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Christians Suffer Persecution in Buddhist-Majority Countries
Wednesday, July 28, 2004 12:00:00 AM GMT


Jul. 27 (CNA/CWNews.com) - Writing in his weekly column for the Italian online journal L�Espresso noted Vatican observer Sandro Magister reveals that, according to data and statistics from Aid to the Church in Need and other organizations, Christians are being persecuted in countries in Asia where Buddhism is the majority.

�In the West, Buddhism is synonymous with peace, compassion, wisdom, and ecumenical brotherhood,� writes Magister, adding that in the West it is known as a persecuted religion, with the Dalai Lama being its most noted figure. Nevertheless, he explains, �in almost all of the countries in Asia where Buddhism is the religion of the majority, religious persecution is present,� affecting all other faiths that are not part of Buddhism.

Magister runs through a list of the eight countries in Asia with a Buddhist majority, giving special attention to Myanmar� formerly called Burma� where there has been a merciless persecution of the Christian and Muslim minorities, with numerous forced conversions to Buddhism.

Myanmar, recalls Magister, is on the US State Department�s list of the worst countries in the world in terms of religious persecution. Laos, another country with a Buddhist majority, is also on the list.

JoeS

In 1949, Fr. Maurice Tornay (Now Blessed) a Canon Regular of the Great St. Bernard (the ones who train the St. Bernard dogs) was killed in Tibet by Buddists.

Hmmmm. Sounds suspiciously like "peaceful" Islam, doesn't it?

I have read of Fr. Tornay's unbelievable hardships to bring the Gospel to the Tibetans. May he even now enjoy the fruits of his labors in heaven.

Blessings,
Marduk

And one could just as easily have written "peaceful" Christianity and provided as many and possibly more examples of how Christianity is a religion of war and death. Our hands are just as bloody as anyone else's.

Joe,

There is a very real danger involved in the posting of excerpted pieces, particularly those with commentary that mimics summarization added, rather than posting or linking to the original article, particularly when the excerpted piece is drawn a source with its own politico-religious agenda.

The original piece can be read at the link below and, if you will, please note that the headline itself, although suggestive, is considerably less inflammatory than that on the piece which you quoted.

Christians Persecuted In Asia. And Even The Buddhists Are On The Enemy\'s Side. [213.92.16.98]

This is not to say that there are no instances in which Buddhists have not reacted negatively, even violently on occasion, to what is perceived as a colonialistic, imperialistic imposition on their nations and faithful. However, such instances are in the minority among those who would truly follow the tenets of their faith.

In the original article, although Magister himself neglects to make the point obvious, it should be clear to any politically aware reader that the cited instances of repression of Christians (as well as Moslems and Hindus) have occurred under religiously-oppressive communist regimes and in instances where oppressive regimes have co-opted Buddhism or, better yet, perverted it, to their own ends - not that this type of activity has become, in any way, the practice of the Buddhist faith. The clue to an observant reader of the excerpted commentary should have been the reference to Burma, where repression of the populace is the government's hallmark.

Many years,

Neil

Neil's observations pretty sum up the current situation in Burma.

Adding to his, may I just emphasize that Myanmar's ruling clique is a military junta, dominated and influenced by retired Gen. Ne Win, ruler from 1962 through 1988, not by a Communist organization. Gen. Ne Win remains as the "kingmaker" in Burmese politics.

Despite multiparty elections in 1990 that resulted in the main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) winning a landslide victory, the ruling junta refused to hand over power. NLD leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest from 1989 to 1995 and 2000 to 2002, was arrested in May 2003 and is currently under house arrest. Her supporters are routinely harassed or jailed.

Burma is about 90% Buddhist and 4% Christian (Baptist 3%, Roman Catholic 1%). Muslims constitute about 4%, and animists and others 2%.

Being a former colony of Britain (as an administrative " province" of India), it is sad that the principles of democracy failed to take roots more firmly in Burma.

