By Irudhaya Jothi
Kolkata, October 12, 2026: Dear Sanatani,
Thank you for visiting me. I must say you were polite and genuinely wanted information about the mission, the funding, and related matters.
I politely provided the needed information and politely declined your request to speak with the children in my hostel.
Your visit, however, made me think seriously about the mission and my own commitment. I appreciate your interest, even after so many years, in what you felt was the need to protect your religion—an interest I am sure you understand from one side.
I sincerely thank you for your activism to “save Hinduism,” of which, I believe, you have learned mightily little.
No one can save it, nor can anyone propagate it forcefully—just as no one can do so with any other prominent religion in the world, such as Christianity and Islam.
I consider your brute energy and activism similar to that of Saul before his conversion, as he himself narrates in the Acts of the Apostles. He was hunting and detaining the believers so that they could be tried against the law.
You are highly spirited in your desire to protect your religion and engage fully. At times, you have been misguided.
The Church in Bengal is rather young, and we are still getting used to the tolerant atmosphere of humanist Bengalis.
We have settled into little or no challenges. We are rather comfortable in our own cozy, apparently peaceful hamlets and gated churches and convents.
We try to be humble and meek; we do not go out to create tension, nor do we actively build peace. “Jhamela chai na” has been our simple motto and philosophy so far.
We live in some sort of false pride and hope—of a God-fearing and poor-embracing community that does some kind of service to the needy and the least in society.
We do what we can for our survival and do not boast of richness or power in Bengal society. We depend on missionaries so far to upkeep our faith from our side of Bengal.
You have instilled some sort of fear in us, and that is welcome. We have suddenly woken up from our cozy comforts.
We used to mind our own business, keep ourselves closed with a simple and secure income for survival, and sustain our spirit by visiting churches on Sundays and attending novenas.
Some of us felt the need to read the Word of God and apply it to our lives, and so we started the so-called Basic Ecclesial Communities (BEC), where we try to read and understand the Word of God in our context and live it out in our own simple way.
We do not engage in politics; we consider it too big for us. We remain indifferent to the injustice all around us.
Even if someone unjustly beats us, we tend to forgive and move ahead instead of asking the right questions and countering the perpetrators. We understand that Jesus wants us to live in peace and build peace.
Thank you, dear Sanatani brothers (I am not sure if there are Sanatani sisters!) for asking the right questions and challenging our faith.
We try to read the Bible closely and understand that we are living in a graced time—a rare privilege to witness Christ and deepen our faith.
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
— Matthew 5:11-12
Official state-sponsored and local opposition against the first Christians began in the 1st century AD, driven first by Jewish religious authorities in Judea and subsequently by the Roman imperial system.
Stephen became the first recorded Christian martyr around 34–37 AD after being tried before the Jewish Sanhedrin. Acts 7:58–59 records: “Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him… And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’”
Before his conversion, Saul (later Paul) of Tarsus actively hunted and imprisoned members of the early church. Acts 8:3 states: “But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.”
Under Herod Agrippa I, James the brother of John was executed by the sword and Peter was imprisoned. Acts 12:1–3 tells us:
“About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also.”
Jesus himself warned his followers that they would face societal rejection and legal trouble. In John 15:20 he said: “Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”
The Apostle Paul later affirmed that hostility would accompany the Christian life: “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12).
The Neronian persecution of 64 AD is recorded by the Roman historian Tacitus in his Annals (written around 115 AD).
Tacitus noted that Emperor Nero blamed Christians for the Great Fire of Rome and inflicted sophisticated tortures:
“Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered in the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.”
In our own time, the United Christian Forum recorded roughly 900 anti-Christian incidents in 2025, compared to 834 in 2024 and just 134 in 2014.
The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) verified 747 severe cases of violence and intimidation in 2025 alone, with Uttar Pradesh (217) and Chhattisgarh (177) emerging as major hotspots.
Mobs frequently raid peaceful home prayer meetings under the “forced conversion” narrative, alleging illegal inducement or fraud.
Rather than protecting the victims, local police often arrest the pastors under state anti-conversion laws. As of early 2026, over 110 Christians remained jailed under these laws.
Twelve Indian states currently have anti-conversion laws in force: Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra (effective August 2026), Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.
These laws aim to stop religious conversions carried out by force, fraud, threats, or unfair temptation (allurement).
Many of them require people or priests to report a conversion to the local government beforehand. Breaking the rules can lead to heavy monetary fines and jail time, with punishments often harsher if a minor, a woman, or a person from a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe is involved.
In West Bengal, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announced on 26 June that his government would enact a stringent law against religious conversion, while also implementing the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) as part of measures to strengthen national security and preserve Bengal’s cultural identity.
The proposed legislation targets conversions carried out through force, fraud, inducement, or marriage.
Adhikari stated that these steps aim to protect cultural identity, curb illegal cross-border infiltration, and address foreign funding used for establishing religious institutions linked to conversions.
The announcement has sparked significant political debate and is expected to face heavy scrutiny in the assembly.
Thank you, Sanatanis, for strengthening our faith and helping make the local Bengal Church a real prophetic Church—one that is growing through your preaching and becoming local in every aspect.
You cannot and will not stop the movement, just as millions of anti-Christians have tried and failed for millennia.
You are doing a great service in rooting the Church in deeper faith, which will now also work for justice and peace. I am ever grateful to you. The blood of every martyr is the seed of Christianity.
There are religious radicals in many religions.
Though I stand to condemn each one of them—for they are not close to the eternal Creator and Sustainer whom we call God, the ultimate energy, the Spirit that moves—we have different expressions for this almighty eternal power.