Bangalore, India 26 August (ENI)--Christian groups in India have condemned the killing of a prominent Hindu leader, and called on government security forces to protect them from reprisal attacks in eastern Orissa state, where inter-communal violence has flared in recent times. Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati, the most senior leader of an extreme Hindu nationalist group in Orissa, was shot and killed along with five junior monks, allegedly by more than 20 Maoists who stormed his home on 23 August in Orissa's Kandhamal district. The killings triggered about 100 attacks in the area on minority Christians, who were blamed for the deaths.

All India Christian Council officials said they had received one report of a nun being burnt alive during an attack on an orphanage, and another of the rape of a nun. Statements deploring the killing of the 82-year-old Hindu monk were sent by the Roman Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, the Church of North India, which has three dioceses in Orissa, the All India Christian Council, and the Evangelical Fellowship of India.

"We strongly condemn the dastardly attack and violent killing of Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati and his associates," said Raphael Cheenath, the Catholic archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, whose diocese includes the Kandhamal district where the slain monk had his base. Later, in an interview with the Catholic AsiaNews, Cheenath likened Hindu nationalism's fomenting of attacks against Christians to a cancer undermining inter-communal coexistence, which, he said, is the foundation of Indian society. The archbishop specifically cited nationalism as expressed through the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) or National Volunteers' Organization, and liked it to the Nazism of Germany's Adolf Hitler.

"We feel totally abandoned. This morning, the authorities sent three policemen to watch over the nuns' convent and the bishop's residence but they don't even have a stick to protect us from the fury of the mob," said Cheenath. He added he believed anti-Christian and anti-Muslim violence was rooted in the ideology that had developed around the RSS, and that inspired some members of fanatical groups linked to the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"We Christians refuse violence. We condemn every act of violence and terrorism but we are also against taking the law into our own hands," said the Catholic leader. "As soon as we heard about Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati's assassination, I issued a public statement strongly condemning the dastardly attack and murders. I called on everyone to remain peaceful and in harmony. We want relations of friendship with all communities."

Condemning the killing, the Rev. P.R. Parichcha, the All India Christian Council coordinator, expressed fears that the killing of Saraswati could "further destabilise the situation in the communally sensitive Kandhamal district". Christian groups said that widespread anti-Christian violence in the Kandhamal district that had begun during Christmas festivities in 2007 had been pre-planned and that Saraswati had played a key role in it.

The Rev. Enos Das Pradhan, general secretary of the Church of North India synod, appealed to the Orissa chief minister as well as the Indian federal government, "to immediately provide protection to the minority Christians" in Orissa. Archbishop Cheenath told Ecumenical News International on 25 August that Hindu groups had set fire to three churches and a van belonging to Catholic nuns. "We urge the government to ensure that the Christmas nightmare is not repeated," the archbishop said. [564 words]

[COURTESY TO ENI AS SOURCE]

Bangalore, India, 20 August (ENI)--Hundreds of mourners have attended the funeral of a priest brutally killed in India's southern Andhra Pradesh state, with a warning that Christians are losing faith in the country's ability to bring to justice those responsible for a string of communal attacks. The Rev. Thomas Pandipally, a Roman Catholic priest aged 38, was found dead on the roadside at the town of Yellareddy on the morning of 17 August. His eyes had been gouged out and his body had multiple stab wounds. The last time the priest had been seen was leaving a convent the previous evening on his motorcycle after having said Mass there. The motorcycle was found seven kilometres from where the priest's body was discovered.

"This is the worst tragedy in the history of our congregation," the Rev. Jose Panthaplamthottiyil, superior general of the Carmelites of Mary Congregation (CMI), to which the slain priest belonged, told Ecumenical News International. He was speaking on 20 August after the priest's funeral at the Bellamapally congregation centre. Panthaplamthottiyil said that Pandipally, the principal of the congregation's school at Yellareddy, was the first priest to have been murdered from the CMI congregation, which is based in southern state of Kerala and has 1600 priests in India.

"We do not know the motive behind the murder and police are yet to provide us any clue," said the superior general. Still, he added, "This is certainly a well-planned murder." "We are calling on the authorities to ensure that the perpetrators of this horrendous crime be brought to justice," Sam Paul, public affairs secretary of the All India Christian Council, said in a statement. "The faith of the Christian community in the justice system has been severely damaged by the lack of convictions in communal attacks."

The Global Council of Indian Christians in a statement said Christians in the country were, "dismayed and disturbed by the increasing number of brutal attacks perpetrated against Christians in Andhra Pradesh". Sajan K. George, chairperson of the council, told ENI that the council had documented 28 major incidents of attacks on Christian targets in Kerala so far in 2008, while many more attacks in the state, including the killing of three evangelical pastors, had been reported in recent years.

J.A. Oliver, secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Council of Churches, said, "It is a matter of great concern that the atrocities are increasing." The council, said Oliver, would be convening a meeting of independent churches in the wake of the increasing violence against Christians in the state. He added that, in the state, some people claiming to be pastors had been accused of inciting violence, and were exacerbating the problem in some Hindu neighbourhoods with "indiscreet activities". [463 words]

[COURTESY TO ENI AS SOURCE]

Bangalore, India, 19 August (ENI)--The Roman Catholic Church in India's southern Kerala state has dismissed an allegation of sexual harassment inside a convent against a young nun who apparently committed suicide, saying a government conspiracy is behind it. "The sexual harassment charge is baseless," the Rev. George Rebeiro, spokesperson for the Catholic diocese of Kollam, told Ecumenical News International. He said there was a conspiracy by the state's communist government against the Church.

