Karnataka – About 100 Hindu extremists disrupted an August 17 worship service, attacked Christians and destroyed church furniture and music instruments in Davengere.

Madhya Pradesh – Police on August 15 detained two Christians in Ratlam district for “forced conversion” under the so-called Freedom of Religion Act after about 35 Hindu extremists stormed a prayer meeting organized by the Union of Evangelical Students at St. Bartholomew Church, Railway Colony area.

Karnataka – Hindu extremists on August 15 tore up tracts and beat Bible College students in Bajpai, Mangalore district.

Karnataka – In Davengere, Hindu extremists belonging to the Hindu Jagarana Vedike and Shiva Sainya youth association on August 12 surrounded the house of a pastor, threw stones at it and demanded that all senior pastors leave the district.

Karnataka – Police in Karnataka on Aug 11 arrested a pastor and an evangelist for hurting religious sentiments and making derogatory remarks about Hindu gods after Hindu extremists attacked them and their house church in Yemanna Bethur, Harpanahalli taluk, Davangere district.

Karnataka – Hindu extremists belonging to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh disrupted an August 10 worship service and injured believers in Gadag.

Chhattisgarh – Three Hindu extremists on August 10 assaulted Pastor Dev Kumar Sahu in Chalaty village, Ambagarh Chowki, Rajnandgaon district.

Karnataka – Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) extremists on August 8 attacked a prayer meeting, then beat and falsely accused a pastor of forcible conversion in Kodipura village,

Andhra Pradesh – Hindu extremists on August 7 forcibly tried to occupy land belonging to a church and school in Ranga Reddy district.

Karnataka – Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) extremists on August 4 broke open the locked gate of a Christian elementary school, stormed the principal’s office and demanded replacement of a Christian cross with a Hindu OM symbol in Mudhol, Bagalkot district.

Madhya Pradesh – Members of the Hindu fundamentalist Abhinav Bharat and other groups attacked pastor Sam Oommen and his family at Jayprakash Nagar, Adhartal, Jabalpur district on August 3.

Karnataka – Police on July 31 arrested Christians of the Believers Church in Turuvekere, Tumkur district after Hindu extremists allegedly belonging to the Ram Sena (Army of Ram) attacked a prayer meeting, beating Christians present.

Andhra Pradesh – Hindu extremists on July 29 attacked Christian students, accusing them of distributing Christian literature to “forcefully convert” college students, and burned and dumped three boxes of Christian books in a ditch in Miryalyuda, Nalgonda.

Andhra Pradesh – Hindu extremists belonging to the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party on July 27 attacked a pastor and a Christian media team for showing a film about Jesus Christ, tore the screen and burned it along with Bibles in Janagam.

Karnataka – Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) extremists on July 27 attacked a gospel meeting in Anugraha Hotel, Bagalkot district and beat the pastor and other Christians, including a 4-year-old girl.

Karnataka – Police in India continued their custom of jailing Christian victims of Hindu aggression on July 27, arresting a pastor in Ankoal, Karwar district after nearly 20 Hindu extremists dragged him out of his house church service and repeatedly slapped him.

Orissa – In Badrak district, Hindu extremists on July 26 ruptured a believer’s eardrum and threatened to burn him alive.

Karnataka – A mob of about 20 Hindu extremists vandalized a church building, seriously injured a pastor and accused him of forced conversion on July 20 in Konvallichawla, Haveri.

Read the full report on each of these incidents at Compass Direct News.

As part of their yearly Independence Day celebrations, Bible college students across India participated in various community service projects. However, due to inclement weather, Rasul’s college was forced to cancel their service event.

In lieu of the project, Rasul and other students decided to distribute tracts. While they were out, a group of religious fanatics became infuriated by what they were doing and tried to beat them up. All of the other students escaped, but Rasul—the youngest in the team—could not get away.

“You are trying to make our country a Christian nation” the extremists screamed.

The men beat Rasul and tried to force him to deny his faith in Jesus, but Rasul refused. After beating him further, the radicals took Rasul to the police station. There, the police placed Rasul in custody to protect him from the wrath of the mob.

As soon as the Bible college staff heard about the incident, they contacted the police inspector by phone. The inspector questioned the staff about the outreach and service projects, and then requested that four staff members drive to the station.

