Politics of hatred has left India bleeding

Politics of hatred has left India bleeding (Comment)

December 30th, 2008 - 4:49 pm ICT by IANS - Send to a friend:

The year 2008 can easily be marked as an unforgettable year in the annals of Indian christianity for the simple reason that the Christian community here faced its most trying and testing time in its 2,000 years of history. It is not the case that Christianity had not faced hostility and opposition earlier in India; it did right from the very start when St Thomas, an Apostle of Jesus, came to our shores in the first century to preach the good news: he was martyred by those who opposed to his presence and teachings. However, as in several other parts of the world, Christianity in India did not face an orchestrated and protracted persecution for the most part of the last two millennia. That is partly because Christianity for the first 15 centuries or so was mostly confined to the south western shores of India, the Malabar coast to be precise. It was only after the arrival of the Portuguese missionaries in the latter part of 15th century AD that Christianity began to make its presence felt in other parts of India. more