'We must fine you because you're a Christian'

In a nation where 75 percent of the population is Hindu, there was a congregation of four Christians in his small village when Rajan expressed a faith in Jesus Christ. But that's back down to three after he lost his family and crops, and was forced to leave his home and village, because of his conversion, according to new documentation obtained by the Voice of the Martyrs.

Sources within Nepal, the mountainous nation sandwiched between India and China that holds Mt. Everest, have told the Voice of the Martyrs that the persecution campaign encompassed all parts of Rajan's life when he became a Christian.

"Hindu neighbors have dug up Rajan's cauliflower and potatoes," the VOM reported its sources confirmed. "He has lost his whole year's income."

Villagers took every opportunity to make life difficult for him, including their response when some water from his field inadvertently spilled onto a neighbor's land, the sources reported.

"He was recently fined 6,000 rupees (about $100, a large sum in Nepal), after water from his field spilled over into a neighbor's field," the VOM sources reported. "Normally, this would not be a problem, but the neighbors consider water from Rajan's field unclean because he is a Christian.

"Normally, we wouldn't fine you, but because you changed your religion and became a Christian, you need to pay 6,000 rupees," the villagers told him, according to VOM.

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They even turned Rajan's wife and family against him, and he was forced to leave his home, to stay with a pastor briefly, and then to move to another village.

"When Rajan left his home to live with the pastor he was sad, but said his experiences had made Jesus more precious to him than before," the Voice of the Martyrs reported. "His pastor told us that as persecuted believers, they have learned that one of the results of persecution is that Jesus becomes much more precious to them."

VOM reported, however, that Rajan's faith was unshaken.

"No matter what you do to me, I will not leave Christ," Rajan told his Hindu neighbors.

The nation of Nepal, about the size of Arkansas, for decades has been a Hindu kingdom with Hinduism the national religion. About three-quarters of its population is Hindu, another 15 percent Buddhist and about 5 percent Muslim. Christians are estimated at between one and two percent of the population.

Officially, Christians were not allowed to live in Nepal at all before 1960, and while they now are allowed by the government, they often suffer persecution at the hands of family, friends and villagers.

The nation's tolerance of persecution of Christians often has raised concerns around the world, and the issue was raised internationally again not long ago when British Parliamentarian David Alton wrote to Nepalese officials.

"I am disturbed by reports that [a Hindu group] wishes to kill the main Christian leaders in Nepal and to destroy the church buildings," he wrote. "Hatred is also being incited in local newspapers against Christians. I am told that Christians have been falsely accused of involvement in Maoist activity, drug trafficking and trafficking of girls for prostitution.

"The reality is that the churches are doing good works such as providing homes for orphans, help for the poorest of the poor, giving humanitarian and medical aid and education for the underprivileged as well as taking care of the spiritual welfare of the people," he said.

The nation also endured a civil war, which came to an end only last year as the government and Maoist rebels signed a Comprehensive Peace Accord, bringing an end to the officially recognized Hindu monarchy and creating a secular government for the first time.

VOM also recently has reported that Hindus in India also have been cracking down on Christians, forcing some to "reconvert."

The Voice of the Martyrs said the most recent physical attacks were reported from inside the Indian state of Orissa, but other attacks also have come to international attention, including verbal attacks that have generated from the Hindu community within the United States.

WND recently reported that Hindus have been launching a series of attacks against Christian organizations dedicated to promoting the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

A report from the Hindu American Foundation accused a long list of Christian organizations, including some providing aid in India, of promoting hatred.

"The proliferation of websites promoting religious hatred is an unfortunate consequence of the universality of access to the internet," said Vinay Vallabh, the lead author of the report.

Among those targeted verbally included the Southern Baptists' missions board, Gospel for Asia and the Minnesota-based Olive Tree Ministries, which aims its ministry at teaching Christians about their beliefs.

"We must vigorously identify, condemn and counter those who use the Internet to espouse chauvinism and bigotry over the principles of pluralism and tolerance," Vallabh said.

Voice of the Martyrs is a non-profit, interdenominational ministry working worldwide to help Christians who are persecuted for their faith, and to educate the world about that persecution. Its headquarters are in Bartlesville, Okla., and it has 30 affiliated international offices.

It was launched by the late Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand, who started smuggling Russian Gospels into Russia in 1947, just months before Richard was abducted and imprisoned in Romania where he was tortured for his refusal to recant Christianity.

He eventually was released in 1964 and the next year he testified about the persecution of Christians before the U.S. Senate's Internal Security Subcommittee, stripping to the waist to show the deep torture wound scars on his body.

The group that later was renamed The Voice of the Martyrs was organized in 1967, when his book, "Tortured for Christ," was released.

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