Burmese church leaders say their government’s deliberate attempts to create tension between the Buddhist majority and the minority Christian and Muslim population has led to greater solidarity among the churches of war-ravaged Myanmar (Burma). This is despite a ban on foreign missionaries and, in some parts of the country, the outlawing of evangelism.
According to the Myanmar Council of Churches (MCC), 40 years of socialist rule by the military-run State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has failed to wipe out the indigenous Christian church, which is active in grassroots evangelism and aid programs for the nation’s poverty-stricken people.
The Burmese government banned foreign missionaries in 1996. “The government thinks it can get rid of them [so] Christianity will die,” said Mr Ja Naw, Executive Secretary of the MCC’s Service and Development Unit. “There are no foreign missionaries but the number [of Christians] is increasing. Myanmar’s faith is rooted in our soul.”
Mr Naw was in Sydney recently as a guest of the National Council of Churches in Australia, which provides funding to improve the health of the population fractured by the absence of government health programs, forced relocation and spiralling rate of HIV/AIDS. More than 40 years of civil war and isolation has left Myanmar in economic and social deterioration.
“If [a church-run program] is seen to be doing a better job than the government, it will be taken over,” Mr Naw said. “Christians are blamed for symbolising western ideas and being disloyal to the country,” he said.
The work of foreign aid organisations remains under the tight control of the socialist regime. While evangelism is outlawed in some areas, the government has recognised that the churches are rebuilding fractured family and community life by providing education, sanitation and leadership training. Pastors are often the only aid-workers allowed in the country’s war torn rural areas.
“As long as there is conflict, [our] rehabilitation programs will continue. The political state does not provide [such] programs. International non-government organisations want to reach the grassroots but … they have to sign a government plan. [So] they focus on political negotiations,” Mr Naw said.
Basic evangelism remains difficult in Myanmar. Christian literature must receive government clearance before distribution.
Despite international condemnation, the SPDC continues the widespread use of child labour and child soldiers. Human rights groups also claim that ethnic minority refugees are in a desperate situation. Churches classify approximately 600,000 people as ‘internally displaced’, Mr Naw said. Some sources place this figure at closer to a million.
Shane Khin, pastor of the Burmese Christian Church in Lidcombe, returned to his native country last November. He told Southern Cross that Christianity is thriving among the hill tribes of the Chin people on the northwest border with India, despite government funding pouring into the region’s Buddhist economy to combat the Christian influence.
“The government uses Buddhism as a weapon … and uses tactics of breaking up people [through] religious misunder-standings, to divert them from the trouble of the government,” Mr Khin said. He claims many poor people convert to Buddhism to survive but remain Christian ‘in their hearts’ because they see the care the churches are providing. “They’re singing ‘Jesus loves me, this I know’, while wearing Buddhist robes.”