Rebeiro was reacting to an allegation made by the father of Sister Anupa Mary, who was found hanged in her room at St Mary's Convent at Thankassery in the district of Kollam on 11 August. Following the suicide of the 23-year old nun, Rebeiro said the nun's father, M. J. Pappachan, who worked as a cook in the bishop's house, had never mentioned sexual harassment to the police when they interviewed him following his daughter's death. Sister Boniface, superior general of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the order to which the deceased nun belonged, told ENI, "We are shocked by the suicide of our sister. It is really embarrassing and shocking for us." She added, "But we are mortified by this allegation [of sexual harassment] that discredits the whole church. We are sure Pappachan made this allegation at the instigation of those who wanted to throw mud at the church."

Sister Boniface said the deceased nun was "moody" and had been rebuked after failing to return to the convent on 31 July at the end of a visit home to see her brother before he left to work in the Middle East. "This allegation (of sexual harassment) is a conspiracy hatched by the communist government to tarnish the image of the church. The government actions prove it," asserted Ribeiro.

M. R. Ajithkumar, police chief of the Kollam district, told reporters that he heard about the sexual harassment allegation on television. He added, "When we took the statement from Pappachan, he did not level this allegation." Addressing the media on August 12, Pappachan alleged, "At night, when my child was in her room, one of the inmates used to forcibly enter her room and sleep with her. She used to behave indecently with my daughter. Isn't this enough evidence?"

However, Rebeiro noted that a suicide note left behind by the nun only mentions "mental harassment", and named a 72-year-old senior nun in the convent as a tormentor. "It is unbelievable to claim that the 72-year-old nun would sexually harass a junior nun." Rebeiro pointed out that besides announcing compensation of 200 000 Indian rupees (US$4500) for the nun's family, the state's communist government had ordered an inquiry by its special criminal department into the death of the nun. "People commit suicide in Kerala daily but the government seldom declares any compensation for the families. What was the motive behind such extraordinary generosity from the government in this case?" said the church official. [500 words]

[COURTESY TO ENI AS SOURCE]

Oxford, Ohio, 18 August (ENI)--Barack Obama articulated his Christian faith thus dispelling rumours he is a Muslim. John McCain demonstrated an ability to electrify evangelical Christians. And Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren proved Americans can discuss religion and politics without the bitterness, rancour and polarisation that characterised the 2004 U.S. election. All this took place in an unprecedented forum in the history of the U.S. presidency, when each candidate was asked the same questions. The topics included abortion, personal moral failures, leadership styles and the best response to evil. Britain's Economist magazine on 16 August described the host, Warren, as "the most powerful Evangelical in America".

Held in Lake Forrest, California, the forum, conducted on 16 August and broadcast on CNN television, showed the different approaches of the candidates. Obama used a conversational style and spoke directly to Warren, while McCain was often blunt and spent a lot of time facing the audience. Obama supports abortion rights and civil unions for gay partners, and identified evil as a force at work across a range from recent events in Darfur to the streets of U.S. cities. The presidential candidate said evil was "to be confronted but with humility".

McCain opposes abortion, urges limits on civil unions for gays, and identified evil with Osama bin Laden. The White House hopeful insisted that "[Evil] must be defeated" and that he would follow bin Laden "to the gates of hell" to defeat him. Warren maintained an even tone and personal warmth with each candidate as he asked each the same questions, to Obama for the first hour and McCain for the second. The audience at Saddleback, a 20 000-member so-called "mega-church", applauded nearly twice as often for McCain as for Obama.

More than 200 000 people from throughout the world submitted questions for Warren's consideration. When asked what Christianity means to them, both men had similar answers. Obama said, "At a starting point, it means that Jesus Christ died for my sins and that I am redeemed through Him. I know I don't walk alone. I know if I can get myself out of the way, I can carry out in some small way what He intends."

McCain said, "It means I'm saved and forgiven." Then he told one of several stories from throughout the evening about his years in a Vietnamese prison camp. He explained that a guard came to his cell one night and, without explanation, loosened the ropes around McCain's arms and neck. That year on Christmas Day, McCain was standing outside his cell when the same guard came by and quietly drew a cross in the dirt. "For a minute there, there were just two Christians worshipping together," McCain said.

Political analyst David Gergen, following the event, observed that McCain's use of stories from his time in Vietnam were especially effective with the audience. "John McCain is going to be a tougher opponent for Obama than anyone could have guessed a few weeks ago," Gergen said. "He is able to tell a very powerful story that is really emotionally connected to his audience." When asked about their greatest individual moral failures, Obama spoke of his experimentation with drugs and alcohol as a youth, while McCain said simply, "The failure of my first marriage."

After the programme, CNN's senior political correspondent, Bill Schneider, said, "America saw this as a debate without squabbling. They talked about religion and values without bitterness and accusations." At the end of his interview with Warren, Obama said, "These are the kinds of forums we need … I want people to know me well. I'm sure John McCain feels the same way. If we are known, I trust in the American people to make a good decision." [632 words]

[COURTESY TO ENI AS SOURCE]