{"id":22912,"date":"2020-03-24T11:40:12","date_gmt":"2020-03-24T02:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/?p=22912"},"modified":"2020-03-25T11:10:49","modified_gmt":"2020-03-25T02:10:49","slug":"vomk-report-92","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/2020\/03\/24\/vomk-report-92\/","title":{"rendered":"CHURCH BUILDING DEMOLISHED, PASTOR AND MEMBERS ARRESTED IN SOUTHERN INDIA"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=&#8221;22913&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221;][vc_custom_heading text=&#8221;In the early morning of March 9th, authorities ordered the destruction of a Christian church building in the town of Chelur in Karnataka State. The pastor and ten other Christians were arrested.&#8221; font_container=&#8221;tag:p|font_size:1.2em|text_align:left&#8221; google_fonts=&#8221;font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal&#8221; el_class=&#8221;headline&#8221;][vc_column_text]<iframe loading=\"lazy\"  id=\"_ytid_76350\"  width=\"1170\" height=\"658\"  data-origwidth=\"1170\" data-origheight=\"658\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PGkiPHhAno8?enablejsapi=1&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&rel=1&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"YouTube player\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]According to Voice of the Martyrs Korea representative Dr. Hyun Sook Foley,\u00a0the authorities\u00a0were spurred on in the action by Hindu militants, and\u00a0the church leaders were charged with\u00a0alleged document discrepancies\u00a0despite the pastor demonstrating that all required building permissions were in place.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/12&#8243;][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;10\/12&#8243;][vc_single_image image=&#8221;22936&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221; alignment=&#8221;center&#8221;][vc_custom_heading text=&#8221;Members of a demolished church in Chelur, India remain in prison awaiting release on bail.&#8221; font_container=&#8221;tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%23000000|line_height:1.45em&#8221; google_fonts=&#8221;font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal&#8221;][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/12&#8243;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]All eleven remain\u00a0in detention, and efforts are ongoing to secure bail for them.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cChina isn\u2019t the only country where church buildings are being demolished by authorities,\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>says Representative Foley.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIndia is a country of growing concern for Christian persecution.\u00a0Ever since Prime Minister Modi came into office in 2014, persecution of religious minorities in India has increased.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]In its 2019 report, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said this about India:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u00a0\u201cOver the last decade, conditions for religious minorities in India have deteriorated. A multifaceted campaign by Hindu nationalist groups like\u00a0Rashtriya\u00a0Swayamsevak Sang (RSS), Sangh\u00a0Parivar, and\u00a0Vishva\u00a0Hindu Parishad (VHP) to alienate non-Hindus or lower-caste Hindus is a significant contributor to the rise of religious violence and persecution. Those targeted by this campaign\u2014including Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, and lower-caste Hindus\u2014face challenges ranging from acts of violence or intimidation to the loss of political power, increasing feelings of disenfranchisement, and limits on access to education, housing, and employment.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cAuthorities in China are realizing that demolishing buildings does not demolish the faith of Christians. We need to pray the same thing for India,\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>says Representative Foley.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cPlease pray that the case against the\u00a0pastor and church members in\u00a0Chelur\u00a0would be dropped and that justice would prevail over the destroyed church. Also be praying for the families\u00a0of those arrested, those seeking to help them,\u00a0and also\u00a0for their persecutors.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/4&#8243;][vc_single_image image=&#8221;22949&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221; alignment=&#8221;center&#8221; onclick=&#8221;img_link_large&#8221;][vc_custom_heading text=&#8221;Map of India showing the location of Chelur&#8221; font_container=&#8221;tag:p|font_size:13px|text_align:center|color:%23000000|line_height:1.45em&#8221; google_fonts=&#8221;font_family:Noto%20Sans%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:400%20regular%3A400%3Anormal&#8221;][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;3\/4&#8243;][vc_column_text]Individuals or churches interested in helping persecuted Christians\u00a0in India and\u00a0around the world can visit\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/donation\/\">www.vomkorea.com\/donate<\/a>\u00a0or give via electronic transfer to<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>VOM Korea website : <a href=\"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/donation\/\">vomkorea.com\/donation<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Bank Account : KB bank\u00a0 463501-01-243303 \uc608\uae08\uc8fc: (\uc0ac)\uc21c\uad50\uc790\uc758\uc18c\ub9ac<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=&#8221;Donate&#8221; style=&#8221;flat&#8221; shape=&#8221;square&#8221; color=&#8221;black&#8221; align=&#8221;center&#8221; link=&#8221;url:https%3A%2F%2Fvomkorea.com%2Fen%2Fdonation%2F||target:%20_blank|&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=&#8221;22913&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221;][vc_custom_heading text=&#8221;In the early morning of March 9th, authorities ordered the destruction of a Christian church building in the town of Chelur in Karnataka State. The pastor and &#8230;","protected":false},"author":903,"featured_media":22952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[857,235,869,140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-russian-special","category-special-column","category-china-special","category-vomk-report"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["ko","en","zh","ru"],"languages":{"ko":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"zh":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"ru":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/903"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vomkorea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}