Christian leaders urge the U.S. State Department to designate India a “Country of Particular Concern”
“As Indian Christians struggle to follow their faith in the face of Hindu supremacist policies, persecution of religious minorities is being buried by U.S. adoration of the current Indian regime,” says Federation of Indian-American Christian Organizations in North America (FIACONA) Executive Director Rev. Neal Christie. “This letter highlights the rapidly escalating state-sanctioned violations of human rights targeting religious minorities, including Christians, Muslims, Dalits, and indigenous tribal peoples.”
The over 300 signatories include 18 bishops, three archbishops and 166 clergy from diverse denominational and non-denominational backgrounds, eight current or former presidents and deans from five theological schools, and leaders from over 40 Christian organizations. This is the first letter ever produced by U.S. Christian leaders addressing religious persecution in India.
Signatories include the immediate past president of the National Council of Churches; the president, immediate past president, and ecumenical officer of the Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church (UMC); the chancellor emeritus of the Orthodox Church in America; the presidents of Wesley Theological Seminary and Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary; the president of International Christian Concern; national ecumenical office leaders from both the Episcopal Church and the Presbyterian Church (USA); the executive director of the Paulist Fathers Ecumenical and Multi-Faith Relations; the Catholic bishop of the St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Diocese of Chicago; and more.
After Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014, violence against Indian Christians skyrocketed. The ecumenical Delhi-based United Christian Forum reported 720 attacks against Christians in 2023, a dramatic rise from 127 in 2014 when Modi first assumed office. FIACONA documented 1,570 attacks in 2023, up from its previous report of 1,198 in 2022. In 2023, International Christian Concern ranked India as the 3rd worst “persecutor of the year.”
“This letter is a clarion call to the American Church to stay alert to abuses caused by religious nationalism in what was a pluralistic and secular India,” says Rev. Peter Cook, a FIACONA board member who also serves as Executive Director of the New York State Council of Churches. “We hope it will inspire the U.S. government to stop ignoring how Modi’s Hindu nationalist BJP systematically implements a religious nationalist agenda in both India and America.”
In 2023, Human Rights Watch reported, “Violence between Hindu BJP supporters and Muslim and Christian communities has become common in recent years in India, especially in BJP-ruled states.” Amnesty International says that government officials, politicians, and supporters of the BJP have “advocated hatred and violence against religious minorities with impunity, particularly Muslims, marking a rise in hate crimes.” Genocide Watch also warns that Indian religious minorities, especially Muslims, face an impending genocide.
“For years, the pressure of violent persecution has been building against Christians and other religious minorities in India,” says Pieter Friedrich, a FIACONA board member and journalist who specializes in analysis of South Asian affairs. “The U.S. Church is tragically silent as India becomes not only our nation’s greatest ally in Asia but also the most dangerous democracy in the world for Christians. It is encouraging to see the narrative shift as, finally, hundreds of Christian leaders from diverse backgrounds raise a voice for the persecuted Church in India.”
Attacks on religious minorities are led by Hindu nationalist groups affiliated with the paramilitary Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), who equate militant Hindu ideology with Indian citizenship and operate with either the sanction or tolerance of the BJP.
“The diversity of this coalition is remarkable,” states Rev. Christie. “This is not about doctrine or differences among us, but about our shared commitment to human rights, especially the freedom of conscience and belief. From Catholic to Charismatic, Methodist to Anglican, Presbyterian to Orthodox, we are united in our opposition to a narrow, ethno-nationalist vision which promotes policies and legislation that criminalizes people based on who they are, how they worship, or their social status. This is about targeting vulnerable people with arbitrary arrests, church burnings and demolition of religious schools, physical assaults and land grabs, even outlawing of worship. It is an effort to erase and eradicate religious minorities in the name of a form of Hindu majoritarianism.”
Several denominations also recently took up this concern.
In April 2024, the 10-million-member UMC passed a resolution condemning “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom” in India. In May, the Anglican Free Communion International (AFCI) also passed a resolution condemning violence against religious minorities in India, especially against Christians in Manipur. They were followed in June by the New York Conference of the United Church of Christ (UCCNY).
All three bodies urged the U.S. State Department to designate India as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) and called on their members to press the U.S. Congress for action.
“We pray that this letter, combined with recent resolutions, will create a snowball effect in the ecumenical community as we look for creative ways to oppose the oppression of Indian Christians, Adivasis, Muslims, and other religious minorities in India,” says Friedrich.
“I am grateful to so many Christian leaders who signed this letter and chose to elevate the plight of persecuted people in India,” says Rev. Cook. “The struggles of Christians under the Modi government have grown worse and worse as we witness church burnings, beating of pastors, incarceration and harassment of American Christian visitors, abuse of anti-conversion laws, Christian charities in India cut off from foreign donations, and denial of equal access to benefits and even citizenship for religious minorities.”
Aside from CPC designation, the letter asks the U.S. State Department to hold the Indian government accountable for advancing equal human rights for all religious communities, to consider targeted sanctions on Indian government agencies and officials responsible for severe violations of religious freedom and human rights, and to support independent religious organizations and human rights groups in India and the US who are targeted for their advocacy of religious freedom and human rights.
Many other clergy, especially Indian-American pastors, expressed their desire to sign but fear doing so due to threats from the Modi regime. FIACONA encourages all clergy and laity to add their names to the growing list.
This article is originally published on https://anglican.ink/2024/08/05/christian-leaders-urge-the-u-s-state-department-to-designate-india-a-country-of-particular-concern/
