A church in the Indian state of Karnataka was vandalized early this morning in the latest act of hatred toward Christians.

The tragedy that occurred on the eve of the Christmas holidays happened in the Church of St Joseph in Chikkaballapur, a town located approximately 65 kilometers from Bengaluru (Bangalore).

The attackers vandalized Saint Anthony's statue, placed in the piazza in front of the church. The parish contacted the police and filed a First Information Report.

This instance of intolerance is notable because it occurred in Karnataka, where the state government submitted a bill prohibiting conversion, similar to the infamous legislation already in place in other states run by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In January, the bill was introduced earlier this week in the state's legislative assembly for consideration.

Extremist propaganda around the bill has resulted in a spike in violence against Christians in Karnataka. To this end, forty local organizations staged a rally in Bengaluru yesterday in opposition to the anti-conversion bill.

"This is the forty-first anti-Christian attack in the year 2021," Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), told AsiaNews.

Now, "Karnataka ranks third in terms of Christian attacks. "Vandalism, false accusations and arrests are routine for the minuscule Christian community," he explained.

"Christianity began in Chikkaballapur with French missionaries who arrived during a deadly plague," providing "medicines, food, and shelter." Eventually, "they constructed this church, which they named Susaipalya" (Susai means Joseph and palya means village in the Tamil).

Now, many years later, "not only are we confronted with COVID-19's Omicron variant, but also with the virus of intolerance toward the Christian faith," fueled in part by the "Karnataka anti-conversion bill."