Joseph D’souza, president of the All India Christian Council, and John Dayal, president of the All India Catholic Union and the Delhi United Christian Action, have issued a joint statement denouncing the twin bomb blasts that rocked the Hindu pilgrimage city of Varanasi in northern India’s Uttar Pradesh state Tuesday, March 7.

Fourteen people are confirmed dead at a Hindu temple and a railway station, and more than 100 were injured, officials told the BBC. Some reports put the death toll at more than 20, but this could not be confirmed. Islamic militants are suspected of carrying out the attacks, but so far no group has claimed responsibility.

The joint statement said that the “innocent blood of children, women and men has been shed in vain, as such attacks advance no political cause, nor do they serve any group of people. What they do achieve is in inflicting suffering on the common people and setting back national peace and reconciliation processes.

“Such violence also serves the purpose of fundamentalist and religious extremists who thrive on exacerbating real and imagined divides and grievances which further their pernicious political and social agendas. They want national attention and energies diverted from development, from the fight against poverty and hunger and from the long struggle of the Dalits for human dignity.”

While the terrorism isn’t directly aimed at believers, Gospel for Asia President K.P. Yohannan believes that if the recent past is any indication, with passions stirred up, the persecution will get worse. “Already it’s a daily event, not in one place, but literally in hundreds of places all over the country,” he said. “It is so widespread, our people are no longer reporting small things like, ‘They burned the Bibles’ and ‘They beat somebody up.’ And only the major reports are coming in.”

Police killed two of the suspected terrorists earlier today -- one in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, and another in New Delhi, Junior Home Minister Sri Prakash Jaiswal told reporters in New Delhi. It hasn’t been established whether the two had any connection with the Varanasi bombings that took place a week before the Hindu Festival of Colors on March 15. (Assist News Service/BBC News/Bloomberg/Mission Network News)

* Radio programs in 12 languages (English, Urdu, Hindi, Nepali, Chattisgarhi, Bangla, Bhojpuri, Tamil, Telegu, Marwari, Marathi and Santhali) air to India from HCJB World Radio-Australia’s shortwave station in Kununurra. The programs are produced at the ministry’s studios in New Delhi, India.

PAKISTANI CHRISTIAN WOMAN ACCUSED OF BLASPHEMY, BEATEN

A mentally-handicapped Christian woman has been accused of desecrating the picture of Khana Kabbah, a Muslim holy place in Saudi Arabia to which millions of Muslims from around the world make a pilgrimage every year. The Pakistan Christian Post reports that a Muslim resident of the area came across a desecrated picture of Khana Kabbah in Naseem Bibi’s street on Friday, March 3. Assuming that the picture was hurled from Bibi’s house he rushed to her house and started shouting that Bibi had defecated on the picture. His shouts invited the attention of other Muslim residents who started thrashing her. One of Bibi’s accusers called the police who then came and arrested her. (Assist News Service)

MINISTRY HOLDS TRAINING TO HELP ALLEVIATE PASTOR SHORTAGE IN CHINA

China Partner Ministries’ Erik Burklin says there are only 18 official seminaries in China and a critical shortage of trained pastors. “There’s about one ordained pastor to every ten thousand believers,” he said. China Partner is working with the registered churches and seminaries in China to provide leadership training to future church leaders and pastors. They want to serve the church in China by providing additional training and theological study books to help accelerate this process, according to Burklin. He says they’re partnering with the Jiangxi Provincial Bible School. “We have set up a scholarship fund for poor students. This allows that particular school to invite and allow for students in the countryside who normally don’t have enough money to be able to get theological training at this Bible school to come and be prepared for ministry.” This project provides student scholarships and stipends for alumni serving as pastors, and helps meet specific material needs of the school. (Mission Network News)

OUTREACHES JOIN FORCES TO RESURRECT SPIRIT OF EASTER TO THE HOMELESS

The Appreciate Network and the Reciprocity Foundation, a pair of ministries that fight homelessness, are launching two new programs to coincide with the Easter holidays. On Wednesday, March 15, the Appreciate Network will begin a fund-raising program to provide job training and life skills programs for homeless youth run by the Reciprocity Foundation in collaboration with leading youth homeless shelters. Cofounder Taz Tagore said, “Christian holidays, in particular Easter, are a time to remember our tremendous gifts and to share them with those in need.” The Reciprocity Foundation will also be launching free Spirit in Action workshops at local churches, community centers and nonprofit organizations nationwide to discuss new models for sacred service, case studies from the foundation’s innovative programs for homeless youth and the emergence of social enterprise to encourage ethical consumption in the U.S. (Religion Today)

SURVEY: NUMBER OF CHURCHES IN U.K. CONTINUES GRADUAL DECLINE

Initial findings from the English Church Census, a large-scale survey conducted by Christian Research, an independent organization, show that more churches are closing than opening in the U.K. The Methodist Church suffered a net loss of about 300 churches in the last seven years, and the Church of England fell by more than 100 during this period. This follows figures released by the Church of England at the beginning of the year that showed little sign of its long-term decline being reversed. Despite the losses, more than 1,000 churches opened their doors with the biggest growth being among Pentecostal churches. Christian Research Executive Director Peter Brierley explained that the “losses in the older denominations are faster than the gains in the newer ones.” The research organization previously suggested that churches may be heading for “extinction” in England by 2040 with just 2 percent of the population attending Sunday services, and the average age of congregants rising to 64. (WorldWide Religious News/Ekllesia)

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