inciting violence among tribes, BosNewsLife learned Wednesday, October 27.
Human rights watchdog International Christian Concern (ICC) quoted the Indo-Asian News Service as saying that Mumbai-based Catholic missionary Karl Silva and his associates were detained Friday and will remain in custody till November 4.
"Orissa has been a trouble spot for some time with Hindu organizations accusing missionaries working among tribes people of attempting to convert them to Christianity," ICC added. It is seen as one of the most fudamentalist Hindu states.
Australian missionary Graham Stained working among leprosy patients and his two minor sons were burned to death in 1999 by an angry mob.
The prime suspect in that case, Dara Singh, has been sentenced to death.
VIOLENT ATTACKS
U.S. backed Gospel for Asia, which trains and supports native missionaries, has reported several kidnappings and violent attacks, including murders, against its workers and other Indian Christians and church members.
In addition last week over 300 Tribal Christians were forced to reconvert to Hinduism in Orissa, church leaders said. Compass Direct, a Christian news agency, quoted an official of the World Hindu Council in Orissa as saying it was "the largest reconversion ceremony" they had ever held.
Rath said the reconversion drives would continue until missionaries stopped evangelizing among tribal groups, Compass Direct reported.
MORE CONVERSIONS
Mass conversions are reportedly not a new phenomenon in Orissa, which Catholic news service AsiaNews described as "one of the Indian states with the strongest presence of Hindu fundamentalists."
Bishop Alphonse Bilung of Rourkela, Orissa, told AsiaNews that "336 people went back to Hinduism as a result of force and promises." He said many Christian Tribals "are threatened if they attend Church services."
In addition many believers reportedly rely on Hindu employment especially in the local iron ore sector. "This is nothing by a vicious and hostile hate campaign," added John Dayal, president of the All India Catholic Union, according Compass Direct.
However he cautioned that Christian teaching says that "man cannot change" the faith in Jesus Christ. "Its for you to make up your mind," the official was quoted as saying. There are currently at least 24 million Christians in India, just over 2 percent of India’s total population, according church estimates.
WITH AUTHOR: STEFAN J. BOS
