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September 5, 2008

Worldwide prayers urged for Christians facing violence in India

by Ecumenical News International

GENEVA — Churches around the world are being asked to join in prayers on Sept. 7 for Christians in India facing continuing sectarian violence in the country’s eastern state of Orissa.

“We have heard that people are being killed, houses burnt, thousands are living in relief camps, and churches and church properties are being destroyed,” the Rev. Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of Churches said in a letter released on Sept. 4 to the group’s member churches in India.

In a separate letter to India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Kobia and the general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, the Rev. Ishmael Noko, urged the leader of the world’s second most populous nation to intervene and “ensure an immediate cessation of violence, the restoration of law and justice, and sanctuary for the displaced” in Orissa.

Citing information received from the LWF and WCC member churches in India, the general secretaries said that indiscriminate killings, burning of church buildings and destruction of institutions continue in the Gajapati and Khandamal districts and other parts of Orissa.

The LWF quoted the Rev. A. G. Augustine Jeyakumar, executive secretary of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India, as saying that “fundamentalist groups [are] going from village to village destroying churches, burning houses, attacking and killing Christians.”

In his letter to the WCC’s member churches in India, Kobia said, “Religious fanaticism has once again broken the lives of the poor.” He noted that India’s National United Christian Forum had called for Sept. 7 to be observed as a day of prayer and fasting for peace and goodwill.

“We are urging all our member churches and partners worldwide to join in this initiative by praying for the families of those who have lost their dear ones, for those who are displaced, for all others who suffer the consequences of this violence and for all those who are striving to restore trust and goodwill among people and communities,” said Kobia.

The WCC, citing a report by the Christian forum, said that about 20 people had been killed, 50,000 displaced and 4,000 homes destroyed in recent days. It said 13,000 people who have fled their villages are living in nine relief camps run by the government. Some 200 villages have been affected, with hundreds of churches burnt down.