Chengalpattu, June 14, 2020: Unidentified miscreants set ablaze a church on June 13 night in Tamil Nadu’s Chengalpattu district.
The building belongs to the ‘Church of True Peace,’ a Pentecostal group led by Pastor Ramesh Jebraj, who is visually challenged from birth. The pastor told Persecution Relief that the attack could have occurred between midnight and 3 am.
Jebraj lives 1 kilometer away from the newly-built church that has 30 families as members. Some 70 people used to gather regularly for worship before the lockdown was imposed.
Pastor Jebraj built the church in 2010. “In 2013, the fence around my home was burnt by unknown troublemakers. I chose not to make a police complaint back then but now the church has been critically damaged,” he told Persecution Relief.
The pastor made a complaint at the E3 Police Station in Sadras about the attack. Asked about the attackers, the pastor said he was sure who set the church ablaze. He ruled out the possibility of a short circuit as the church building has no electricity connection yet.
This is the latest of the 49 attacks on churches in the first quarter of 2020, says Shibu Thomas of the Persecution Relief. He said although churches are empty because of the lockdown, attacks on Christians continued.
“As reports of hate crimes against Christians soar in spite of stringent restrictions, the crimes are also getting fiercer,” Thomas regretted.
Tamil Nadu has recorded the second highest number of attacks on Christians in the past three years, Thomas says.
In 2016, 22 hate crimes against Christians were reported in Tamil Nadu. In 2017, the southern Indian state reported 57 cases, in 2018 (67) and in 2019 (75), according to the Persecution Relief documentation.
Source: Persecution Relief
Why are Pentecostal churches often attacked? Do they preach an intolerant form of Christianity that condemns others?