NEW DELHI, September 19 (Compass Direct News) – The U.S. Department of State’s 2007 Report on International Religious Freedom gives India’s federal government high marks for respecting religious freedom, but Christian leaders said this does not mean that persecution in the country is less than alarming.
The incidence of anti-Christian violence is much higher than available statistics indicate, the leaders said, as most cases are not reported to the police and are ignored by the media. Released last Friday (September 14), the report covering the period from July 1, 2006, to June 30 says the government of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) “generally respected” religious freedom in practice. It asserts, however, that there were “organized societal attacks against minority religious groups, particularly in states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party,” India’s most influential Hindu nationalistic party. The report also notes that human rights activists criticized the UPA for alleged “indifference and inaction” in the face of persecution by state and local officials and private citizens.
You can read the full report at Compass Direct, and as always, we thank our buddies there at Compass Direct for their wonderful news reports.