India, Nov. 17 -- For over seven decades, Dalit Christian voices have risen not just against the state's discriminatory fiat but against the very sanctuaries meant to offer solace.

As a journalist for over half a century and an activist, this writer has chronicled faith's frayed edges in the community's demonstrations against the betrayal of the twin assurances of the mass turning to Christ in the early decades of the 20th century - not for spiritual salvation alone, but for the tangible dignity denied by Hindu varna's iron code.

The caste system in India, deeply rooted in ancient Hindu social structures of varna and jati, divides society into hierarchical groups based essentially on birth and ritual purity, with Dalits (formerly called...