Pray for India!
To: Member Churches and Councils and Ecumenical Partners.
Please Pray for India!
The CCA has been following the news about religious violence in India during the past few weeks. The anti-Christian violence which started in Orissa last month has now spread to other parts of the country. We have been in touch with Bishop Dhirendra Kumar Sahu, General Secretary of the NCCI, and we received news of churches being burnt and Christians attacked in the state of Karnataka. The Catholic Bishop's Conference of India reported that over a dozen churches and prayer halls were attacked over the weekend.
This trend is especially worrisome as the acts of violence are being spread in states that are being governed by the fundamentalist Hindu based party. In the information that we received, the state governments have been accused of inaction or being slow to respond in many of the attacks.
In the state of Orissa, over 50,000 Christians have been displaced and are unable to return home for fear of more acts of violence.
The Christian Conference of Asia strongly condemns any indiscriminate acts of violence against Christians and church property and call upon both the state and central governments to act decisively to stop such indiscriminate acts of violence by one section of the community against another.
The Christian Conference of Asia also welcomes the courageous response of the Christians and supporting communities in India.
The day of prayer and fasting launched by the Indian Church on 7 September 2008 as a response to the violence against Christians in India has been welcomed by tens of thousands of people. Instead of responding "to violence with violence", Christians have "fasted and prayed to overcome evil", leaving the ultimate judgment to God. All over India, Christians gathered in the churches or in open spaces to express their participation in the sufferings of their brothers and sisters in faith in Orissa. Members from all the religions participated in the celebration, with prayers and readings taken from the different sacred books: Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Sarnas (tribal religions), and Christians.
In this age of pluralism, we would like to call upon all people, irrespective of race, culture and religious affiliations, to commit themselves to live in harmony with each other. Our world is big enough for everyone.
In solidarity with our brothers and sisters in India, we would like to encourage all member churches and councils and ecumenical partners to:
· Pray for the churches in India
· Write letters of support and encouragement to our NCCI and member churches in India.
The NCCI has agreed to coordinate the distribution of any contribution made towards the relief and rehabilitation of victims of the religious violence and for the rebuilding of the destroyed churches. Please contact Bishop Dhirendra Kumar Sahu directly at the NCCI,
Email: nccindia_ngp@sancharnet.in
Tel: +91-712-2531312
Fax: +91-712-2520554
· Write letters to the Indian Embassies in your countries encouraging them to act more decisively to stop all acts of violence that is being perpetrated against the church and the Christian community.
Thank you.
Prawate Khid-arn
General Secretary
Christian Conference of Asia
Christian Conference of Asia
