Written by: ICC (International Christian Concern)
Article source: www.persecution.org

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India’s right-wing Hindu nationalist party, is protesting a new Jesus statue in Karnataka state. Construction stopped soon after it began because of Hindu groups wanting to stop conversions to Christianity. Hindu groups also protested construction because the statue would stand on a Hindu deity’s resting place, although no holy temple commemorated the ground and the village is predominantly Christian.

The protests were led by RSS, the parent organization for the BJP. A top RSS leader told media, “We want to stop the statue since it goes against the spirit of communal harmony and encourages religious conversions which is rampantly carried out by Christian missionaries”.

Christians have endured attacks on churches by Hindu groups because of accusations of forcefully converting Hindus to Christianity. Although the India states it supports religious freedom, the US Commission for International Religious Freedom said that religious freedom was declining because of constant violent harassment and intimidation.

Click here to KEEP UPDATED on the latest news by subscribing to our FREE weekly newsletter.

Date published: 20/01/2020
Feature image: Members of Hindu groups demonstrate against the planned statue of Jesus Christ in Ramanagara in Karnataka state [AFP]

DISCLAIMER
JOY! News is a Christian news portal that shares pre-published articles by writers around the world. Each article is sourced and linked to the origin, and each article is credited with the author’s name. Although we do publish many articles that have been written in-house by JOY! journalists, we do not exclusively create our own content. Any views or opinions presented on this website are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the company.