Film Stoking Persecution of Christians Released in Hotbed of Hate

My nonprofit, The Vulnerable People Project, works in trouble zones all over the world, wherever groups of human beings are targeted or abandoned. When we see courageous, strong people placed in impossible circumstances, we’re honored to help them regain their self-respect and autonomy.

In the course of our work, we encounter a lot of hate aimed at people because of their race, religion, or history. We work with Uyghurs hunted by the Chinese government, Yazidis persecuted by Islamists, and Christians enduring abuse everywhere from Gaza to Nigeria.

But one of the faces of hatred that I’ve found the most shocking, personally, is the fanatical hostility ultra-nationalist Hindus hold toward native-born Indian Christians — not to mention outside missionaries who (like Mother Teresa) give up everything to serve the poor.

Now there’s a propaganda film appearing in a troubled region in India designed to stir up exactly that kind of hatred and violence again.

Incendiary Work

Sanatani: Karma Hi Dharma was released in the north Indian state of Odisha on February 7 despite legal petitions from Christian leaders to stop it. The film falsely portrays Christian missionary work and evangelism as a ruse to convert tribal Hindus and usurp their lands, and it is throwing flames on the fire of persecution of Christians by Hindu militants in a state where it’s already rife.

Sanatani refers to the idea of Hinduism as the “eternal religion” whose origins lie beyond human history. Its subtitle, translated “Karma is indeed Dharma,” stresses the idea of “deeds alone as true religion,” mocking Christian attempts to convert Hindus to a new faith.

The film, shot in the Odiya language, was released amid heavy police security in more than 30 theatres in the state where a Hindu mob burned an Australian missionary and his two young sons to death as they slept in their car in early 1999.

The regional office of Central Board of Film Certification in the state of Odisha initially sought to censor the film, but later granted permission to the filmmakers after the latter pressured the board’s headquarters in Mumbai.

The film received a UA certification after the CBFC asked the producers to change its title name and to edit some provocative scenes. (Films with a UA certification contain moderate adult themes and require parental guidance for children who watch the movie, much as the MPAA might grant a PG-13 rating to a movie in the U.S.) 

Martyrdom of Australian Missionary

Christians protesting the movie have recalled the martyrdom of the Australian missionary, Graham Staines, and his sons in 1999. They were burned to death in the Keonjhar district after a mob of over 100 Hindu fanatics poured petrol on their station wagon and set it on fire.

As the family tried to escape, the mob held them back while shouting pro-Hindu slogans and physically assaulting villagers who tried to come to their rescue. Staines had worked for over 30 years in a leper colony in Odisha.

On the night he was murdered, Staines had set out for an annual jungle camp where Christian indigenous people would gather to discuss their faith.

The leader of the mob, Dara Singh, was sentenced to death by a sessions court, but the Odisha High Court in 2005 commuted the sentence to life imprisonment, and the Supreme Court upheld the commuted sentence in 2011.

“The people involved in the film and those promoting it through social media have been spewing vitriol on Christian community at large accusing it of wrongdoing,” the NUCF warned, pleading with Chief Minister Mohan Majhi to stop the film’s release.

“We must remember the agonizing history of atrocities and violence faced by Christians in Odisha. The loss of life, brutal attacks, forced displacement are painful reminders of the dangers of religious intolerance,” the NUCF said.

Film Accuses Missionaries of Grabbing Land

“The film’s plot addresses the issue of religious conversion among tribal communities and the persistent problem of land grabbing by missionaries prevalent in Odisha,” Hindu journalist Subhi Vishwakarma wrote on X.

The National United Christian Forum (NUCF), an ecumenical association of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, National Council of Churches in India, and Evangelical Fellowship of India, released a statement condemning the movie’s release.

“The film derogatorily portrays Jesus Christ, Christians, and Christian services, distorting the image of Jesus, key aspects of Christian doctrine, particularly the sacrament of Baptism, and misrepresenting conversion as a criminal activity,” it read.

“The right to freedom of religion, including the right of a citizen to convert to any religion of choice, is enshrined in the Constitution of India, and any attempt to undermine this fundamental right is unconstitutional.”

False Propaganda Against Christians

The statement also said:

Tribal communities are indigenous people with distinct traditions, rituals, and beliefs which enrich the pluralistic fabric of India. Any attempt to divide them could be seen as a malicious attempt to undermine their fundamental right to land, water and forest.

Indulging in false propaganda against the fundamental rights of religious freedom to incite violence is deplorable. While we believe in and uphold the freedom of expression, the same must be exercised with caution so as to not cause the targeting of any community or faith.

Odisha (formerly Orissa) was the first Indian state to enact an anti-conversion law in 1967. The euphemistically titled Orissa Freedom of Religion Act prohibits so-called “forcible conversion” by “the use of force or by inducement or by any fraudulent means.”

Anyone attempting to convert an adult “from one religious faith to another” faces up to a year in prison and a fine of 5,000 rupees. If the convert is a woman, minor, Dalit, or tribal, the punishment increases to two years imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 rupees.

Worst Pogrom Against Odisha Christians

A 2023 documentary produced by Catholic journalist Anto Akkara depicts the horrific persecution to which Christians have been subjected in Odisha.

In 2007 and 2008, , Hindu militants in the Kandhamal district massacred 100 Christians, burned down 6,500 houses, and burned down or vandalized nearly 400 churches and places of worship. 

In the worst attack perpetrated against Indian Christians at the time, more than 40 women were raped and sexually assaulted; 75,000 Christians were displaced; and the violence disrupted school for 12,000 children for years. Hundreds of Christians were forced to convert to Hinduism and many were forced to hide in forests, where several died of starvation and snakebites.

A Catholic nun was gang-raped on a public road before being paraded, almost naked, along with a priest.The militant Hindu mob had planned to behead and even burn them alive but a policeman intervened.

Christians form some 20% of Kandhamal’s population of 730,000. At least 80%of the district’s people are tribals or members of indigenous groups, and 20%are low-caste Dalits (untouchables).

In August 2024, Hindu supremacist organizations organized a rally asking Hindus to gather in large numbers and bring weapons with them to mark the 16th anniversary of the murder of Swamy Lakhmananand Saraswati by Maoist insurgents. Hindu propagandists blamed Christians for the religious leader’s killing.

“Violence is happening in the form of individual incidents across the region at the village level and includes vandalism of property, threats, intimidation, and social ostracization,” Open Doors reported in May 2024.