Christians Persecuted in India

Hopegivers International, a religious charitable group based in Georgia, cares for more than 20,000 orphaned and abandoned children throughout India and Africa. One of the group's officials, Samuel Thomas, was arrested near New Delhi by a dozen men claiming to be police officers from the provincial capital of Kota, Rajasthan. His current status is unknown.

This situation seems to be a Hindu version of what is going on in much of the Middle East. A group of religious zealots wants to end India’s secular government and make it a Hindu state. Sound familiar? Evidently part of their plan is to remove all Christian influence in the area, including the Emmanuel Hope Home for Orphans in Kota. Rajasthan newspapers have repeatedly quoted terrorist leaders offering a reward of $26,000 to paramilitary groups who will capture and behead the Christian leaders.

And when asked what should happen to the 2,500 children at the Christian orphanage, Rajasthan’s government along with other militant groups have taken the position to simply let them go back to the streets they where they came from. Hopegivers has offered to bus the orphans to some of their other 86 orphanages throughout India, but local government and police have refused to provide security.

I don't understand a religion that places anything above the welfare of innocent children. This is definitely a matter for prayer... prayer for the kids, for Samuel Thomas and his associates, and for the country that is letting this happen.

While President Bush promotes new ties and a closer relationship to India, maybe he should encourage the government to stand up to the religious radicals and protect the lives of American missionaries. And if the mainstream media weren't so preoccupied counting the American dead in Iraq, maybe they could cover this story.
http://www.persecution.com/news/index.cfm?action=fullstory&newsID=383