The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) has placed India in its highest persecution tier in its latest global prayer guide, bumping the country up from “hostile area” to “restricted nation.”
VOM’s mid-tier “hostile area” category identifies nations or large areas of countries where, despite government try to provide protection, the Christian population stays persecuted by family, friends, neighbors, or political groups due to their witness. Indian believers have largely faced this kind of violence, including last 12 months’s Manipur attacks, which killed greater than 100.
In contrast, “restricted nation” describes countries where government-sanctioned circumstances or anti-Christian laws result in the harassment of Christians or the lack of their civil liberties. It also can include government policies or practices stopping Christians from obtaining Bibles or other Christian literature. (Christians in restricted nations often also experience persecution from family, community members, and/or political groups.)
Although Indian Christians largely face persecution that reflects VOM’s mid-tier categorization, the federal government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a key player lately in driving public opinion against non-Hindu Indians.
“The rise of Hindutva ideology—and the open and enthusiastic embrace of this ideology by Modi and other government leaders—has had the effect of constructing India’s national government an overt persecutor of the church slightly than a protector of non secular minorities and non secular freedom,” said VOM spokesperson Todd Nettleton.
“This emphasis—backed by the ability of the federal government in addition to multiple BJP-controlled state governments—has had a chilling effect on religious freedom, even with out a formal change within the laws of the nation.”
CT reached out to 6 religious freedom advocates, two international and 4 Indian, to learn if this label helps or hinders outsiders of their understanding of the situation in India. Does the brand new classification bring any changes for the church in India, either good or bad? Does naming and shaming help the reason behind Indian Christians?
Answers are arranged from those skeptical of the efficacy of the brand new designation to those that consider it’s constructive. Additionally, CT asked VOM what they hoped could be achieved by recategorizing India.
John Dayal, veteran human rights activist in India
The situation of Christians in India should shock everyone on the planet, especially within the West, as also in South Korea and the Philippines, which have sizable Christian populations and are political and business partners of India.
The recent “restricted nation” status assigned by VOM doesn’t fully capture the complexity and severity of the situation in India. The unique nature of the threat faced by Christians in India from Hindutva ideology is distinct from threats faced in other parts of the world, corresponding to Islamist elements, dictatorships, communism, or political movements related to Buddhism.
The fact is that the very best political officers within the country are leading the marginalization of non secular minorities. Laws are being enacted every single day to harass the population, restrict religious practices, and shut down all evangelization. This is a really serious matter and mitigates not only against the Indian structure but in addition the UN Charter.
Nothing really changes [with this new VOM designation] for the common Christian within the village or the small town. The Hindutva elements should not fazed. The international rebuke is faint and weak and is instantly muffled by their accolades for the Indian ruling group and particularly for its leader.
A. C. Michael, national coordinator, United Christian Forum (UCF), India
Such labels are nothing recent for our country. Whether we as a rustic are labeled a “restricted nation” or not, it’s a widely known incontrovertible fact that our country is becoming a difficult place for Christians to practice their faith.
According to our reporting at UCF, incidents of violence against Christians in India have drastically increased since 2014, from 147 incidents to 720 incidents in 2023, which amounts to 2 Christians attacked every single day for practicing their faith somewhere within the country.
Having said the above, one cannot deny that such labels do assist in letting other nations know of the status of non secular freedom of a rustic. I’m of the view, nonetheless, that just stopping with these labels wouldn’t help much in improving religious freedom. More must be done, like sanctions against countries that curtail freedom of faith and imposing restrictions on business dealings with such countries.
Vijayesh Lal, general secretary, Evangelical Fellowship of India
While such designations may initially draw attention to the challenges faced by Christian minorities in India, we must recognize the complexity of our situation. India is an unlimited and diverse country, where the experiences of Christians vary greatly depending on geographic location, socioeconomic status, and other aspects. A blanket label risks oversimplifying our reality and overlooking the unique contexts during which we live and worship.
Moreover, we must consider the response of the Indian government to such designations. Historically, these labels haven’t led to meaningful changes in government policies or actions toward religious minorities. Instead, they often function diplomatic points of contention slightly than catalysts for positive reform.
In older days, this designation may need nudged the federal government to revisit certain policies and prompt India’s international partners to talk up more forcefully in defense of non secular liberty. That heightened visibility could conceivably have led to positive reforms.
But we reside in a unique context now, where the ruling dispensation continues to disclaim what’s alleged about religious minorities in India. And the international community is simply too busy wooing India, in order that human rights or religious freedoms are mentioned in passing, in the event that they are even mentioned in any respect.
