India: Protestant ministers arrested after Hindus disrupt assembly

CWN - August 16, 2010

Two Protestant ministers spent India’s independence day in prison after a clash with fundamentalists in the southern Karnataka state.

The Global Council of Indian Christians charges that two ministers of the Campus Crusade for Christ and 10 others were detained by the police in the Mandya district. They had been conducting a prayer service on August 15, the national holiday, when their meeting was disrupted by a group of about 30 Hindu militants. Rather than arresting the Hindus who disrupted the religious assembly, local official brought charges against the Protestant leaders for alleged violations of the law that restricts religious conversions. Police soon released the 10 Christian laymen, but kept the ministers in custody.

The Karnataka state is under the political leadership of the Hindu-nationalist BJP party, and members of the Christian minority have frequently complained that officials make no effort to restrain Hindu zealots from violence. There have been over 200 attacks on Christians recorded in the state since the BJP took power in May 2008.

Additional sources for this story
Some links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

An appeal from our founder, Dr. Jeffrey Mirus:

Dear reader: If you found the information on this page helpful in your pursuit of a better Catholic life, please support our work with a donation. Your donation will help us reach five million Truth-seeking readers worldwide this year. Thank you!

Progress toward our June expenses ($13,107 to go):
$30,000.00 $16,892.93
44% 56%
Sound Off! CatholicCulture.org supporters weigh in.

All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!

There are no comments yet for this item.

Catholic World News Email Newsletter
Donate to Support this Site: Your contribution will be put to good work.
Tour the CatholicCulture.org Site
Shop Amazon to Raise Money for Catholic Culture

Recent Catholic Commentary

Pope Francis the Frank 20 hours ago
“Illegals” are not “Immorals”: A Persistent Immigration Fallacy 22 hours ago
News coverage of the Vatican: the blind leading the blind June 18
Those Harleys again June 17
Happy Father's Day! June 14

Top Catholic News

Most Important Stories of the Last 30 Days
Vatican document demands governments protect refugees CWN - June 6
Pope acknowledges 'gay lobby' influence in Vatican CWN - June 11
Pope confirms he is completing encyclical on faith begun by Benedict XVI CWN - June 13