Myanmar is a predominantly Buddhist nation, but other world religions are also represented. There are small Islamic, Christian and perhaps even Jewish communities there. This morning I came across two unrelated stories concerning the oppression of Christians by the military dictators.
One among the Karen Christians and the other in Chin State.
From Jesus Christology
The missionary continued his endeavor to convert the Burma elites, which while not a failure nonetheless produced only few converts. But his Karen guide began sharing the faith with his fellow tribesmen, and among them the faith spread like wildfire! In short order, the Karen tribe became overwhelmingly Christian. And of course, the acceptance of the religion by the despised people of such low estate gave the ruling elites still another excuse to reject the gospel for the most part, precisely what the missionaries feared.
So now you know what is happening with atrocities like these: Burmese Christian Woman Raped, Stripped Naked, Tied To A Cross … the ruling elites that rejected the gospel are oppressing those that accepted it. The superficial cause is longtime ethnic/tribal hatreds, but hatred of Jesus Christ gives the oppressors still more reason to persecute the Karens.
And from Aid To The Church In Need:
Reports have come through from a remote corner of Burma showing how Christians were forced to scrap their main Christmas celebration at the last minute.
Most years, Catholics from a dozen or more villages in Chin State in western Burma meet for a large festive gathering, which climaxes with a Christmas service.
But last Christmas, the local bishop sent an urgent message urging that the traditional festivities be canceled and requesting that the faithful hold low-key celebrations within their own separate villages.
For the villagers, it meant abandoning plans which were already far advanced – pigs had already been killed for the annual feast and a host of other preparations had been completed.
In an interview with Aid to the Church in Need, the Catholic charity for suffering Christians, a religious Sister from Burma said no reasons were given for the bishop”s actions but that fear of a government clampdown was a probable factor.
The Sister, who cannot be named for security reasons, said: “It was a very silent Christmas for our people. They were very sad – especially as everything was ready. There was a sense of great disappointment.
“Of course, they can celebrate by themselves but they much prefer to be together with people from other villages. It is part of the tradition and without it they feel very lonely.”
Burma, which is also known as Myanmar, hit the headlines last year when a string of protests about living standards quickly escalated into a national crisis.
As with earlier disturbances, the uprising was crushed by a military junta, which wields absolute power, defying international criticism and sanctions.
During her interview, the Sister explained that while the Church was not persecuted as such, Christians – who number 4.2 million (8.3 percent of the population) – were under tight controls and official permission to build churches was very rare.
I’m struck by the thought that in both cases it is ethnic/class distinctions that the generals are more interested in. But if in some way this helps to keep world attention focused on all the people of Myanmar, I won’t kvetch.
What do you think?
My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.
I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is 
I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog chuckle I present: 
