India: Church set on fire in Andhra Pradesh

A church in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, was set on fire last Tuesday by an anti-Christian group in the area.

Witnesses said that the main door of the Holy Spirit Church of God Ministry Church was demolished before the interior of the church was set on fire.

The fire destroyed much of the wooden furniture, the pulpit and wooden roof supports. However, the roof itself seems to be intact.

According to the church pastor, Rev Clinton, another church was destroyed in a similar style attack by supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). According to International Christian Concern, Rev Clinton said that the incident was a copycat attack but was probably not conducted by the same group.

The fire was first spotted by neighbours at 2am. They immediately informed the pastor and members of the church about what was happening. Although a number of church members went to the scene to put out the fire, they could not save anything from inside the church.

Pastor Clinton said that church elders had reported the incident to the police.

The police are investigating the incident but have so far made no arrests. Pastor Clinton claimed that the fire may have been set by a neighbouring land owner who previously said he was interested in building apartments on the site of the church.