WASHINGTON (ABP) — Two Baptists were among 24 prominent Christian leaders in the United States who recently signed an open letter to President Bush calling for action against anti-Christian violence in India.
Daniel Vestal of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and William Shaw of the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc., joined other religious leaders from Catholic, mainline Protestant, evangelical, Pentecostal and African-American church bodies asking Bush to urge India’s prime minister to enforce religious freedom guarantees in India’s Constitution.
Recently Bush signed an arms-control and trade accord with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying it indicated that “nations that follow the path to democracy and responsible behavior will find a friend in the United States.”
In light of that, the leaders urged the president to hold India accountable for stopping violence carried out by extremist Hindu mobs that started in Orissa and has spread to six other states. Reports indicate that more than 60 people have been killed in recent weeks and 50,000 people have fled their homes, with many still in hiding.
The Nov. 7 letter said the attacks, targeting mainly poor Christians, amount to “religious cleansing” of Christians and other minorities.
The letter called on the president to “insist, in the strongest terms, that these reprehensible groups and the assenting local government agencies be brought into conformity with India’s rule of law.”
“Only if India agrees and acts with goodwill toward all its citizens will it continue to be viewed as a responsible global partner worthy of a place on the world stage with other democratic nations,” the letter concluded.
In October Neville Callam, general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, wrote a letter to Singh about “the grim situation facing Christians in Orissa. ” It urged the Indian leader “to intervene, in the best traditions of the Indian sub-continent, to bring relief to the people suffering in Orissa.”
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Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.