Christianity
Websites/Multiple Documents
Description:
"Though Myanmar is predominantly a Buddhist country and there also resurgence of Biddhism there is a growing demand of ther scriptures not only by the church members but also by the people from other religions especially for the Myanmar (Burmese) Bible. In 2002 at the special request 5000 New Testaments with special cover were printed locally for the for the religious leaders of the other faith. In the past it was not easy for BSM to print Bible or New Testament in one language within a year. However, with the concerted efforts made by the respective translation committees, BSM translation staff and translation consultants, there is a remarkable progress. Now, at least four new language scriptures would be ready for printing yearly. In addition to printing of new language scripture there is also an urgent need for reprinting of Bibles which are out of stock for some years for the church members as well as for the out reach programs. To meet the urgent need of the scripture, we have worked the production plan for 2004 and 2005....."
Date of entry/update:
2010-12-21
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Christianity
Language:
English
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Description:
Useful site with reports on IDPs, narcotics, human rights, relief missions etc. Good links page. Prayer days for Burma
Source/publisher:
Christians Concerned for Burma
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Burma Action Groups, Expatriate Groups, Round Tables etc., Burma democracy movement's international supporters, Christianity
Language:
English
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Individual Documents
Description:
"၁။ ယနေ့သည် သခင်ယေရှုခရစ်တော်ဖွားမြင်တော်မူခြင်းအထိမ်းအမှတ်တည်းဟူသောခရစ္စမတ်နေ့ဖြစ်သည်။ ဤမွန်မြတ်သော ခရစ္စမတ်နေ့ရက်အချိန်အခါသာမယတွင် ပြည်ထောင်စုမြန်မာနိုင်ငံသူနိုင်ငံသားများအားလုံး ကိုယ်စိတ်နှစ်ဖြာကျန်းမာချမ်းသာကြပါစေကြောင်း မေတ္တာပို့သလျက်နှုတ်ခွန်းဆက်သအပ်ပါသည်။
၂။ သခင်ယေရှုခရစ်တော်သည် လူ့ဇာတိကိုခံယူတော်မူလျက် ဤကမ္ဘာလောကထဲသို့ကြွလာတော်မူခြင်းမှာ “ဆင်းရဲသားတို့အား ဝမ်းမြောက်စရာသတင်းကိုကြားပြောစေခြင်းငှာလည်းကောင်း၊ နှလုံးကြေမွသော သူတို့၏ အနာကို ပျောက်စေခြင်းငှာလည်းကောင်း၊ ဖမ်းသွားချုပ်ထားလျက်ရှိသောသူတို့အား လွှတ်ခြင်းအကြောင်းနှင့် အကျဉ်းခံလျက်ရှိသောသူတို့အား ထောင်တံခါးဖွင့်ခြင်းအကြောင်းကို ပြစေခြင်းငှာ လည်းကောင်း၊ ညှင်းဆဲခံရ သောသူတို့ကိုကယ်မစေခြင်းငှာလည်းကောင်းနှင့် ထာဝရဘုရား၏မင်္ဂလာနှစ်နှင့် ဘုရားသခင် အပြစ်ပေးတော် မူရာနေ့ရက်ကာလကို ကြားပြောစေခြင်းငှာလည်းကောင်း” (ဟေရှာယ ၆:၁-၃၊ ရှင်လုကာ ၄: ၁၉) ဖြစ်ကြောင်း သမ္မာကျမ်းစာတော်တွင် ဖော်ပြထားပါသည်။
၃။ သမ္မာကျမ်းစာတော်တွင်ဖော်ပြချက်အရ ဤကမ္ဘာလောကနှင့် လူသားတို့အား ပျက်စီးရာထဲသို့ ရောက်စေ သူမှာ မာရ်နတ်ဖြစ်သည်။ သခင်ယေရှုခရစ်တော်က မာရ်နတ်နှင့်ပတ်သက်၍ “မာရ်နတ်သည် ရှေ့ဦးစွာမှစ၍ လူအသက်ကို သတ်သောသူဖြစ်၏။ သူ၌သစ္စာတရားမရှိသောကြောင့် သစ္စာတရား၌ မတည်မနေ။ သူသည် မုသာစကားကိုပြောသောအခါ မိမိပကတိအတိုင်းပြော၏။ မုသာစကား၌ကျင်လည်သောသူဖြစ်၏။ မုသာ၏ အဘလည်းဖြစ်၏” (ရှင်ယောဟန် ၈:၄၄) ဟူ၍ အတိအလင်းဖော်ပြခဲ့သည်။
၄။ မာရ်နတ်၏တန်ခိုးကို ရိုက်ချိုး၍ လူတို့အားလွတ်မြောက်ခြင်းကို ပေးအပ်နိုင်ရန် သခင်ယေရှုခရစ်တော် သည် ဤလောကသို့ကြွဆင်းလာခဲ့သည်။ ထိုသခင်ယေရှုခရစ်တော်သည် မတရားမှုကို ကိုယ်တိုင် လက်မခံ ငြင်းဆန် သည်သာမက၊ မတရားပြုသူများနှင့် မတရားမှုကိုမြင်တွေ့သော်လည်း ရေငုံနုတ်ပိတ်နေကြ သူများအား ပြင်းထန်စွာထောက်ပြခဲ့သည်။ ထို့အတူ နတ်ဆိုးနှင့်အလားသဏ္ဍာန်တူသော ကျူးကျော်အုပ်စိုး သူများအား မောင်းထုတ်ဖယ်ရှားနိုင်မှသာ စစ်မှန်သည့်ငြိမ်းချမ်းမှုနှင့် လူပီသသည့် ဘဝရရှိနိုင်မည်ဟု လေဂေါင်နတ်ဆိုးစွဲသော ဂါဒရပြည်သား၏ဖြစ်ရပ် (ရှင်လုကာ ၈:၂၆-၃၉) ဖြင့် သွန်သင်တော်မူခဲ့သည်။
