Orissa Burning: Faith Under Fire
On Christmas Day, 2007, across the planet, Christian families feasted, exchanged gifts, and celebrated the birth of their Savior. But in Orissa, India, Christians were running for their lives as mobs of radical Hindus looted and burned churches and homes. By the end of the holiday, thousands of Christian families were refugees, hundreds of churches destroyed.
Among them were 9 BCM churches with 243 BCM church families left homeless. When a Hindu radical climbing one church roof to pull down its cross fell to his death, BCM pastor, Dasarath Digal, and six church leaders were thrown in jail for his murder. BCM’s Orissa district supervisor describes that day’s ordeal:
BCM pastor and family standing in front of their destroyed home.
“I am deeply despaired to inform you about the attack on Christmas Day at our BCM churches. At 11 AM, while all believers gathered to celebrate Christmas, fundamentalist Hindu attacked. They beat the men with rods and kicked the women, pulling their hair and smashing them to the floor. At the same time another group started to demolish the churches with fire. The people ran to their houses to hide themselves, but the Hindus followed them and burnt the believers’ houses. The mob was so severe, it separated children from parents and other family members. Separated and alone, they did not know where to go. No one saved even a piece of cloth to cover up during this chilly winter. It is pathetic to see children under the trees in the jungle without food to eat or drink.”
Located in southeastern India, Orissa is one of the poorest states, its population of 32 million made up largely of Dalit (“Untouchables”) and tribal groups. The Orissa Christian community has experienced unprecedented growth in recent years, rising from 2% to approximately 25% of the population today. Hindu leadership has viewed this explosion with alarm, their concerns at least as much economic as religious. Hinduism is based on a strict caste system, with the Brahmins or priest class at the top, followed by Kshatriyas, or ruling aristocracy, then Vaishyas, the merchant class, with Shudras, unskilled laborers and servants, at the bottom, and the Dalit, or “untouchable” class having no caste at all.
The wealth and social dominance of Hindu upper castes rest on the willingness of Shudra and Dalit masses to accept peasant status, not only for themselves, but their children in perpetuity. When new believers find spiritual freedom in Jesus Christ, they are also set free from the caste-based economic system. The radical Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in Orissa and other states on an anti-conversion platform, their stated goal to eradicate Christianity or any other religion except Hinduism within India. Although Orissa’s large Christian population has been a key target, persecution against the body of Christ around the country has included beatings, kidnappings, burnings, intimidation—and, yes, murder.
Despite violence, the Christian church in India continues to grow. BCM International missionaries and pastors alone have planted thousands of churches in 17 of India’s 27 provinces. Many of those churches are in Orissa, along with hundreds more village worship groups. Earlier this year, BCM President Marty Windle visited BCM Orissa pastors, among them, Pastor Dasarath, recently released on bail.
Marty shares, “I expected to meet with a group of persecuted and distressed believers. Instead I found a weary band of warriors. To a man, they were committed to continue preaching the Gospel.”
Despite the constant threat of violence against themselves and their families, Orissa pastors continue to share the Gospel.
On August 29, 2008, more than 40,000 Christian schools and colleges across India closed their doors to protest the violence and demonstrate solidarity with Orissa Christians. Meanwhile, both the Orissa state government and India’s national government have stood by, refusing to intervene in the violence. Refugee camps have been established that currently hold thousands of Christians. But even as aid began flowing in from around the world, Orissa’s ruling Hindu party sealed the borders, demanding that all relief be turned over to be distributed at their will.
This time all of BCM’s 18 church buildings in Orissa were destroyed and all the pastors driven into hiding along with thousands of BCM church families. Among the dead was jailed BCM pastor Dasarath Digal’s 24-year-old son, caught in a hail of bullets fired by a Hindu mob. For weeks BCM pastors and church leadership remained scattered, whereabouts unknown. But one by one, they were able to report in until to date all have been accounted for, with only three BCM Orissa church members out of more than 2,000 confirmed killed.
Today BCM International is sponsoring three refugee camps in undisclosed locations, holding around three hundred BCM pastors and family members. More than 1,000 more are clamoring to get in, but resources remain insufficient. BCM is also caring for some thirty children between ages 4-15 who were separated from parents during the violence, their families at this time not known whether they are dead or alive.
With Orissa’s Christian community in refugee camps or driven from the state, their churches, schools, and orphanages largely destroyed, Christian ministry there, including BCM’s, would appear to be at a standstill. Certainly the Hindu mobs are claiming a great victory. But though fire may burn buildings, it cannot destroy the church of Jesus Christ. On the contrary, the apostle Peter once reminded another group of persecuted believers that such trials “come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may prove genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:7).
A man passes out clothing to families affected by the recent Orissa violence against Christians.
And what a testimony of God’s glory the Orissa Christians have offered to a watching world, including their Hindu neighbors. Like the early church in the book of Acts, they have taken the Gospel of Jesus Christ wherever they have scattered. Despite hardships and attacks, BCM’s own pastors have refused relocation in safer parts of India, but remain committed to return to their communities and ministry as soon as the situation permits.
BCM’s Vice President of International Ministries, Dr. Vararuchi Dalavai, reports back from Orissa, “This kind of persecution has definitely purified the believers. The church at large, and BCM specifically, is firm in its faith that we will bounce back with stronger determination. The silver lining of this persecution is that we hope to see more evangelization, more church growth, and more commitment.”
BCM India’s goal is not to retreat, but to double church growth over the next five years. It is a goal they have absolute faith they will reach, because long before the apostle Peter was a church leader encouraging persecuted believers, Jesus Christ Himself promised Peter, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).
Nor radical Hindus either!
