Lately there have been attacks on Catholic churches -- always referred to as Christian, not Catholic -- in the Northern state of Orissa, and now here in Karnataka, the state in which Bangalore is located, and Kerala. The Christians blame Hindu fundamentalist activists who feel that under a BJP (the ruling party here, with a Hindu fundamentalist tinge) government, there will be no punishment in such cases. Some reports say that police have been nearby and even watching during the attacks. I don't know what the real story is, but it does seem odd that such attacks seem more prevalent when the BJP is in power. Some policemen were quoted as saying this was just a theft of gold, but in addition to throwing stones at statues and stealing gold, the Eucharist was taken and thrown all over the floor. That seems more like a religious hate crime than mere theft.
While reading the newspaper, I was struck by other religion-related news: two groups of Hindus fought with each other because each was disturbing the other during their rituals, of course the background on the bombers in the Delhi bombings of last week, and then, sadly, the death of a few women in a stampede here in Bangalore to get rations (food, clothes) which a wealthy family had donated as part of Ramadan (here called Ramzan).
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