Church Leaders Called on the President of India on the Christmas Eve
![Meeting with President of India](http://ncci1914.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Meeting-with-President-of-India-300x200.jpg)
National United Christian Forum ( CBCI, NCCI and EFI ) Yusuf Sadan, 1 Ashok Place, New Delhi – 110001 +91 11 23343457/ 23362058 Fax: +91 11 23746575
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PRESS STATEMENT National United Christian Forum Raises serious concerns |
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New Delhi: 20/12/2014We, the members of the National United Christian Forum (NUCF) comprising the three leading Churches of India, i.e. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) and the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI), together express our serious concern about the current situation of the minorities, particularly the Christians in India.
The recent happenings in Bastar forcing the school to put the statue of Sarsawati Maa in a Catholic school and forbidding the children to address the principle with the honorific ‘Father’; the burning of a church in Delhi; the declaration of ‘Good Governance Day’ on 25th December to undermine the importance of Christmas; the provocative call by some fundamentalists to convert 4000 Christians to Hinduism in Agra on Christmas Day and the regular targeting of the Christian community, calling them even anti-national is a cause of great concern for us. |
To
Shri Narendra Modi,
Prime Minister of India
Honorable Prime Minister,
This letter is a continuation of the concerns expressed in the letter of 2ndDecember 2014 sent from the NCCI Secretariat. The NCCI is a council representing about 14 million Christians in India belonging to the Protestant and Orthodox Traditions in India. We are committed to unity, witness, service and exemplary practice in the country. As a well-read person, you are certainly aware of the tremendous contribution made by Christians of all traditions (Including Catholics), in history and up to the present, towards nation building through education, health care, orphanages, old people’s homes, counseling ministries, relief services provided during natural calamities, and the ongoing work for rehabilitation and development. The Church in India continues to be committed to the cause of dalits, tribal/adivasis, women, youth, children, the disabled, PLWA, mother earth – indeed all creation, particularly those who have been marginalized. We are committed to an India developed on the principles of justice and peace.
God with us: Gospel in a Groaning World
Our Groaning World
We live in a world marked by several sufferings: “Many continue to reel from the impact of wars; ethnic and religious animosity, discrimination based on race and caste mar the façade of nations and leave ugly scars. Thousands are dead, displaced, homeless, refugees within their own homeland. Women and children often bear the brunt of conflicts: many women are abused, trafficked, killed; children are separated from their parents, orphaned, recruited as soldiers, abused. Citizens in some countries face violence by occupation, paramilitaries, guerrillas, criminal cartels or government forces. Citizens of many nations suffer governments obsessed with national security and armed might; yet these fail to bring real security, year after year. Thousands of children die each day from inadequate nutrition while those in power continue to make economic and political decisions that favor a relative few.”
(An Ecumenical Call to Justice and Peace, Resource Material for International Ecumenical Peace Convocation in Kingston, Jamaica, in May 2011, under the theme “Glory to God and Peace on Earth”)
National Council of Churches in India Centenary Celebrations Finale featured in People’s Reporter Volume 27, Issue 22 (November 25 – December 10, 2014).
The National Council of Churches in India is deeply saddened by the demise of the world renowned and a genuine Indian Human Right defender Honourable Justice. Dr. V. R. Krishna Iyer.
Dr. V R Krishna Iyer was socially sensitized and spiritually kindled judiciary and a moral rebel against human injustice. He was a peace lover and a visionary.
Without being a member of any political party, he associated himself with political figures, freedom fighters, social reformers, constructive public workers and, with his wife, helped women’s organizations and backward classes including fishing communities. Compassion was his passion. He identified himself with human rights causes and poor litigants found a defender in him.
Below is the text of a letter written to Indian Prime Minister by Rev. Dr. Roger Gaikwad, General Secretary of National Council of Churches in India.
World Council of Churches
Theological Consultation on ‘Economy of Life’
27 – 30 October 2014, CSI Guest House, Chennai, India
The Commission on Justice, Peace and Creation of the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), joining the Board of Diaconal Ministries of the Church of South India (CSI) Synod hosted the World Council of Churches’ (WCC) Theological Consultation on ‘Economy of Life’ from 27 – 30 October 2014 at CSI Guest House in Chennai, India.
40 participants representing different geo-political landscapes and peoples’ groups, global and contextual theological and ecumenical fraternities, civil society movements, christian churches and local congregations, interfaith communities and ecumenical movements from Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe and North America actively participated in the consultation.