Source: The Christian Post, January 20, 2024
The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) has reclassified India as a “restricted nation” in its 2024 Global Prayer Guide, citing the escalating radical Hindu extremism and the persecution of Christians under the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party government.
The restricted nation designation is typically reserved for countries with federal laws explicitly restricting Christian worship and evangelism. The group contends that India’s situation is unique due to the ideological shift under the current government.
Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election in 2014 and his subsequent reelection in 2019, Christians in India have faced increasing opposition and violent attacks in spite of constitutional guarantees of religious freedom, VOM said in a statement shared with The Christian Post.
The Christian ministry claims Modi’s administration has fostered an ideology known as Hindutva, or Hindu purity, which aims to establish a “pure” Hindu nation, explaining that this ideology has led to heightened persecution of religious minorities.
Notably, 12 Indian states have implemented laws banning what they claim are “forced” religious conversions, posing severe penalties for Christian evangelists, including lengthy prison sentences for activities as basic as sharing a Bible or praying with someone, VOM said.
The anti-conversion laws claim that Christians “force” or give money or material items to Hindus to persuade them to convert to Christianity. They typically state that no one can use the “threat” of “divine displeasure,” which means Christians can’t talk about Heaven or Hell since it would be seen as luring someone to convert.
Also from this news source, read about a new animated series on Amazon Prime getting backlash for its positive portrayal of Lucifer. Though, as another article points out, “People have been grinding out remakes of this particular fanfic since the days when they had to do it on papyrus.”