The case was registered at the Bansi police station on Oct. 30 under provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021. “This is totally a fake case. We have not converted anyone,” said Dasan, who is a member of the Layman’s Evangelical Church and also doubles up as manager of the school. He told UCA News on Nov. 1 that the school has been running for more than three decades and has 2,000 students studying up to grade eight. "This is the first time such an allegation has been leveled against us,” he added. The Sunday service on Oct. 29 was purportedly termed as a religious conversion activity to register a false complaint by Rakesh Kumar Gautam. He alleged that the principal and the teachers were trying to convert tribal people and Dalits who attended the prayer

KOCHI: Three back-to-back explosions at a 2,000-strong prayer congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, a Christian denomination, at Kalamassery in Kerala's Kochi on Sunday killed two women and wounded 58 other members. The blasts were initially suspected to be a terror attack but were later declared to be the alleged handiwork of a disgruntled former member.KOCHI: Three back-to-back explosions at a 2,000-strong prayer congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, a Christian denomination, at Kalamassery in Kerala's Kochi on Sunday killed two women and wounded 58 other members. The blasts were initially suspected to be a terror attack but were later declared to be the alleged handiwork of a disgruntled former member. The improvised explosive devices (IEDs) allegedly planted at the Zamra International Convention and Exhibition Centre by the suspect, identified as Dominic Martinof Thammanam in Kochi, went off in the middle of prayers at 9.35am, police said. The centre was the venue of a three-day Jehovah's Witnesses event since Friday. Survivors said they heard three explosions within seconds, with the first one being powerful, followed by two smaller ones. "I found a woman in flames lying face down on the floor. I grabbed a hose from the fire-safety system and sprayed water over her to douse the flames,

AIZAWL: Mizoram chief minister and president of the governing Mizo National Front (MNF) Zoramthanga on Tuesday said his party will not work together with BJP in the coming election to the 40-member state legislature to be held on November 7, reports HC Vanlalruata. Talking to TOI, Zoramthanga blamed the majority Meitei community for the alleged attacks on churches in Manipur, which is governed by the saffron party, and said: "This is not the time to be close to BJP." He said the people of Mizoram being Christians, it will have a negative impact on the go what has happened in Manipur. ning party in view of what has happened in Manipur. The CM said he will not share stage with PM Modi when he comes to Mizoram for election campaign. Modi is scheduled to visit Mamit district on the Mizoram-Tripura- Bangladesh border for election campaign on October 30.Zoramthanga said MNF had joined the BJP-ledNDA and Neda (North-East Democratic Alliance) because of the fact that the party is strongly against the Congress-led UPA, now INDIA. "I told the central government that we are just following in their footsteps as the Centre helped and armed refugees from the erstwhile East Pakistan. We do not arm the

The resistance to Christian expansion and its evangelical forces on the streets and social media is the new shift the society is witnessing in Andhra Pradesh in the last decade. Despite encountering formidable opposition from Hindus since the colonial period, the Church has always adeptly navigated, allowing itself to regroup and devise novel strategies. In the last few decades, the Church has shifted its focus from service activities like educational institutions and hospitals to gospel preaching. A new breed of churches based on an aggressive evangelist model, similar to the USA-based evangelists, have sprung up across the state of Andhra Pradesh. With core missionary activity shifting to street gospel preaching, criticism of Biblical scriptures and their teachings has started coming in from different sections of the society i.e. common people, ex-Christians, knowledge seekers and freethinkers.A steady and deep study of Christian scriptures has started taking shape amongst non-Christians. The escalating encounters between Christians and non-Christians have started changing the dynamics, posing a threat to the foundations of the Church. The reasons for this resistance are multifaceted, involving philosophical, theological, cultural and historical influences. One of the dominating factors contributing to this resistance is the account of personal experiences of non-Christians and Christians. STREET EVANGELISM In

The religious freedom charity Release International says a rise in attacks against Christians in India is ‘deeply alarming’ and it fears there is a denial in India about the increase in anti-Christian violence. It says the attacks have been fuelled by right-wing nationalism, while growing numbers of Christians are being arrested under anti-conversion laws. The United Christian Forum (UCF) has recorded 525 violent attacks to the end of August, more than for the entire previous year in which there were 505 recorded incidents. The UCF says attacks are rising ‘not just year-on-year, but month-on-month’. UCF says the growing violence follows the passing of sweeping anti-conversion laws in almost 40 per cent of India's 28 states. Most of those states are governed by the ruling nationalist BJP government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Anti-conversion laws supposedly target conversion by force or allurement. But their loose wording means any kind of charitable work could be considered a form of bribery. Congregations accused of forced conversion have had their buildings ransacked and property destroyed. Human Rights Watch (HRW) claim these laws are often misused by police to target Christians, particularly from the Dalit or Adivasi communities. The United Christian Forum says 520 Christians have now been arrested and

TWO inquiries into attacks on Christians and other minority faith communities in India have reported growing violence, and increasing numbers arrested under anti-conversion laws introduced in states governed by the ruling Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The United Christian Forum (UCF) has recorded 525 violent incidents in India this year, in the eight months to August: a rise of 45 per cent since 2022. It also recorded 520 Christians arrested and accused of forced conversions, including a couple arrested at their wedding, along with the pastor, after it was alleged that the wedding was a “conversion event”. The UCF is a coalition of Christian organisations which advocates on behalf of religious minorities. The UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Fernand de Varennes, told the US Commission on Religious Freedom, which is carrying out one of the inquiries: “India risks becoming one of the world’s main generators of instability, atrocities, and violence, because of the massive scale and gravity of the violations and abuses targeting mainly religious and other minorities such as Muslims, Christians, Sikhs. . . It is systematic and a reflection of religious nationalism.” The Washington-based Indian American Muslim Council said in its latest report that Muslims and Christians were facing targeted attacks and hate crimes in India, including demolition