Normally, The Western Journal reserves reporting pieces such as this for its loyal members. However, due to the importance of this story, our editors have chosen to make it free for all our readers.
If you would like The Western Journal to send reporters to investigate more important stories like this, please consider becoming a member here.
In 2019, “Pastor Sam” was preaching at a church in India when a mob of Hindu radicals cut the power to the building.
Some of them wielding pistols, the radicals stormed the worship center shouting anti-Christian slogans and vandalizing church equipment.
The congregation dispersed.
For Christians in Uttar Pradesh and other states in northern and central India, this happens all the time.
“There have been many churches that have been shut down. Majorly, people who are very new in their faith — they suffer,” said Pastor Sam from New Delhi, who asked to remain anonymous.
If the Indian government learned that Pastor Sam shared his testimony with the American media, he could be thrown in jail for treason.
One American minister, “Pastor John,” documented such persecution in a 2025 documentary called, “The Blatant Agenda of the BJP Government: Eradicating Christianity in India.”
Pastor John also wished to remain anonymous for the safety of his fellow pastors in India.
Since 1986 he has visited India two or three times a year.
“I used to do big open-air outreaches with up to 10,000 people, and nowadays, I can’t even step foot inside a local church without possibly endangering the pastor’s life, and if they catch me going into that church — deporting me,” Pastor John told The Western Journal.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, one of India’s two major political parties, is the mastermind of the persecution, according to the documentary.
But it’s often Hindu extremist organizations and radicals who carry the persecution out.
The paramilitary group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and the violent youth movement Bajrang Dal are some of the worst, according to Global Christian Relief.
Such groups, along with the BJP, believe in Hindutva, a fascist ideology seeking to make India exclusively Hindu.
“70 percent of India is Hindus,” Pastor Sam told The Western Journal. “So, if they can radicalize them all, they stay in power because they have an agenda to eradicate other religions from India. And that’s their long-term agenda.”
WARNING: The following video contains images that some may find offensive.
Hindu Religious Fanatics Manhandled Christian Pastor in Telangana. No safety for Christian Minorities? @revanth_anumula How many more such incredible should we witness? @RahulGandhi Please Protect Christians. @realDonaldTrump Please save Indian Christians. pic.twitter.com/m3VpIxgHMR
— Christian Voice (@ChristianVoic10) May 11, 2025
The BJP party leader is Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a former RSS extremist who first came to power in 2014, according to Global Christian Relief.
“I’ve just watched things collapse under the Modi government. He comes across like he’s all for democracy and Trump’s buddy-buddy,” Pastor John said.
Along with Modi, Pastor John’s documentary blamed two other Indian leaders for the persecution: the Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah and the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath.
The persecution usually manifests in three forms, Pastor Sam said.
The first is by mob attack, which Pastor Sam experienced in 2019 and said is the worst kind.
Dehradun #Church Attack
Terrorists attacked and vandalized a Christian church in Dehradun, India, demolishing furniture and brutally beating Christians gathered for prayer. This highlights the escalating persecution of Christians in India since Modi’s government took over. pic.twitter.com/zMPI30hJDC
— Julia Kendrick (@JuKrick) April 23, 2025
The second is administrative, examples of which are endless.
For instance, the Indian government makes it nearly impossible for Christians to own a church building. Consequently, ministries will instead rent a banquet hall or auditorium.
“And when we tell [the auditors] that this is for running the church service, then they will say that a banquet hall is not a place where you run the church service,” Pastor Sam said. “So they tell us that we have inappropriately used our funds.”
The third kind of persecution is disinformation, in which the government will lie about Christians, usually through social media, tracts and pamphlets distributed to the public.
Strictly speaking, Christianity is not forbidden in India. In fact, believers can even walk around with Bibles, Pastor Sam said.
But in the last 15 years the BJP implemented anti-conversion laws, which, along with the persecution, make it increasingly difficult to follow the faith.
Such laws severely limit or prohibit evangelizing. They also shift the burden of proof: Those accused of violating the law are presumed guilty, according to the United States Commission of International Religious Freedom.
At least 12 of India’s 28 states have implemented anti-conversion laws, according to a 2023 USCIRF update.
Sometimes, the laws and persecution have the intended effect.
“You’ve got hundreds of pastors sitting in jail right now with many of them given life sentences, and they’ve done nothing wrong. All they did is preach the Gospel,” Pastor John said.
Sometimes, the laws backfire.
“There have been instances in which people have been put in prison and they have preached the Gospel in prison. Rather, one of the biggest pastors in a state called Punjab, in India, had received Jesus as his Lord and Savior inside the prison,” Pastor Sam told The Western Journal.
“It doesn’t happen the Acts way every time,” he added. “It happens only with the strong Christians, who have received Jesus as their Lord and Savior.”
Pastor John asks readers to pray for Christians in India, and to share the documentary, especially with elected officials in Washington.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