When the four missionaries arrived at the police station, the angry mob stood in front of the doors. When the missionaries tried to go through, the extremists began beating them. Although the police were right there, they could not restrain the radicals.

Meanwhile, two more GFA missionaries drove up to the station on a motor scooter. The mob immediately ran and, without asking any questions, started attacking them as well. One of the two missionaries suffered a severe eye injury.

After beating the missionaries, the radicals vandalized their motor scooter and threw it in a ditch. Then they went to the vehicle the first four missionaries drove to the station and tried to burn it and pop the tires, but the police constable stopped them.

Finally, the extremists left and the police transported Rasul and the six missionaries to another police station in a nearby area to keep them safe. There, some local Christians came and filed paperwork, and the group was released.

Rasul and the other missionaries praise the Lord that they were not fatally injured and consider it a privilege to suffer for Christ. They ask for prayer that their wounds will heal quickly and that those who persecuted them will come to a saving knowledge of Jesus.

On Sunday (August 17) a Muslim mob stormed a church service in Cipayung, East Jakarta, forcing Christians to flee and then erecting banners in the street declaring a ban on “churches and religious services.”

As about 20 church members were celebrating the nation’s Independence Day at the service, the angry assailants arrived at the Pentecostal Church of Indonesia in Pondok Rangon village, Cipayung, at 9:30 a.m. shouting “Allahu Akbar!” or “God is greater!” Some in the mob were neighbors, but the majority were not local residents, according to pastor Chris Ambessa.

Church members tried to close the gate leading into the church compound, but the mob forced its way in, storming into the welcoming room of the church and overturning furniture.

Ambessa managed to close a roller door protecting the room where services were held. But the attackers then chased church members out into the street, warning them not to return for future services.

Read the full story at Compass Direct News .

KUNMING, YUNNAN PROVINCE, CHINA (ANS) — A group of American Christians who had more than 300 Chinese Bibles confiscated by officials when they arrived in China is refusing to leave Kunming International Airport until they get the books back.

According to a news release from the China Aid Association (CAA), the four American Christians arrived at 3 p.m. Beijing Time from the U.S. via Thailand. Each carried about 75 to 80 study Bibles for Chinese pastors.

The names of the four are Pat Klein, 46, from Wyoming, Forrest Higginbotham, 78, from Indiana), Higginbotham’s grandson Stephen Constantinou, 15, from New Jersey and Steve Nichols, 60, from New York.

According to Klein, each of them was fined for 400 U.S. dollars for the overweight luggage with the Bibles. The Chinese customs officials told the four Americans that their all of their Bibles were confiscated as “illegal religious literature.”

“The Chinese leaders keep telling the world the Chinese people have religious freedom. To even prevent them from receiving Bibles certainly contradicts that claim,” the news release said Klein told CAA President Bob Fu in a telephone interview.

Klein’s Sheridan, Wyoming-based group Vision Beyond Borders distributes Bibles and Christian teaching materials around the world.

Chinese authority allows limited numbers of Bibles, and they are only available at officially sanctioned churches. The sale of Bibles is forbidden in public bookstores.

“I appeal to the Chinese government to release those confiscated Bibles to the four individuals who deeply care about the Chinese believers,” Fu said in the news release. “I urge the international Christian community to pray for the four courageous fellow brothers for their safety in China.”

MADHYA PRADESH, INDIA (ANS) — Hindu radicals attacked a Christian meeting recently.

According to a story on www.persecution.in, the attack occurred on Aug. 15 in Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh, India.

The meeting was organized by the Union of Evangelical Students and held in St. Bartholomew’s Church.

According to the story, staff from Youth With A Mission, World Vision and believers from a variety of churches had gathered together to pray for India.

The web site reported that suddenly at about 2 p.m. about 70 Hindu radicals attacked the prayer meeting attendees. They beat up some of them, and took others to the nearest police station. There they were taken into custody, charged with forced conversions and violating the Madhya Pradesh anti-conversion act.

What Sohan didn’t realize was that he had given a Gospel tract to the leader of a powerful anti-Christian extremist group. The extremist leader asked Sohan to wait so he could get others from his group to help him attack this missionary in training.

Sohan thought nothing of the request. It was not unusual for people to bring their friends to hear the message preached by the missionaries. And Sohan was excited because many of the people who received tracts during this summertime outreach had already opened their heart to the Gospel message.

