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United Methodist delegates pass resolution against alleged persecution of Indian Christians
The UMC vote is a direct response to the alleged escalating number of attacks targeting Christians in India.
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UMC is the second-largest Protestant denomination in the United States. / Courtesy photo
Delegates of the United Methodist Church (UMC) – second-largest Protestant denomination in the United States – voted overwhelmingly in support of a resolution denouncing the persecution of Indian Christians at the group’s General Conference held last month.
The resolution also called on the US Department of State to designate India as a “country of particular concern” for alleged human rights violations. As the second-largest Protestant denomination in the US, with five million congregants domestically and 10 million internationally, this vote marks a historic stance on India's human rights situation from a Christian church.
The UMC vote is a direct response to the alleged escalating number of attacks targeting Christians in India.
According to the Delhi-based United Christian Forum, there were 720 reported attacks against Christians in 2023 alone. Similarly, the Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations documented 1,198 attacks in 2022, a significant increase from 761 incidents in 2021.
“We applaud the moral clarity and vision of our brothers and sisters at the United Methodist Church,” said Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) president Mohammed Jawad. “Persecution of religious minorities anywhere is an affront to people everywhere.”
The UMC resolution specifically highlights the persecution of Indian Christians in Manipur, where tensions escalated earlier this year. During the unrest, hundreds of churches were targeted and set ablaze by mobs, leading to numerous casualties in the region.
The resolution also calls on the United States government to “impose targeted sanctions on Indian government agencies and officials responsible for severe violations of religious freedom by freezing those individuals’ assets and/or barring their entry into the United States under human rights related financial and visa authorities, citing specific religious freedom violations”.
“This resolution makes it a priority for the United Methodist Church to advocate against the weaponization of religion in the form of ethnonationalism, and to advocate for the human dignity and human rights of people who experience systemic persecution,” said UMC Reverend Neal Christie, who is also executive director of the Federation of Indian American Christian Organizations.
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