A popular Indian pastor has been gunned down outside his church by members of a Hindu militant group in that country. Ac...
A popular Indian pastor has been gunned down outside his church by members of a Hindu militant group in that country.
According to a report by CBN News, on Saturday night, members of
the radical RSS (Rashtriya Swayamseval Sangh) telephoned Pastor Sultan
Masih to lure him outside his Temple of God Church in the Ludhiana
District of Punjab.
Shortly afterwards, the pastor was shot down by two young men passing by on a motorcycle.
The pastor's son, Anoop Masih heard the gunshots, ran outside the
church building, and found his father lying on the road. He screamed for
help and church members stormed out of the building and rushed Pastor
Masih to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Two children reportedly witnessed the shooting that occurred at
8:45PM as church members prepared for their 25th anniversary
celebration. Because the murder occurred at night, the children and
police were unable to identify the gunmen.
Fellow pastor Balwinder Kumar told police that RSS members had
quarreled with Pastor Masih on several occasions and accused him of
converting Hindus to Christianity.
"The RSS activists accused him that, 'You Christians get paid for converting people. How much do you pay the converted?'
Kumar said the pastor denied the accusations, but RSS members
refused to believe him. They also warned him against holding the
anniversary celebration.
In addition to co-founding the Temple of God Church, Pastor Masih also ran a school for impoverished children.
Members of India's tiny Christian community (2%) took to the
streets in protest. Many have expressed alarm over a rise in attacks
against them.
India's Christians say President Narendra Modi has done little to
prevent or discourage the murder of Christians and pastors like Sultan
Masih.
When he was a teenager, Modi was a member of the RSS and non-Hindus
say that is why he has done little to protect them-- they believe he is
actually sympathetic to militant Hindu efforts to turn India into a
Hindu-only nation.
