By Pieter Friedrich
“India’s Christian Community, one of the largest church-going people in any country, face an existential threat from a source few people in the world are aware of: fundamentalist and militant Hindu elements banded together in an organisation rooted in Nazi philosophy and sworn to end Abrahamic religions in India,” warns John Dayal, former National President of All India Catholic Union.
Dayal is speaking in reference to my new book “India at a Crossroads: Hindu Nationalist Efforts to Eradicate Christianity.”
“With the exception of some horrific but mostly sporadic incidents over the past 25 years, Indian Christians have generally lived in peace and safety since India’s independence in 1947,” I note in the first chapter. “That began to change drastically when the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rose to national power in 2014. Ever since, reports of rising persecution have steadily increased. In 2021, the violence exploded. Yet many outside India — including, most shockingly, the international Christian community — remain largely ignorant of the gravity of the situation. In most cases, they seem totally unaware that there is even any problem whatsoever.”
AC Michael of the United Christian Forum for Human Rights, an Indian group which does extensive work documenting attacks on the Indian Christian community, says, “The international Christian community would do well, and pay great service to their persecuted brothers and sisters in India, to pay attention to this eye-opening read about the tribulations currently facing believers in India and the escalating violence that they are enduring.”
“The nation of India is being transformed by forces that are adherents of a particular ideology that is now politically empowered,” explains Reverend Vijayesh Lal of the Evangelical Fellowship of India. “This ideology, that derives inspiration from and has historical links to nazism, has cloaked itself in religion and continues to be propounded by a paramilitary organization which seems accountable to no one except themselves. Historically this ideology and the organizations it created have identified religious minorities as the other who must be disenfranchised.”
Rev. Lal concludes, “Hence, no wonder that religious minorities and, indeed, any group or individual that is seen as the other by this ideology and its ideologues are targeted socially and physically. The Christian Church in India which is perhaps one of the largest in the world, is being systematically targeted too and the world needs to know. Friedrich is rendering an important service in raising awareness about this ideology called Hindutva and how it is targeting the Church in India.”
Speaking about the Hindutva ideology, Dayal says, “Friedrich’s work in cautioning the West against this threat is pioneering and remarkable.”
“Crossroads,” consisting of six chapters, provides a big picture overview of the current scenario, delves into the Hindu Nationalist ideology guiding the violence, examines past attacks on the Indian Christian community, and details the skyrocketing violence of 2021 before concluding that the issue of Christian persecution in India demands a global outcry. The chapters are:
India’s Increasingly Besieged Christians: Accused of Serving “Foreign Masters”
“Crackdown on Christianity”: A “Hostile” Environment of “Extreme Persecution”
“Traitors”: Why Hindu Nationalists View Indian Christians as “Internal Threats”
Burned for Christ: Hindu Nationalist Attacks on Christians Before the Modi Era
“Behead Them”: The Modi Era’s Drive to “Wipe Out” Indian Christians
Desperate Plight of Indian Christians Demands a Global Outcry
“The Hindu fundamentalism or political Hinduism called ‘Hindutva’ is as destructive as other forms of religious extremisms, but the American public is largely unaware of the seriousness of this threat,” cautions John Prabhudoss of the Federation of Indian American Churches of North America. “These extremist groups have not only captured the democratic institutions in India, but are also well-entrenched in the American political system and among the interfaith communities. ‘Crossroads’ is an excellent introduction for a Western audience to understand how this threat is currently impacting Indian Christians, one of the many communities targeted by these groups.”
