I am a Christian in India which is why what happened on Easter Sunday, 20th April, 2025, as described in the link below, has triggered this article by me.
https://scroll.in/latest/1081513/bajrang-dal-vhp-workers-storm-easter-event-in-ahmedabad-fir-filed
This is not an incident in isolation. Christians, their properties, and their Churches, have often been attacked and vandalized in the past too in India
Tread carefully for you tread on my dreams. Vandals certainly do not care whether they tread on dreams or on dead bodies. Yesterday’s news papers screamed: Easter prayers in Ahmedabad Church were disturbed by miscreants who vandalized the Church
Now, Christians are a tiny, peaceful minority, constituting only 2.3% of the population of India. Nevertheless though small number wise, this community is great servicewise, having made outstanding contributions and provided signal service to the country in many fields, foremost of which is education.
Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs or people of any other denomination, all wish to send their children to a Christian school, because they know such schools provide the best education in the country.
Another field in which Christians excel is medicine. Christian hospitals have a very good reputation.
Old age homes
In the evening of their lives, senior citizens sometimes become a nuisance to their own families. With a little planning, the same elderly folk can spend their old age comfortably in a home run by Christian nuns.
Christians in the Military
Many awards have been given to Christian heroes for their exemplary valour, e.g. in combat during operations in the Kargil war in 1999.
The Freedom Struggle
At the dawn of independence, Henry Derozio a poet wrote a famous poem asking a rhetorical question ‘where is thy glory now?’
Serving the Poor and Marginalized Communities
The Mother Theresa Homes are a haven for the poor and abandoned children and even babies with deformities. Christians have established leprosy hospitals for patients with such dreaded diseases.
Christian Contribution in Nation Building
Mr. Frank Anthony was a prominent Christian politician who played a role in the constituent assembly. He also established the Indian educational trust which founded and managed several schools in Delhi, Kolkata and Bengaluru which conduct board examinations (CISCE).
Heroism
The Keeler Brothers, Denzil Keeler and Trevor Keeler were honored in the Indian Air force. Both were awarded the Vir Chakra. So also was Wing Commander Roy Massey who had been a student of Boys High School, Allahabad, and who fought heroically in the 1971 war, downing Pakistani Sabre jets
They became legends. One could mention numerous others but still others would remain unmentioned in this short article.
Having briefly outlined just a few of the contributions of Christian luminaries in the forefront of their professions and vocations, it becomes clear that Christians in India have made great sacrifices for their country and contributed to it their blood, sweat, toil and tears.
Therefore the question is: do we deserve to be hated or loved?
