Indian Pastor Beaten by Hindus in Andhra Pradesh

By James Varghese
Special to ASSIST News Service

ANDHRA PRADESH, INDIA (ANS) – According to news reported on the website Indian Christians, a pastor was beaten up by Hindu activists in Nizamabad, Andhra Pradesh, for his alleged conversion activities.

Pastor P. Vijay, a resident of Pedda Reddy village in Nizamabad district, had been serving in the area for the last eight years. On February 17, 2008 at around 9:30 am while he was going to his church, Bestha Gangaram, a local ration shop dealer, came on a bike and hit him. Pastor Vijay fell down under the impact.

In a short time he recovered and got up. He then wanted to know from Gangaram the reasons for hitting him. Gangaram immediately moved forward and held him by his collar. By this time his friends also joined him and they together beat him up severely. They threatened to kill him if he continued to convert people. Later the pastor was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Pastor Vijay then went to local police station to file a complaint. Bestha Gangaram was called to the police station and sent away with a warning. The police allegedly refused to file any First Information Report (FIR) against the attackers.

The All India Christian Council condemned the attack and has sought security for pastors and Christian properties in the area.

Jordan Continues to Deport Christians

Compass Direct News reports:

ISTANBUL – Jordan has continued deporting foreign evangelical pastors, as the government last week admitted to expelling foreigners for “illegal” missionary activities.

Acting Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh told the Jordanian parliament on Wednesday (February 20) that authorities had expelled missionaries operating “under the cover of doing charitable work,” suggesting that evangelistic activity is illegal in Jordan.

If such evangelistic work were illegal – with a missionary permit or not – Jordan could be opening itself to accusations of violating Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the country published in its official Gazette in July 2006, giving it the force of law.

Article 18 of the covenant states that everyone has the inherent right publicly or privately to “manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.” It also states, however, that such freedom may be subject to limitations prescribed by law to protect public “order.”

Full story at Compass Direct News.

Starting Over

Welcome to the all new edition of The Persecution Times.

After major problems with our previous web hosting company, which led to the loss of the entire site, we have relocated to another host.

While losing all the material previously posted is a drag, I’m confident that, with the sad state of the world, we will be full of news soon.