Catholic devotees wear face mask attend the Holy Mass at the Saint Joseph s Church on the first day after the reopening of religious services after the government eased restrictions imposed as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus, in Hyderabad on June 8, 2020. | NOAH SEELAM/AFP via Getty Images
Six Christian families worshiping in India’s Odisha state were attacked by axe-wielding tribal animists who destroyed the believers’ church structure amid escalating religious persecution in the country.
Morning Star News reports that in December, the Christians, who had converted from tribal animism to Christianity, were worshiping in a wood-and-hay structure in Odisha state’s Chichima village when they were approached by a mob of about 20 to 25 men, led by an “influential man of wealth.”