Morning Star News July 30, 2019
Persecution of Christians in Bihar state, India, has so intensified in the past two years that Pastor Shelton Viswanathan didn’t dare call police after Hindu extremists broke bones in his hand and foot.
“The Hindu nationalist extremists are walking into churches and are disrupting prayer services – on a weekly basis, we hear of threats and attacks on home churches and pastors. Christian persecution is widely spread across Bihar, and it appears to be a much planned, systematic opposition created to target activities.”
Originally from the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal, Pastor Viswanathan said he moved to Bihar in 2003 in obedience to a call from God to serve in Bihar. He pastors a congregation of 18 people at a house church.
In a report published in 2018, the U.S. based Pew research centre gave India the highest score for “social hostility” towards religious minorities, including Christians.
In the first quarter of 2019, there were more than 80 reported cases of mob violence against Christians.