Amritsar: The population of Christians in northern Indian states such as Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh has increased significantly, the recently-released religious census report says.
Although Churches in these states are busy ascertaining the actual factors behind the rise in number, the Church of North India (CNI), the leading Protestant group in the region, attributed the growth to an increased persecution of the community.
“History is witness to the fact that Christianity multiplies whenever it faces persecution. It’s a fact that Christians in Jammu and Kashmir have endured persecution in the past in the form of violence and attacks on the churches,” said CNI’s moderator Bishop PK Samantharoy.
He was quoted in The Hindustan Times as saying that the community’s growth in the northernmost Jammu and Kashmir state came despite a large number of Christians migrating from the state “as churches were burnt there.”
He said the same reasons stood true for Haryana where, according to him, the issue of conversion to Christianity often led to persecution of the converts.
Samantharoy said even as efforts were being made to ascertain the real factors that have led to the rise in the number of Christians in Himachal Pradesh, churches and other Christian organizations were encouraging “new believers” or the ones who had converted earlier to declare their religion boldly.
“In the previous years, declaration of conversion to Christianity often meant loss of benefits being availed as a Dalit or a member of another backward class. Now this is no longer so,” he said, adding that the natural growth of Christians in the three states due to growth in the size of the families could be another reason for the increase in their numbers.