Local authorities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu have banned 10 churches from holding worship services in the last two months.Sources have told Morning Star News that thanks to pressure applied by Hindu extremist groups, local government officials have ordered churches in the state's Coimbatore district to stop worshiping unless they are given permission from a government collector's office.
Local Christian leaders, however, are warning that it could take years for Christians to be granted such an approval to worship.
"It is a well-planned conspiracy against the Christian community, as the Hindu extremists know that it is not easy to approach the collector's office for such permissions," Johnson Sathyanathan, the president of the Synod of Pentecostal Churches of Coimbatore, told the persecution media watchdog. "The time to get such approvals can stretch from a year-and-a-half to many more ...