၅။ ဤခရစ္စမတ်နေ့ရက်အခါသာမယတွင် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံသူနိုင်ငံသားအပေါင်း ဘေးရန်ခပ်သိမ်းမှ ကင်းလွတ်လုံခြုံ ၍ ငြိမ်သက်ချမ်းသာခြင်း၏ဝမ်းမြောက်စရာသတင်းကောင်းများဖြင့် ရွှင်လန်းချမ်းမြေ့နိုင်ကြ ပါစေကြောင်း ဆုမွန်ကောင်းတောင်းရင်း ဤနှုတ်ခွန်းဆက် သဝဏ်လွှာကို ပေးပို့အပ်ပါသည်။
“မြေကြီးပေါ်၌ ငြိမ်သက်ခြင်းရှိစေသတည်း။ လူအပေါင်းတို့၌မေတ္တာကရုဏာရှိစေသတည်း” (ရှင်လုကာ ၂:၁၄)..."
Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-12-25
Date of entry/update:
2021-12-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Christianity
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
351.83 KB
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Description:
"We, the Catholic population is trembled with rage, terribly upset and saddened upon the meeting of Charles Cardinal Bo with Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing on 23 December 2021.
This meeting do not represent the Catholic Church and population in Myanmar as that against the stand of all the Catholics in Myanmar. ICJM seriously condemns Charles Cardinal Bo and that of those who has acknowledge the Myanmar junta by any reason of general interests.
This meeting itself exposed the disregard and insult to the people of Myanmar who have suffered murder, lawless seizures, tourtures, and devastation of the Churches since in the beginning of the coup d’état.
As ICJM is the network standing for justice and peace, we absolutely oppose those who collaborate with the perpetrators and firmly stand with those who fight for justice and righteous.
“Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. (Psalm 1, NRSV)..."
Source/publisher:
Independent Catholics for Justice in Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-12-23
Date of entry/update:
2021-12-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Christianity, Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
29.08 KB 133.62 KB
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Description:
"(၂၃.၁၂.၂၁) နေ့တွင် ကာဒီနယ်ချားစ်ဘိုနှင့် အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ခေါင်းဆောင် မင်းအောင်လှိုင်နှင့်အဖွဲ့တွေ့ဆုံခြင်းအပေါ်ကက်သလစ်ဘာသာဝင်များအနေဖြင့် အင်မတန်ထိတ်လန့်တုန်လှုပ် ဝမ်းနည်းစိတ်ပျက် ရပါသည်။
၎င်းတွေ့ဆုံခြင်းသည် မြန်မာပြည် ကက်သလစ် ဘာသာဝင်များအားလုံးနီးပါး၏ ဆန္ဒနှင့် ဆန့်ကျင်သည့်အတွက်ကြောင့်ဘာသာဝင်များကို ကိုယ်စားမပြုပါ။ အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီအား မည်သို့သော အကြောင်းပြချက်များအားဖြင့်ဖြစ်စေ အသိအမှတ်ပြုနေသော ကာဒီနယ်ချားစ်ဘို နှင့်တကွ မည်သည့်ပုဂ္ဂိုလ်/အဖွဲ့အစည်းကိုမဆို ICJM အနေဖြင့် ပြင်းထန်စွာ ရှုတ်ချပါသည်။
ယနေ့လုပ်ရပ်သည် အကြမ်းဖက်အာဏာသိမ်းချိန်ကာလမှစ၍ ယခုအချိန်အထိ မတရားသတ်ဖြတ်ဖမ်းဆီးခံခဲ့ရသူများနှင့်ဘုရားကျောင်းများ ဖျက်ဆီးခံခဲ့ရမှုအပေါ် မျက်နှာလွှဲကာ စော်ကားခြင်းဖြစ်သည်ဟု သတ်မှတ်ပါသည်။
ICJM သည် တရားမျှတမှုအတွက် ရပ်တည်သော အဖွဲ့အစည်းဖြစ်သည့်အလျှောက် မတရားမှုကိုကျူးလွန်နေသောသူများနှင့်ပူးပေါင်းနေသူများအား ချွင်းချက်မရှိ ဆန့်ကျင်ပြီး တရားမျှတမှုအတွက် တော်လှန်တိုက်ပွဲဝင်နေကြသောသူများနှင့်အတူအမြဲ ရပ်တည်သွားမည်။
"မတရားသောသူတို့၏ တိုက်တွန်းခြင်း သို့ မလိုက်။ လူဆိုးတို့၏ လမ်းတွင်မရပ်မနေ၊ မထီမဲ့မြင် ပြုသောသူတို့၏ အစည်းအဝေး၌မထိုင်၊ ထာဝရဘုရား၏ တရားတော်၌ မွေ့လျော်၍ တရားတော်ကို နေ့ညဉ့်မပြတ်ဆင်ခြင် အောက်မေ့သောသူသည် မင်္ဂလာရှိ၏။ မတရားသောသူတို့မူကား ထိုကဲ့သို့ မဟုတ်။ လေတိုက်၍ လွင့်သော ဖွဲနှင့်တူကြ၏။ ထို့ကြောင့် တရားဆုံး ဖြတ်တော်မူရာကာလ၌ မတရားသောသူတို့သည် မတည်မနေရကြ။ ဖြောင့်မတ်သောသူတို့၏ အပေါင်းအသင်းထဲသို့ လူဆိုးတို့သည် မဝင်ရကြ။ အကြောင်းမူကား ဖြောင့်မတ်သောသူတို့၏ လမ်းကို ထာဝရဘုရားသိကျွမ်းတော်မူ၏။ မတရားသော သူတို့၏လမ်းသည် ဆုံးရှုံးခြင်း သို့ ရောက်ရလိမ့်သတည်း။( ဆာလံ-၁)"..."
