According to Noticia Cristiana on 26 July 2017, the so-called "
Atahualpa Challenge" has been spreading widely in social media. The "challenge" involves the political and deliberately anti-Christian act of throwing a Bible onto the ground in remembrance of the last Inca emperor, Atahualpa. Historically, the Spanish colonists misused their Christian faith as a means of enslaving the Incas and plundering the wealth of the Inca Empire.
In an unrelated report, the giant letters reading "
Christ is coming" on one of the hills of the Comas District have been altered by an unknown person to read "Ulysses is coming", referring to an electoral candidate, as reported by El Comercio on 7 August 2017. Christians in the area, especially Protestants, are offended by this and consider it sacrilege.
Rossana Ramirez, persecution analyst at World Watch Research (WWR), explains: "For some time now there has been an increase in the lack of respect for Christian beliefs in Peru. This has been allowed and even encouraged by the authorities (as
reported by WWR in March 2017), who either do not have the capacity to implement prevention policies or because they are indifferent. Social conflicts are common in Peru - 177 in July alone according to the Ombudsman"s
report. If the authorities ignore the emergence of anti-Christian behavior, it could evolve into more serious actions being perpetrated against Christians in the future."
