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Article: Orissa--Meanwhile, in the Indian state of Orissa, some Christians fled for their lives in February as Hindu fundamentalists stripped, molested, and shaved the heads of nine Christians, including seven women.(Politics and Religion I)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Catholic Insight
- Article date:
- July 1, 2004
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Catholic Insight. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Orissa -- Meanwhile, in the Indian state of Orissa, some Christians fled for their lives in February as Hindu fundamentalists stripped, molested, and shaved the heads of nine Christians, including seven women. They were persecuted for refusing to give up their faith. The trauma did not end there, according to John Dayal, a leading Christian-rights campaigner. The Christians were packed into a van and taken to a distant village, where they were forcibly "reconverted" to Hinduism.
Under the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act--amended in 1999 in response to (false) complaints by Hindus of coercive conversions by Christians--anyone intending to change his religion must ...