Extremists attack two worship services on the same Sunday in West Bengal.
A pastor was dragged away in the middle of a service, beaten, and forced to sign that he would stop preaching. A few kilometers away, a house church was vandalized and its cross broken into four pieces.
According to Barnabas Aid, in a story published on September 10, 2026, two attacks against Christians took place on Sunday, September 6, in the Medinipur region of southern West Bengal.
In the first, about 25 extremists stormed a home where a pastor was leading worship for Christians from eight nearby villages. The group took the pastor by force, beat him, and made him sign a statement promising to stop leading prayer meetings and to tell Christians that "Christianity is a foreign religion." He was released only late that night. According to the Bengal Christian Council's state coordinator, a lawyer is helping the church file a police complaint.
In the second, about 125 people broke into a house church right after the morning service. They broke the cross into four pieces and assaulted the homeowner. He and the women who tried to defend him were dragged to the police station — and only later released.
A state without an anti-conversion law
West Bengal has no anti-conversion law like those in force in 13 other Indian states. Even so, pressure comes from the streets: organized groups, rumors of mass conversion on social media — which the state's Christians have been working to counter — and now direct intimidation inside worship services. West Bengal is also where the first groups of pastors in the theology course translation project are beginning to study in Bengali.
Background: India is the 12th hardest country to be a Christian. The numbers explain why
Pray for the pastor who was beaten and for the family whose home was invaded — for healing, protection, and justice in the police complaint; for West Bengal's Christians, that fear would not silence them; and for those behind the attacks, that they would find in Christ the peace they now oppose.
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