And while international attention is very important, true change must come from inside our communities. Indian churches and faith-based groups should not merely victims; we’re actively working to guard our religious freedoms guaranteed by India’s structure. Focusing solely on narratives of persecution overlooks the resilience and advocacy efforts of Indian Christians and the broader civil society.
Rather than relying solely on rhetoric, we want in-depth evaluation rooted in local realities. This means amplifying the voices of Indian Christians and interesting in dialogue with our government and civil society to search out solutions tailored to our specific contexts.
Shibu Thomas, founder, Persecution Relief, India
Categorizing India or any nation under a certain label based on the verified data of the challenges faced by the Christian community creates an awareness of the bottom reality. This is helpful in upholding one another in prayer, since we’re all members of the identical body, sharing one another’s suffering and pain.
But will the Indian church profit in any way if the label is altered? No! Rather, we must acquire the maturity to accommodate it, while then again, making all efforts to live in peace and harmony with all people. Jesus taught us to present to Caesar what belongs to him and provides God what belongs to him.
We must slightly pray for our authorities in order that we are able to live peacefully.
Instead of looking for help from outside, which is able to by no means be helpful but cause greater harm, we want to grasp that persecution is an indication of the Lord’s Second Coming. Instead of in search of ways to combat it, we want to embrace it gracefully, forgiving, loving, and praying for our persecutors. Who knows, God has put them here to refine the church! Foreign organizations have their very own agendas, which just isn’t all the time useful to the church in India.
So, I appeal to all Indian Christians to return back to the biblical foundation to endure and to remain faithful till the tip, following the instance of Christ in suffering.
Wissam al-Saliby, director of the Geneva office of the World Evangelical Alliance
Labels and rankings are helpful for constructing general awareness, for mobilizing public opinion, and for inviting India’s government to vary course and India’s allies to talk up in support of non secular freedom.
But they can not, and should not meant to, provide Christians with an accurate and nuanced picture of how the churches and Christian ministries are steadfast and faithful within the face of persecution, of the expansion and impact of the church in society, of serious differences in freedom and persecution from one Indian state to a different, and of indigenous advocacy for greater religious freedom. We needs to be wary of discourses that inadvertently portray churches as helpless victims within the face of persecution.
In addition, these categorizations don’t help those that wish to advocate on behalf of their Christian brothers and sisters, because advocacy requires factual reporting, legal evaluation, and focused recommendations for legal and policy change.
In recent years, we’ve seen that no matter who sits within the White House, the US’s relationship with India comes first. The theory of change that supposes that awareness and public opinion in Western nations will lead the governments of those nations to prioritize religious freedom of their foreign policy just isn’t working.
I feel we want to prioritize support for Indian Christian voices speaking prophetically to Indian authorities in India and [to rally behind] churches in India constructing national multi-faith and multi-stakeholder movements in support of greater freedom for all. The indigenous voices must grow louder in parallel to international voices advocating for religious freedom.
Knox Thames, former US state department official
While I’m unfamiliar with VOM’s labels, the trendline for religious freedom in India has been worrisome for years. I actually have argued for the US State Department to make use of its designation power so as to add India to the Special Watch List due to consistent and growing number of non secular freedom violations against Christians and likewise Muslims. Such a step by the United States could encourage the Modi government to pursue a unique path, one which supports religious freedom and minority rights.
Designations corresponding to these create advocacy opportunities. They force policymakers to contemplate inconvenient facts about India, allowing advocates to press for higher policies that encourage Delhi to reform.
Todd Nettleton, VOM spokesperson, United States
VOM’s aim, with this alteration in status, is to accurately reflect the character of persecution our Christian brothers and sisters in India are facing and to enable Christians within the free world to higher understand and more knowledgeably pray for them.
It’s essential to grasp that this alteration in classification just isn’t an effort toward change. Rather, it’s a mirrored image of change that has already taken place within the persecution Indian Christians face. There could also be those in government or leadership who see or reference this information, but VOM just isn’t an advocacy organization and influencing governments or other leaders has never been our goal.
Rather, VOM’s goal is fellowship between members of the worldwide body of Christ. VOM’s primary audience is followers of Jesus in free nations, and our goal is to enable them to higher understand and more knowledgeably pray for persecuted Christians in greater than 70 nations around the globe—including India—where Christians often face persecution for the activity of their faith.
