letter from South Asia
‘Something remarkable’ in India
The frontline of faith in South Asia remains a place where the Kingdom presses forward, even as the pressure on Christ’s people grows heavier by the month.
This summer, India witnessed something remarkable. A generation of young people, insulted from the highest bench in the land and answered on the streets with tear gas, simply refused to be afraid. They gathered, they sang, and they would not be moved – and by God’s providence, a cabinet minister resigned.
letter from South Asia
India: Amendment threatens multiple ministries
The frontline of faith in South Asia is a place where the Kingdom of God is bearing fruit, even amidst incredible pressure on Christ’s people that grows heavier by the month.
In May 2026, the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, made his first official visit to India, and he chose to begin it at Mother Teresa’s home in Calcutta – attending Mass, speaking openly of his faith, honouring the Sisters of Charity who have spent themselves among the poorest of the poor. In a culture as steeped in symbolism as India’s is, no-one missed the meaning. Nor did our critics: within days, the familiar online attacks on Mother Teresa and her sisters – the old, tired charges of “forced conversion” – surfaced once more.
letter from South Asia
The legal noose tightens in India
Global news headlines often focus on the physical violence facing our Christian brothers and sisters in India – the church burnings, rape of nuns, and mob attacks. However, a more silent, clinical threat is sweeping across the nation. In the “world’s largest democracy”, the law itself is being transformed into a weapon to stifle the good news of God’s Kingdom.
The most recent blow fell on 7 April 2026, when Governor Ramen Deka signed the Chhattisgarh Freedom of Religion Act into law. Despite desperate protests from the Christian community, this legislation has cast a shadow of suspicion over even the smallest gatherings. It signals a move from the state merely failing to protect believers to the state actively orchestrating their suppression. [Chhattisgarh is a landlocked state in central India with a population of roughly 30 million, the 17th most populous, according to Wikipedia.]
