Western-centric, religiously jingoistic, evangelical, insular, and apolitical are dominant constructs of Indian Christians. Often cocooned in the comfort of church pastoralism and doctrine, they are mostly active in community-centered social outreach, recreational activities and social relationships, and often responsive to societal concerns expressed through acts of charity, mercy and prayer. However, the 32.2 million Indian Christians (2024) who constitute India’s diverse national tapestry, and are spread across its vastly different geographic terrain are also heterogenous. Their diversity manifests in economic, social, cultural, and ethnic status, political engagement, and denominational membership.
While conversion to Christianity accompanied the westernization in parts of 16th-century India, Christianity also encountered local cultural assertion, generating a unique mix of Indian-Christian practice marked by local socio-cultural traditions and sometimes religious syncretism. “The Christian community’s contribution to India’s socio-economic-political life is anchored in Gospel values,” says retired Auxiliary Bishop Allwyn D’Silva of Mumbai.

A delegation of Church lead-ers met with Indian Prime Mi-nister Narendra Modi on July 12, a month after he was elected to power for the third consecutive term, and expressed concerns about the increasing hostility Christians face in the country. Archbishop Andrews Thazhath of Trichur, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, led the four-member delegation along with federal minister Suresh Gopi, a parliamentarian elected from southern Kerala state and a mem-ber of Modi’s Bhartiya Janata Party. The 45-minute meeting at the prime minister’s office “was cordial, and the prime minister gave us a good hearing,” Thazhath told the media at the bishops’ conference office in New Delhi. The delegation submitted a me-morandum expressing anxiety over the increasing attacks on Christians, the false allegations of forced conversions, and the misuse of anti-conversion laws, Thazhath said. The leaders wanted Modi’s intervention to stop the atrocities on minorities and hara-ssment of Christians. The memo-randum also sought for Christians of Dalit origin the special benefits meant for socially poor Dalit peo-ple. These concessions are denied to them on the ground that Chri-stianity does not follow the caste system.
The memorandum said Dalit Christians face double discrimination as society discriminates them as lower caste, and the government excludes them from welfare measures. The Church delegation wanted governmental steps to extend reservation bene-fits to Dalit Christians.

The top court in a central Indian state has granted bail to a woman school principal but denied it to a Protestant bishop, a Catholic priest, and 12 others accused of charging exorbitant school fees.
A single bench of Justice Maninder S Bhatti of Jabalpur High Court of Madhya Pradesh state has ordered the release of Soma George, principal of a Catholic school in Jabalpur. It also granted anticipatory bail to a Catholic priest named in the complaint but not arrested. This consideration, however, was not extended to Bishop Ajay Umesh Kumar James of Jabalpur Diocese of the Church of North India (CNI) and Fr Abraham Thazhathedathu of the Catholic Diocese of Jabalpur. Bail pleas of the bishop, the priest and the others were rejected because they were part of the decision-making process as members of the school management. “We are disappointed with the top court order,” said Fr Davis George, vicar general of Jabalpur diocese. The priest denied that diocesan schools were charging extra money from students. “We will file an appeal,” he told. A total of 22 persons from different institutions were arrested on May 27 after they were accused of charging exorbitant school fees. The state police cracked down on the schools following an allegation of charging excessive fees. The right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party runs the state government. Eleven private schools, including seven run by the Church, have faced the wrath of the district administration. The police registered cases against 51 persons, including the textbook seller, accused of selling books at outrageous prices.

Indigenous people in Manipur have sought the support of India’s new opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, to end a 14-month-old sectarian strife in their northeastern state, where tribal Christians are pitted against dominant Hindus. Gandhi visited the violence-hit state on July 8 after being elected opposition leader on June 26. “We appreciate Rahul visiting us and taking stock of our plight,” a Christian leader, who sought anonymity, told. The constitutional post had remained vacant for a decade in the Indian parliament, which was dominated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party. However, Modi’s party lost the majority in the just concluded general election and formed a coalition government. Gandhi was elected the leader of the opposition. “During previous visits, Gandhi was merely a parliamentarian. But now he is the opposition leader,” the Church leader observed. “Everything is in bad shape” in Manipur, noted the leader based in the sectarian strife-hit northeastern Indian state bordering civil war-affected Myanmar. A delegation from the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) called on Gandhi to seek his help to settle the sectarian violence that began on May 3 last year after a court move to confer tribal status on the prosperous Hindu Meitei community. The tribal status would help the Meiteis avail themselves of benefits under India’s affirmation action, something the tribal people from the state opposed. Gandhi visited several places, including relief camps in the worst-affected Churachandpur district, where the communal conflict originated. Visiting Manipur for a third time within 14 months, Gandhi lamented the plight of the displaced people, pegged at more than 50,000, and met family members of those killed, numbering more than 220. However, Prime Minister Modi has not visited the state, which is also ruled by his party. “What is of paramount importance at the moment is the restoration of peace,” Gandhi said and countered Modi’s claim in the Rajya Sabha (upper house of parliament), that normalcy was returning to Manipur.

