NEW DELHI — A Wall Street Journal opinion column published this week warned that attacks on Christians in India are climbing, as the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom renewed its call for Washington to designate India a Country of Particular Concern, or CPC. The renewed spotlight comes as monitors and church leaders say violence and arrests tied to conversion allegations are becoming more frequent, Jan. 3, 2026.
Attacks on Christians in India draw fresh scrutiny
The Journal’s column, titled “The Hindu Attacks on India’s Christians,” argued that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been largely silent as Hindu nationalist groups and local mobs pressure Christian communities. The piece pointed to disrupted worship, vandalism and assaults as warning signs of a wider pattern.
Advocates say the trend shows up in data compiled by the United Christian Forum, a New Delhi-based coalition that operates a toll-free helpline and records complaints. In a Feb. 15, 2025, report from India’s Bastar region, Australia’s ABC News cited the group as documenting more than 4,000 cases over the past decade, including more than 834 incidents in 2024, and noted Christians make up about 2.3% of India’s population based on the 2011 census.
How the CPC debate intersects with attacks on Christians in India
In a Nov. 18 statement, USCIRF said its 2025 annual report again recommended India be designated a Country of Particular Concern for its “toleration of systematic, ongoing, egregious religious freedom violations.” Only the State Department can make the designation, but USCIRF recommendations can shape debate in Washington and amplify pressure on foreign governments. The commission’s statement underscored mounting international concern.
Reuters reported that USCIRF’s annual report said “religious freedom conditions in India continued to deteriorate” in 2024 as “attacks and discrimination against religious minorities continued to rise,” and flagged state “anti-conversion” laws that critics say are used to challenge freedom of belief. Reuters said the commission also urged targeted sanctions as part of its recommendations.
Indian officials reject outside criticism and say the country’s institutions protect religious liberty. After the U.S. State Department released its 2023 religious freedom report, New Delhi called it “deeply biased” and said it failed to understand India’s social fabric, Reuters reported.
While recent data points to a sharper rise, attacks on Christians in India are not new. A Reuters dispatch from 2007 described Hindu hardliners assaulting two Christian missionaries in Maharashtra after accusing them of forced conversions. In 2015, Reuters reported protests in New Delhi after a spate of alleged attacks on churches in the capital, with demonstrators demanding better protection.
For Christian leaders, the immediate ask is straightforward: stop attacks on Christians in India by intervening early, investigating impartially and holding offenders accountable. Whether that happens, advocates say, will determine if this latest wave of attention translates into safety on the ground.