Then again, in any given society, the minority is always at the short end of things.

Amado

Amado,

Thanks for the clarification - re-reading my post I see an "and" that should have been an "or" to emphasize oppressive regimes weren't all communist in nature.

The sentence in question should have said:

Many years,

Neil

Dear Neil:

No problema!

My memory was just jogged by your post re the situation that once gripped my native country, which, thanks to the open defiance of the Catholic Church to such military misadventures, now a thing of the past. Hopefully!

However, I am not saying there is a better choice between a Communist "dictatorship of the proletariat" and a military "benevolent ruling junta."

Amado

I am glad we have had some people post in here, and give some good insight on the topic (Moe, Neil, Amadaeus).

Yes, there have been times when some Buddhists have harmed Christian missions, as for example in China against the Nestorians. But we must remember, Christians often do the same in reverse; we have caused more than enough hardships with those of other faiths, coming into our lands. I cannot help but think about all the nonsense and fear I read when people discuss Islam and scream, "Those muslims are coming."

Another fact that often is ignored, is often Christians have caused problems which resulted in the "persecutions." Look to India. The Hindu resistance to Christianity has, as a major component to it, the problem of evangelicals going to India, converting Hindus and then telling them to go and destroy old statues and temples. It's worse than tha Taliban and what they did with the Buddhas! Of course people are going to react, and take it out on a whole (as Christians do to Muslims, in the US, for what some extremists have done.)

So some Christians have done terrible things to Buddhists, and some Buddhists have done terrible things to Christians. In general, though, Buddhism is one of the most peaceful of religions, and its tenets express it far more than most Western religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). This is not to say the West is not peaceful at heart, but we have to admit that there is a history of violence using theological justifications, moreso in the West than in the East. To mock and say Buddhism is "as peaceful as Islam" acting like Islam is not at heart peaceful (it is, if you study it, but it has its semetic roots which Christianity has the least of the three religions, but still shares with it allowing Christians to even discuss 'just war') but more suggesting it is a sham in Buddhism is just an expression of fear and no real self-evaluation. Easier to critique others, then to reform oneself.

Dear Henry:

Technically, don't you think all of the extant major religions in the world today are "Eastern" in origin, or, at least, each took roots in the East: Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Judaism, Confucianism, Christianity, Islam, Jainism, etc.?

The West gave birth to the secular "religions" of "Communism" and "capitalism!"

Just a thought.

Amado

Amado,

West/East distinction still applies, since when discussing religion, the East really means Asian religions from India, China, etc.

Of course, there are connections, East/West, more than sometimes people allow. "The Shape of Ancient Thought" is a book which is on this topic, even if it goes overboard in connections at times. Yet, thanks to Alexander the Great, much thought flooded to/from Greece and India, helping to reshape both. And the Platonic was influenced by the Hindu, and vice versa (even in Christian times, Alexandria had several Buddhist missionaries).

So while I would agree, there are more connections between East/West, the terms are used in a manner to still make some valid designations/distinctions. Useful, as long as one realizes it is not "essential."

Dear Henry:

Thanks for your clarification.

And I pray for your success in your doctoral studies at CUA, awaiting, if you please, a "gist" of your dissertation?

Amado

Well, I have a way (probably 1 year til comps for example) before I am ready to work on my dissertation, but I know in general what I want to do with it: a Trinitarian discussion, using Buddhist philosophy (horrors! but it is on topic strange enough) as a means to see if we can explicate on it further or in new ways (like Thomas did with Aristotle, and many Fathers did Plato).

My MA thesis (aka dissertation, 250 pages in total) was a Christology in this fashion.

Oh, I agree that many of these religions, including ours, are peaceful as objects of study. But when you get out of academia and look at them in practice, they don't pan out that way. I am still looking for majority Islamic countries that actually have freedom of religion for non-Muslims. I think I am going to be waiting awhile for that to happen.