Aizawl, India - Miscreants on Sunday night vandalised the Kawnpui Hmarveng Presbyterian Church in Mizoram's Kolasib district, burnt a copy of the New Testament and desecrated the altar.
It is rumoured that a satanic cult was behind the incident. The church committee chairman, Upa Zahlira Zote, said a group of high school students in Kawnpui village had confessed to worshipping Satan last year.
Zote said nearly 300 people attended the Sunday mass. "Some people returned for the Monday morning prayer and found charred pages of the Bible scattered on the floor.
A New Testament was completely burnt and pages from the Bible kept on the pulpit were torn. The miscreants urinated on the chair of the meeting chairman. Drops of blood were also found on the bench reserved for church elders.
"Someone from Kolasib town told me that burning the Bible and blood sacrifice are some of the rituals practised by a satanic cult. Whatever happened here is akin to his theory." Zote said.
"We ask God to forgive them. We appealed to all churches in Mizoram to pray for us and for those who committed the sin."