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Prayers Needed for Christians in Orissa India
By Julie | January 3, 2008
Christmas Eve night, Marc and I were at my mom’s house, celebrating Christmas with a house full of family. It was a normal, nice Christmas. We ate way too much of Mom’s home cooked meal, and talked and laughed, and opened presents. We left late in the evening, took a two hour drive to our house, and Santa surprised our sons Christmas morning. It was normal. It was nice. It was a perfect reminder for me to take stock in all the things I’m thankful for, and most importantly to thank, and praise God.
Across the world, in the state of Orissa (the map calls it a state) India anti-Christian violence broke out. According to the many news articles I’ve read since, a group of Hindus got ticked off because some of their own had converted to Christianity. So, they planned to attack Christians on Christmas, our holy day.
The death toll is still unconfirmed, people are still missing. Churches and houses have been burned, or vandalized. People literally ran for the hills, in cold temperatures with no food, just to survive. Some are still unaccounted for, or believed to still be in these hills. This entire region needs prayers. So, I am asking you to pray, pray hard for the Christians hurting there. Pray hard for God to be at work. Pray hard for the provisions of people who are suffering.
Here are few links detailing what has happened, some of the details are contradictory. People are still not being let into the region.
9 dead in attacks by Hindu gangs 90 churches, 600 homes torched during violence (January 3, 2007)
The link states about 5000 people have been forced to flee. The death toll could be even higher, because people are still missing.
The article says the violence was caused because of Hindus who converted to Christianity. It is believed the violence was preplanned, to be carried out on the Christmas holiday.
Here’s a few quotes:
In just one incident alone, a mob estimated at 25 Hindu extremists attacked a troupe of Christians who had been putting on a play, cutting off one man’s finger and seriously injuring several others….
Earlier, Hindu extremists were accused of disrupting a prayer meeting, attacking a pastor and filing false charges of forcible conversion against the church leader in Virajpet town, Kodagu district, in Karnataka….
According to Assist News Service, seven Christian church members were beaten on New Year’s Day, with two members admitted to a government hospital for treatment….
“More than 200 believers … were praying … when about 25 radicals entered the church with metal rods, knives and started to mercilessly attack on the peaceful worshippers,” the report said.
Confusion Continues About Deaths In Orissa’s Anti-Christian Violence (January 3, 2008)
This article says how it all started…
“The violence began on Dec. 24, when a Hindu mob attacked a tent displaying the nativity scene that Christians of various denominations jointly put up in the district’s Bamunigam town, 335 kilometers southwest of Bhubaneswar…
In four days of violence, Hindu radicals attacked and destroyed at least 50 village churches, six convents, three presbyteries, six hostels, two seminaries and a vocational training center, and at least 400 houses, Church leaders said on Dec. 31.”
Orissa: Anti Christian Violence (January 1)
This article has history of the region, and its anti-Christian violence. It stresses that the violence tends to take place at Christmastime, and every year gets a little worse.
Frightened Christian families still hiding in jungles and hills (January 1, 2008)
This article gives some accounts of Christians, and what their circumstances are now…
“According to Dadini, a victim of the violence, several families which fled Barkhama were hiding in the jungles within a range of six to seven kilometres from Baliguda…
Ludinga Digal, who had reached the Baliguda camp, had no news of his son and daughter-in-law. Digal said the people hiding in the jungle and hills were living without proper food and water since December 25…
Tejeswar Nayak, a college lecturer, alleged that he was getting threatening calls from unidentified persons because he had given shelter to pastors and the priests of ransacked churches and Christian establishments at Baliguda.”
If you are interested, here’s a map: India
And here the District map of Orrisa
These are people who have done nothing but share their faith and try to worship God freely. Yet they have been tortured, and their homes and churches are destroyed. Those who are alive are left to wonder if their family and friends made it. I don’t know what I can do to help from here, but I can pray for them, and so can you. Our God answers prayers. Let put it to work for these Christians, and the region they live in.
Topics: Pray for |