Source/publisher:
Independent Catholics for Justice in Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-12-23
Date of entry/update:
2021-12-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Christianity, Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
189.75 KB
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Description:
"David Eubank, who is originally from Texas, lives in the jungles of the Karen state near the Thai-Myanmar border, along with his wife and children. The Karen people have been fighting the Myanmar military for decades, in the world’s longest civil war.
Since the military coup on 1 February, the Karen Nation Union has sided with a people’s uprising demanding democracy is restored, and has launched attacks on the military. The army has responded with bombings that have displaced tens of thousands of people. David has seen first-hand what has happened.
Hundreds of young protesters have fled to ethnic areas, including into the area David is working in. His group, The Free Burma Rangers, has provided survival and medical training to some of these young people who want to continue fighting to restore democracy.
He is also part of an underground railway helping to smuggle out politicians, artists and activists who are on the military’s wanted list.
David takes us on a mission through the jungle to get aid to civilians caught up in the conflict..."
Source/publisher:
"BBC News" (London)
Date of publication:
2021-10-01
Date of entry/update:
2021-10-10
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Christianity, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Karen (cultural, historical, political)
Language:
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Description:
"On 14–17 December 2017, Lisu Protestants celebrated their Literature Centenary
Jubilee in Pummati of Myitkyina, the capital city of Myanmar’s northern Kachin State.
Local community members, Lisu guests outside Myanmar, government officials and
leaders of Kachin subgroups gathered together to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the
creation of the Lisu Christian script, known as the ‘Fraser script’. Central to the festivities were daytime worship services, transnational fellowship meetings, cultural shows
and evening music concerts. People could visit the business area, which was packed
with trading stalls selling food, Lisu traditional clothes, handicrafts and Lisu‐language
music albums. Between 2012 and 2014, I conducted fieldwork on the church singing
and socio‐religious change of the Lisu in Yunnan’s northwestern Nujiang Prefecture.
That doctoral work set the path of my postdoctoral book project on how transnational
sound production, circulation and consumption become integral to the Lisu perception and practice of faith on the China–Myanmar border. The conceptualisation of the
book benefited from an intensive 40‐day field trip (December 2017–February 2018) in
Myanmar’s Kachin State and Yangon. Therefore, I was fortunate to attend the Jubilee
that drew the Lisu from around the globe during that fieldwork in addition to my
interviews with Lisu media practitioners and observations of their studio production.
