Senior Indian Christians call for action against surge of religion-based violence
Open Letter to Church Leaders:
One Hundred and One senior Christian intellectuals have in an Open Letter to the leadership of the Church in India, called for support civil society in the struggle to safeguard India’s cultural and religious plurality and diversity, and the republics Constitutional values of secularism, and socialism.
The signatories include Jesuit theologians T K John and Francis Gonsalves, academicians Sr. Nirmalini, AC, Dr. Michael Williams, and St Stephen’s college dean Fr Monodeep Daniel, All India Catholic Union president Lancy D Cuna, EFI general secretary Rev Vijayesh Lal, New Delhi YMCA president Vijay Russel, Former Member of Delhi Minorities Commission AC Michael, activists Cedric Prakash, Ajay Kumar Singh, Dominic Emmanuel, Virginia Saldanha, lawyers Jenis Francis, Tehmina Arora, Pramod Singh, PI Jose, and journalists Suresh Mathew, Jacob Kani, KM Selvaraj, and John Dayal.
The Open Letter said “The number of violent acts against Christians alone during the last 3 years (2014-2016) are over 600, including an increasing trend at social boycott that impinges on the right to life, food and livelihood. This includes physical violence, stopping of worship in churches, attacks on churches, arrests of pastors and their companions, and rapes of Nuns. The National Crime Records Bureau documented 47,064 acts of violence against Dalits in 2014, up from 32,643 in 2010. The violence against Muslims is reaching an alarming peak. The hate spewed not just by non-state actors and political functionaries, but even by Members of Parliament and sometimes by ministers forms the backdrop of this violence, as it also smothers voices seeking justice.”
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