Many Hindus believe that conversion to Christianity is an attack on their culture and way of life, and an imminent threat to both, despite the fact that Christianity has been a presence in India since the days of St. Thomas the Apostle.
For previous ChristianPersecution.com coverage of the persecution of Christians in India, see here.
“Hindu Relatives Suspected of Killing Christian in India,” Morning Star News, September 23, 2022:
NEW DELHI (Morning Star News) – Christians in eastern India suspect a church member’s Hindu family killed him last month for refusing to renounce his faith, sources said.
In West Bengal state’s Gobindapur village, Jhargram District, Hindu relatives of Madhab Gorai had threatened to burn him to death and feared his faith jeopardized his daughter’s impending marriage, the sources said.
Church members last saw the 46-year-old Gorai on Aug. 7, when his wife and adult son disrupted the start of a church service and threatened him, said Ashish Hansda, lay leader in charge of the Church of North India (CNI) congregation in the village.
Gorai’s wife was carrying a bottle of gasoline, and his son was carrying a wooden baton, he said. In a scuffle outside the church building, Gorai’s wife and son threatened to burn him alive, Hansda said.
Gorai’s wife and son had pressured him to perform Hindu marriage rituals at his daughter’s impending wedding, where according to custom the father of the bride would be required to worship sacred fire, said the pastor in charge of the church, the Rev. Subendu Soren.
“Gorai refused to involve himself in Hindu worship practices that contradicted his Christian faith,” Pastor Soren told Morning Star News.
Gorai’s family had argued that his refusal to perform the Hindu rituals would raise doubts about the family that could lead to the breaking off of his daughter’s engagement, said a close friend of Gorai who requested anonymity.
When his wife and son disrupted the start of the Aug. 7 church service, Hansda intervened, and Gorai’s wife and son took him home, Hansda said.
“Unpleasantness was created due to the scuffle, and so we did not have a church service that Sunday,” he said….
