Govt. Closes 10 Churches in Tamil Nadu, 20 More in Line

Wikipedia

About 500 Christians in Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu, have stood up against the state for shutting down 10 churches in the two months and have submitted a memorandum to the district sub-collector last week demanding protection and appealing for the churches to be re-opened.

In a plan to shut down 30 churches in Coimbatore District, the Hindu extremists have been successful in closing the first 10.

According to Synod of Pentecostal Churches of Coimbatore, the extremists had compelled the state officials and police to stop worship in these churches until the church leaders get permission from the collector's office.

The extremists reportedly intend to target 20 more churches that are unregistered.

"It is a well-planned conspiracy against the Christian community, as the Hindu extremists know that it is not easy to approach the collector's office for such permissions," said Pr Johnson Sathyanathan, president of the Synod of Pentecostal Churches of Coimbatore.

"The time to get such approvals can stretch from a year and a half to many more years," he addd.

After a Christian delegation met the minister of Internal Affairs of Tamil Nadu on Oct. 24 and expressed concern and fear about the recent incident, he called on the deputy superintendent of police and the local member of the Legislative Assembly of Sulur to look into the matter and take steps to ensure that the worship services can resume.

However, "the Hindu extremists have openly threatened Christians that they are going to do the same in 20 more churches of the area that they have done to these 10," said Sathyanathan, according to Baptist Press.

According to Open Doors' 2017 World Watch List of the countries where Christians experience the most persecution, India ranked 15th.