Christian leaders in India have hailed three US lawmakers’ demand for an independent probe into the situation that led to the death of Jesuit activist Father Stan Swamy as a prisoner three years ago. Representative from California Juan Vargas, along with lawmakers Jim McGovern and Andre Carson, on July 6 introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives on the third anniversary of Father Swamy’s death. The 84-year-old Swamy died in a private hospital in Mumbai, in western Maharashtra state, as an under-trial prisoner on July 5, 2021.  He was accused of associating with terrorists aiming to destabilize the nation and being part of a plan to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “The US lawmakers are justified in their demand” for an independent investigation into the situation that led to the death of the priest, said Father Jacob G Palakkappilly, spokesperson of the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council, a regional body based in southern Kerala. Father Palakkappilliy told that the allegations against the priest must be probed to clear his name. Christian leaders say the aged priest was arrested to silence his criticism that the policies of the Modi government ignored the welfare of tribal and poor in the country.   Swamy opposed a move to amend India’s stringent Forest Act, which safeguards the interests of forest dwellers. He accused the government led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of amending the law to help industrialists. According to the US resolution, Swamy worked to raise awareness among Adivasi (tribal) people about their rights. “Father Stan dedicated his life to giving a voice to the voiceless. He was a tireless advocate for the rights of the indigenous Adivasi people,” Vargas noted in the resolution. “Yes, there should be a probe into the allegations against Father Swamy,” stressed Sister Helen Tresa, a lawyer in the high court in Jharkhand. Swamy, based in Jharkhand, filed several cases to protect the rights of tribal people, who were illegally jailed after labeling them as sympathizers of outlawed Maoist rebels.

Consumption of spurious liquor led to the death of 57 people, most of them daily wage laborers, and left 150 others battling for life in a hospital in a southern Indian state. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) expressed its “profound sorrow and condolences to the families of those who tragically lost their lives after consuming methanol-mixed liquor in Tamil Nadu [state].” Many of those who died were Dalits or formerly untouchables from Kallakuruchi town and its nearby villages who worked as daily labourers. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families during this heartbreaking time,” the CBCI said in a June 21 statement. The Catholic bishops also sought action against those involved in the illicit liquor trade that led to the tragedy. The state police’s crime investigation department has arrested seven suspects so far since the tragedy on June 19. The victims, among them two women and a transgender person, consumed the spurious liquor in the evening after a hard day’s work. “Among the dead are a few Protestant Christians,” said a Catholic priest in the Arch-diocese of Pondicherry-Cuddalore which covers the Kallakuruchi town and its surrounding area. However, the exact number of Christians who died or are in serious condition could not be ascertained due to the highly tense situation, he said. “It is still ex-plosive despite heightened security,” the priest who wished to be anonymous told.

As many as 20 young people from seven Indian states have committed to becoming lay missionaries through the Communio missionary training programme. The commitment ceremony took place on June 23 at St. Francis Assisi Church at Tallur, Udupi diocese, Karnataka. The second batch of the missionary training programme organized by Communio in collaboration with the Youth Commission of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India was inaugurated by Father Stephen Alathara, Deputy Secretary General, CCBI, and the Director of Communio. Earlier in March 2024, the Youth Commission trained 30 youth for their missionary journey. The Communio Missionary Training Programme that began on June 22 will conclude on June 27 when the trainees take the missionary pledge before Bishop Gerald Isaac Lobo of Udupi. The selected volunteers, chosen for their diverse linguistic, cultural, and environmental backgrounds, are being immersed in the local culture by staying with twenty families from St. Francis Assisi parish.

