Orissa: $250 to Murder Pastors
November 23, 2008
 Extremists are offering rewards to continue violence like this. |
Far from letting the situation in Orissa settle down, extremist groups have offered a bounty to keep killing Christians-including a $250 reward for each pastor murdered.
Estimates on the number of Christians killed since August range as high as 500. With the incentives, the violence shows no sign of stopping. And now, pastors have a price on their heads-and all Christians face a looming death threat.
"If the [Swami's] killers are not caught before December 15, [the extremists] promised to begin a massacre on December 25, Christmas Day," WorldNetDaily reported.
"People are being offered rewards to kill, and to destroy churches and Christian properties," WorldNetDaily quoted an All-India Christian Council spokesman as saying. "They are being offered foreign liquor, chicken, mutton and weapons."
The extremist groups are offering these rewards in continued retaliation for the death of their leader, Swami Laxmanananda. The fanatics still blame the Swami's murder on Christians although another group admitted to the murder.
Thousands of Chrsitians still hide in the forests. If they return to their villages, where they have no home, they will most likely face torturous "re-conversion" ceremonies. One Christian woman was threatened that unless she left Christianity, her neighbors would burn her children in front of her. Extremists commonly soak Christians in kerosene and force them to convert or be burned alive.
