June 2026: South African Hindu leaders have made formal complaints to the Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Rights (CRL) Commission and the Equality Court, regarding derogatory anti-Hindu remarks by a Christian pastor. A viral video that surfaced earlier in the month records 56 year old Pastor Mervin Naidu delivering a sermon to his congregation at his church in Chatsworth, Durban. In the sermon, Naidu explains how to engage with Hindu family and friends when invited to Hindu events and are offered prasad. The sermon specifically refers to Porridge Prayers – a term South African Hindus use to refer to the Puja of Devi Marriamman held during the Tamil month of Aadi (July-August), where the Devi is offered a fermented porridge like dish (aadi koozh). In the clip, Naidu is heard: “How are you going to save the lost if you do not go for the porridge prayers?”. Naidu then explains how his congregation should pray to Jesus over the prasad offered to them so that “All the demons die immediately”.
After the offensive video created outrage it was taken down and Naidoo subsequently explained that his words were taken out of context and his intentions were to help “Christians relate to other faith communities”. However Ram Maharaj, the president of the South African Hindu Dharma Sabha highlights that Pastor Naidu is urging his congregation to eat with the sinners and with guile and under the guise of love, trick and trap them into conversion…”. Born into a Hindu family, Pastor Naidu converted to Christianity in his teens. The South African Indian Christian population grew from 4% in 1925 to 24.4% in 2011. The growth mostly attributed to conversion of Hindus and largely driven by pentecostal churches noted for the hostile and aggressive stance against Hindu practices.