Report: 8,000 Christian Victims of Persecution in India

Eight-thousand Christians have suffered persecution in India over the past year, according to a Christian organization there.

Catholic Secular Forums (CSF) reports that seven Protestant pastors and one lay person were murdered in India during 2015. The report documents 200 incidents of hate speech and violence against Christians in India, including women and children.

The report also highlights the state of Madhya Pradesh as the worst place for anti-Christian attacks, followed by Tamil Nadu and Jharkand.

The attacks are sometimes justified by accusing Christians of baiting the Dalit people to convert to Christianity.

Madhya Praesh has recently tightened its already strict anti-conversion laws. But CSF head Joseph Dias says that "forced conversion is not in any way the aim of the Christian faith."

The report also contradicts statistics on the Open Doors World Watch list.

"More than 350 Christians were physically attacked, at least nine Christians were killed for their faith and at least three women were raped in the reporting year. Attacks mainly come from Hindu extremists, although extremist Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists and Maoists have all targeted Christians," Open Doors reports. It lists India as the seventeenth most dangerous place in the world for Christians to live.

Meanwhile, India's ruling BJP party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) groups' espousal of Hindu nationalist ideology continues to foster hostility and violence toward Christians in some regions of India.

In response to Christianity's appeal to the tribal and Dalit people, the RSS, which is opposed to Hindu conversions to Christianity and Islam, hosts "ghar waspi" ceremonies to bring apostates of Hinduism back to the faith.