Christian groups in the strife-torn Manipur state in northeast India have jointly appealed to Indian President Droupadi Murmu to stop the violence against a tiny group of Christians who live among native Hindu Meitei people. An estimated 35,000 Meitei Christians face “total cleansing and obliteration” in all the valley districts of the hilly state, according to their memorandum submitted to Murmu on June 26. The All Manipur Christian Organization (AMCO), a forum of all Christian groups in the state cutting across denomi-national differences, said Meitei Christians are facing violence from people of their ethnicity.
The Meitei people make up 53 percent of Manipur’s 3.2 million population. They are mostly Hindus, but some have followed various Christian denominations for decades. How-ever, they became the target of Meitei violence after a riot broke out 14 months ago between Meitei people and predominantly Christian Kuki tribal people, the Church leader told. “Since the mayhem and violence started, more than 360 Christian churches have either been razed to the ground, demo-lished or vandalized, out of which 249 churches belong to the Meitei minority Christian com-munity,” said the memorandum. “What is extremely saddening and heart-wrenching is the fact that all the displaced Meitei Christians are still not allowed to practice Christianity as their faith,” it said.
“The Meitei Christians, who are being threatened and harassed, are not allowed to practice their faith,” the memorandum said. It stressed that freedom of religion is “a guaranteed fundamental right of each citizen of our secular nation.” The Meitei Christians should be given “the necessary protection and assurance by the government of India and state government that they would no longer be disturbed from any angle in practicing the faith they choose,” it said. The memorandum also appealed to Murmu to take immediate action to “rebuild the places of worship, fostering healing and restoring the fabric of unity among the people.” It said that the reconstruction of these churches will serve as a symbol of resilience and reaffirm our commitment to diversity and harmony.

Catholics in India expressed optimism following the Supreme Court’s recent co-mments that a draconian anti-conversion law may be found to violate the Indian Constitution. During a May 16 hearing concerning the anti-conversion law in northern Uttar Pradesh state, the Supreme Court noted that “some parts [of the law] may seem to be violative of the fundamental right to religion guaranteed under Article 25 of the Constitution.”
“This Supreme Court observation gives us great hope,” Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore in southern Karnataka state told CNA. “The court observation highlights the primacy of the fundamental right of freedom of conscience,” he said.
“The Supreme Court remark is a pleasant surprise and gives hope to us,” A.C. Michael, a Catholic and coordinator of the ecumenical United Christian Forum (UCF), told CNA. Appeals against the laws are pending in as many as nine states, Michael added. UCF has been monitoring incidents of anti-Christian violence and extending support to persecuted Christians, most of whom were arrested on fraudulent conversion charges. Michael point-ed out that anti-conversion laws, which were enacted mostly by Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments, are being abused to target Christians. The Supreme Court made its observation while hearing a petition seeking the quashing of a conversion case registered against officials of Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Tech-nology, and Sciences (a Christian university) in Uttar Pradesh. “The Supreme Court on Thursday orally commented that the Uttar Pradesh anti-conversion law [Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021] in some parts may seem to be violative of the fundamental right to religion guaranteed under Article 25 of the Constitution,” the Institute of Legal and Management Studies reported.
Article 25 (1) of the Indian Constitution, which is known as the Magna Carta of religious freedom or “freedom of conscience” in India, guarantees: “Subject to public order, morality, and health and to the other provisions of this part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice, and propagate religion.”

An Indian Church official has welcomed an order of the Delhi High Court allowing educational institutions run by minority communities to appoint their staff without government approval. “This is a great order,” said Father Maria Charles Antonysamy, the secretary of the Indian bishops’ Office of Education and Culture, indicating that government-funded minority institutions across the country experienced a lack of freedom in appointing staff members. Delhi High Court, in its May 28 order, said, “So long as the principals and teachers, who are appointed possess the prescribed qualifications and experience, there can be no restriction whatsoever on the right of the petitioner [a minority institution] to make appointments to fill in the vacancies in the schools run by it.” “No prior permission from the government is required for this purpose,” observed Justice C. Hari Shankar, ruling in favor of the petitioner Delhi Tamil Education Association, which runs seven senior secondary schools in India’s national capital region for the Tamil linguistic minority. Indian constitution allows linguistic and religious minorities to establish and run educational institutions to serve their communities. The government also pays for the salaries and maintenance of several such institutions as they contribute to the state’s educational service.
However, state governments increasingly began controlling staff appointments, and “because of this difficulty, in some cases, Church-run aided schools were closed down,” the priest said. The court’s order “definitely will help us to maintain our ethos and standards. Only when we have the freedom to appoint principals and teachers of our choice can we maintain our values for a better society,” said the Catholic priest. The New Delhi court’s order applies only to Delhi state, but the priest said it could be used as a guiding principle in asserting the rights of minority institutions across the country. “The order will help us to appoint staff members who understand us. It will make a big difference in our functioning. Appointing a vested interested person will lead to a clash of interest,” Father Antonysamy added. The priest said, “The high court order is a big relief not only in Delhi but also in other states where state-aided minority educational institutions faced similar problems. They can refer to this order in those states for relief.”