But the extremists had other plans. When they got back to Sohan, they proceeded to slap him around and drag him to the local police station, where he was charged with forcing people to convert to Christianity.

The police let Sohan go but required that he return each month for questioning. And while Sohan did have to appear once in court for more questioning, as he answered the questions honestly, the judge realized his innocence—and dropped all charges against him!

Soon, Sohan will be sent to his first ministry assignment. And because of his experience during a summer outreach, he will be better equipped to stand strong for God in spite of the difficult circumstances.

KARNATAKA, INDIA (ANS) — Two pastors were tortured and arrested by Hindu radicals.

The incident occurred on Aug. 11 in Davangere, Karnataka State, India.

According to a story on www.persecution.in, Pastors Rajendra Gowda and Kumaran were praying in a village called Emmanabettur, and more than 20 Hindu radicals from the Shivasainya (Army of Shiva) Youth Association burst into the meeting and attacked the pastors.

It was reported in the story that the radicals stripped the pastors, tied them to a car and drove them half naked from Emmanabettur village to the Anagi Police Outpost. That is a distance of about seven kilometers.

The report said the pastors were then later taken in the same car to Davangere Rural Polic Station. That is about another 20 kilometers from Anagi Outpost. There the pastors were viciously assaulted.

Then the Hindu radicals filed a complaint with the police against the pastors, alleging they were engaging in forced conversion activities. As a result, the police arrested the pastors.

The website reported after appearing before a magistrate later that evening, the pastors were freed the next day.

The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), a Christian advocacy group, is concerned about the increasing violence against pastors and evangelists in the Karnataka

More specifically, GCIC said, there have been 42 incidences of torture and violence against Christian workers and pastors so far in 2008.

Middle East business news website Zawya.com reported that the man, who is a prominent member of a “virtue committee,” first cut out his daughter’s tongue and held a one-sided religious debate with her. He then burned his daughter alive.

Observant Muslims hold that their Prophet Mohammed taught that Muslims who convert to any other religion must be killed, often in extremely brutal fashion.

BEIJING, CHINA (ANS) — Chinese House Church Pastors were forced to sign a written agreement that they would not participate in religious services while the Olympic Games are taking place in China.

According to China Aid Association, (CAA), the document, drafted by Chinese government officials, specifies that the House Churches in China:”…refrain from organizing and joining illegal gatherings and refrain from receiving donations, sermons and preaching from overseas religious organizations and groups that have a purpose.”

CAA also says the document also prohibits the churches from gathering in their communities for more than 3 months while the Olympics are taking place. Should church members violate these rules they will be subject to the disciplinary actions of the Chinese Government.

In a media advisory, China Aid says: “The discovery of this document provides further evidence of the PRC’s hypocrisy towards creating a ‘harmonious society’ marked by religious freedom and rule of law.

“The fact the document was issued while the world’s focus is on China, is a blatant challenge to the International community and an apathetic stance toward seeking to correct human rights violations even as world leaders are directly confronting the Government at the Beijing Olympics.

“If China is seeking to put on the mantle of a world superpower, it must first acknowledge the unalienable rights of its own people. CAA calls on the international community and those concerned to voice their complaint to the relevant Chinese Government authorities.”

BEIJING, CHINA (ANS) — Chinese House Church Pastors were forced to sign a written agreement that they would not participate in religious services while the Olympic Games are taking place in China.

According to China Aid Association, (CAA), the document, drafted by Chinese government officials, specifies that the House Churches in China:”…refrain from organizing and joining illegal gatherings and refrain from receiving donations, sermons and preaching from overseas religious organizations and groups that have a purpose.”

CAA also says the document also prohibits the churches from gathering in their communities for more than 3 months while the Olympics are taking place. Should church members violate these rules they will be subject to the disciplinary actions of the Chinese Government.

In a media advisory, China Aid says: “The discovery of this document provides further evidence of the PRC’s hypocrisy towards creating a ‘harmonious society’ marked by religious freedom and rule of law.

“The fact the document was issued while the world’s focus is on China, is a blatant challenge to the International community and an apathetic stance toward seeking to correct human rights violations even as world leaders are directly confronting the Government at the Beijing Olympics.

“If China is seeking to put on the mantle of a world superpower, it must first acknowledge the unalienable rights of its own people. CAA calls on the international community and those concerned to voice their complaint to the relevant Chinese Government authorities.”