Seven Day Hunger-Strike for Persecuted Indian Christians

I pledge to refuse food for a week in solidarity with suffering of India’s Christians

I am going on hunger-strike for seven days for the persecuted Christians of India. Today is day one.

Christianity has existed in India for almost 2,000 years, nearly since the time of its origin immediately after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But today, the powers that control the country view Indian Christians as “foreign elements” and even consider them to be “traitors.” Why? Because they belong to a different religion than the majority of the population.

For a long time, Christians lived in peace and safety among this majority. They peacefully practiced their religion. They operated schools and hospitals, reaching out to the most marginalized sections of society to educate them and heal them. None of this has changed. What has changed is that the current ruling powers embrace an ideology which seeks to eradicate Christians from India. Why? Because they are a minority.

Taking a page from the playbook of the Nazis, the powers that be in modern India believe that only Hindus possess a natural birthright to full citizenship in India. Anyone else must either become a Hindu or face elimination. This ideology of hate is playing itself out in the streets of India as we speak.

2021 was the most violent year on record for Indian Christians as they faced an unending wave of hateful violence. Churches invaded by mobs of hundreds, police who arrested the victims instead of the perpetrators, laws passed criminalizing the practice of their — of our — religion, beatings, and tortures, and even some murders.

The south-western Indian state of Karnataka is even on the verge of passing a so-called “anti-conversion” law which makes it a crime to become a Christian if you do not notify the local magistrate two months in advance and then undergo their interrogation about why you want to convert. A host of vigilante mobs who are pushing for this bill to criminalize Christianity in Karnataka are taking to the streets to make life as a Christian in the state hell on earth. Forget about the up to ten year prison sentence proposed for those who violate this law: even before it has passed, Christians in Karnataka are already being forced underground to live in a prison with invisible bars fashioned by the hatred of Hindu nationalists.

That is why I am going on hunger-strike. To draw attention to the sufferings of Christians in India. To fast in solidarity with their suffering.

Today is the morning of the 5th of January. I pledge that food will not touch my lips again until the morning of the 12th of January. I will consume, until then, nothing but calorie-free liquids — water (with a little feast of lemon), tea, and coffee.

Indian Christians face extermination at the hands of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and its guiding darkness, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh paramilitary. The RSS-BJP combined want to eradicate Christians — and, indeed, anyone who is not a Hindu — from India. In protest of that, I will eradicate food from my life for the next week.

To those in India who follow Jesus Christ, I have but one message: “Do not fear what you are about to suffer.” Persecution is confirmation of your faithfulness.

Stay the course.