© 1999 VNN
|
WORLD January 16, 1999 VNN2864 Two More Churches Burned In India FROM AP INDIA, Jan 16 (VNN) — Two More Churches Burned in India, .c The Associated Press BOMBAY, India (AP) -- Two makeshift Christian chapels were set ablaze over the weekend in western India, where radical Hindu groups protesting conversions have attacked churches and schools run by missionaries. The mud-and-thatch structures were damaged Sunday night and Monday, according to Sister Carmen Borges, a school principal in Ahwa, a nearby town where the recent round of violence took place last month. Since then, about one dozen churches and at least one Hindu temple have been damaged in attacks in the remote villages in Dangs district of Gujarat state. Information about the attacks was delayed because the area -- 180 miles northeast of Bombay - is difficult to reach through the dirt roads in a hilly terrain. On Sunday, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee met with victims and residents of the region and warned that his government would punish those who attacked places of worship. Missionaries say threats from radical Hindu groups have not stopped, despite his assurances. Sister Borges said a radical Hindu group has taken out newspaper ads asking Christians to leave the area. Hindu-Christian clashes began after two fringe Hindu groups accused missionaries of converting poor, illiterates to their faith with offers of money or jobs. The missionaries admit the conversions but deny they offered inducements. Christians account for only about 2 percent of India's nearly 1 billion population. Hindus make up 82 percent of the population; Muslims about 12 percent. The rest include Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and animists. Comment on this Story This story URL: http://vaishnava-news-network.org/world/WD9901/WD16-2864.html
|
