Jehovah’s Witnesses, a Christian religious group whose prayer meeting in Kochi was marred by devastating bomb blasts a week ago, on Sunday resumed physical prayer meetings after holding online gatherings following the shocking incident that claimed the lives of three persons and injured over 50 others. The religious group decided to return to physical prayer meetings to remove any fear from its members’ minds following the blasts. The Jehovah’s Witnesses traces its origins to 19th century America. The group in Kalamassery faced a major shock when one of its estranged members — Dominic Martin — carried out multiple blasts at one of its conventions last Sunday by using an improvised explosive device (IED). Prior to surrendering before the police, Martin released a video stating that the group’s preachings were “seditious” and that they did not heed his warnings to change their ways, and that is why he carried out the attack. Three people, including a 12-year-old girl, lost their lives and over 50 were injured in the incident. Presently, according to a Health Department release, 20 persons are under treatment with 10 of them in intensive care and two in critical condition. The remaining eight persons are in the wards, it said. Subsequently, prayer meetings, usually held twice

Narayanpur, which will vote on November 7, has emerged as the epicentre of the BJP's claims of "forced conversions" by missionaries in the tribal regions of the state. Narayanpur (Chhattisgarh): On November 2, 13-year-old Sunita from the Brehebeda village of Chhattisgarh died of typhoid at the district hospital in Narayanpur. When her body was brought home, a large number of villagers arrived and stopped the family from burying the teenager’s body on the village land using Christian rituals. Instead, they insisted that the family bury the body using traditional Adivasi customs and traditions. “We are Adivasis just like them, but they (villagers) don’t want us to go to church or follow the church’s ways. They want us to abide by the traditional [Adivasi] rules and customs. They said that if we leave Christianity, they will allow us to bury her. This problem is rampant in every village here now,” Manupotai, 18, Sunita’s elder brother told The Wire.  Sunita was finally buried late on Thursday evening (November 2), far away from her village at a burial ground near the Narayanpur district centre. The Brehebeda village is located about 10 kilometres away from the district centre, which is deep inside a forest. Just like Manupotai and Sunita, many people

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