Hindu Extremists Attack Pentecostal Church in Mumbai

November 19, 2008
Posted by
The Voice of the Martyrs
Categories
Christian Persecution

The following news is from AsiaNews.it and it is just another reminder that we all need to remember to pray for those who are doing the persecution and also for those who are being persecuted.


by Nirmala Carvalho
Clergyman is pushed and shoved, beaten and left unconscious in the street. Hindu radicals accuse the Christian community of involvement in conversions. Monsignor Fernandes, bishop of Bombay, says these actions are terrorism and endanger Indian democracy.



Mumbai (AsiaNews) – A group of radical Hindus attacked a Pentecostal church in Bhayander (Mumbai), destroying furniture and equipment, beating its clergyman and worshipers and launching accusations that they are involved in converting people to Christianity.

Last Friday around 12.30 pm a group of 20 from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a Hindu fundamentalist organisation, stormed the ‘Church of God’ in Bhayander, close to the Navghar police station.

According to eyewitness accounts, the hoodlums forced their way into the church shouting slogans like “Jai Hind; Jai Maharashtra; Jai Bajrang Bali”.

After claiming to be from the VHP they said they had information that conversions took place in that church. They then shouted vulgarities and insults and began beating those present. They manhandled the church’s pastor, Rev Felix Fernandes, shoving and pushing him around, stripped and beat him senseless, leaving him unconscious in the street.