In Chains: Christian Persecution - 2019, Issue 1

Demolition of
Church
Reprinted with permission: Morning Star News
Hard-line Hindus on Jan. 9 tore down a
church building in southern India because it
was built on the west side of a village, which
they said violated Hindu principles of
placement and positioning, sources said.
The Vastu Shastra architectural and planning
principles, a Hindu version of Feng Shui,
were said to oppose the construction late
last year of the church building in
Narnepadu village, Muppalla Mandal, Guntur
District, in Andhra Pradesh state. Saying the
building’s placement opposed Hindu beliefs,
the village president and her husband called
a meeting of Hindus and Christians on Jan. 9.
“That morning the village president’s
husband, also a local political leader,
telephoned church pastor Koteswara Rao
and asked him to be present at the meeting
to discuss the matter, but Rao declined the
invite as he was pre-occupied with his tasks
for the day and said that he can be available
the following day,” a Narnepadu-based
pastor, Konda Lazarus, told Morning Star
News. “This annoyed the leader, and he
ordered the tribal men to demolish the
church.”
The church had met in a rented shed in the
same area in 2017, but tribal and uppercaste
Hindus who strongly believe in Vastu
Shastra collected more than 100 signatures
expressing their objection to Christian
worship in the location, Pastor Lazarus said.
“Rao and Christians stopped gathering for
prayers,” he said. “Last year, area Christians
purchased a piece of land in the same
locality hoping to construct a church and
gather for prayers regularly. They invited
Pastor Rao and, since December 2018, the
church started anew.”
The Muppala Mandal Pastors Fellowship of
Guntur District encouraged Pastor Rao’s
ministry in Narnepadu village, he said.
“There has been opposition, and it had been
dealt with peacefully so far as we
understand that villagers do not have
awareness about our rights, and do not
really understand why Christians gather for
prayers,” Pastor Lazarus said. “Most of the
residents are illiterate and only follow the
instructions of the village elders: If the
elders think having a church to the west is
evil, it is evil. They don’t try to reason
beyond that.”
Church leaders Yiled a complaint with
Muppalla police, who told them they would
Yile a First Information Report (FIR) soon,
Pastor Lazarus said. A Hindu leader from the
area identiYied only as Devendra, however,
has asked the pastor not to register a case
and to settle the issue amicably, he said.
“But we could see no sign of confession or
acknowledgement of crime among the