I was intrigued by an apparent paradox I had seen in the Jubilee. It was advertised
as a cultural event, but was permeated by Christian formality. It seemed to have provided an opportunity for Lisu participants to share their Christian identity while having consciously incorporated traditional artefacts and musical traditions to articulate
ethnic identity. This presented a contrast to what I had observed in Nujiang, where
most Christian Lisu still followed the unwritten rule of abstaining from animistic worship, traditional performing arts and other traditional practices deemed inappropriate.1
Moreover, ‘litpix’,2 a Lisu term that was unfamiliar to me, was frequently used to refer
to ‘culture’ during my conversation with Lisu participants and in the church and political leaders’ public speech. It appeared in the name of the Jubilee’s organising committee, the Lisu Tot’et be Litpix Zzujei Yong (Lisu literature and culture committee).
Pummati, the Lisu land purchased in around 2013 for hosting community events, was
appraised as ‘Lisu Litpix Mut’ (the land of Lisu culture). During my time in Myanmar,
most people I talked to – Christian leaders of various domains, media practitioners,
Bible school teachers and students, and performers of Lisu cultural dance – used ‘tradition’ interchangeably with ‘culture’ to explain to me the meaning of ‘litpix’. But
when I asked them to articulate what ‘culture’ stands for, they would turn to specific
artefacts, performing arts and customs for reference.
Why is there a renewed interest among the Burmese Lisu in their pre‐Christian
traditions? How does the notion of litpix come into use, and for what purposes? In this
paper, I examine a Christian Lisu elite’s attempt to gain access to competitive political,
economic and cultural resources to achieve future‐making goals through their positive
engagement with traditional culture for the performance of self‐representation. In particular, I look into litpix’s operations and efficacies as markers of distinction and the
ways that this relationship is articulated in practice against the background of the Lisu
people’s ‘double‐minority’ status both within Kachin State and in the Burmese nation.
As I will show, the Lisu elite’s future‐making attempt is not only for the development
of the future generation but also for their greater involvement.
The Lisu are a Tibeto‐Burman speaking highland group of over one million who
reside across the mountainous areas of southwestern China and Southeast Asia.3 Over
100 years of migration from western Yunnan southwards to Myanmar, Thailand and
elsewhere, the transformative social experiences of the Lisu have been shaped by different factors. The classic anthropological work highlighted the role of new economic
conditions in transforming the social structures (Gillogly 2006) and gender relations
(Hutheesing 1990) of the small Lisu community in northern Thailand. In Lisu‐populated areas of the China–Myanmar border, one important factor for social
change has been conversion from animistic practices (Durrenberger 1975) to
Protestantism since the early 20th century. Despite constraints facing the Lisu as marginalised members of society, they constantly attempt to establish a resilient path to
becoming self‐positioned subjects as an autonomous but compliant people.
In Myanmar, where Buddhism is deeply intertwined with the country’s culture
and the Bamar‐ethnic majority, about 90% of the 500,000 Lisu population self‐
identified as Christians by December 2017.4 Kachin State hosts the largest Burmese
Lisu population (more than 200,000). It is also home to several other small ethnic
groups defining themselves in contrast to the dominating Bamar and Jinghpaw populations yet being part of the Kachin collective affiliation as their primary marker of
socio‐political identities. In 1955, the national parliament recognised six sub‐groups of
the Kachin – the Jinghpaw, Lawngwaw (Maru), Nung‐Rawang, Lisu, Zaiwa (Atsi) and
Lachik – and grouped them under one umbrella.5 The word ‘Kachin’ started to serve as
an ethno‐political category. It is against this historical background that I explore the
recent formation of the litpix space by the Christian Lisu elite and how it becomes a
significant discursive site relating to Lisu self‐representations of modern selves and
relations.
I should pause to clarify how I use the concept of ‘elite’ among the Lisu. I use
‘elite’ to refer to both long‐established church leaders, and emerging leaders of ethnic
organisations, politicians and other sociocultural activists. Akin to the place of the village chief (vutddut reitsu) and animist priest (nitpat) in Lisu traditional socio‐political
organisation, they are regarded by the Christian community members as ‘leaders’ who
can guide community development based on their authorities in religious and social
knowledge. My Lisu interlocutors identified three groups of Christian elite: church
leader, cultural leader and political leader. The so‐called church leader – comprised of
priests, senior preachers and pastoral team members at various levels – has long been in
a monopoly ‘elite’ position among the Burmese Lisu in the sense that institutionalised
churches of five denominations have been wielding influence over Lisu public and private life since the latter half of the 20th century. The church leader also constitutes the
intellectual authority and remains in control of printed material and public speech, as
well as paradigmatic shifts in socio‐religious practice. The emergence of leadership in
cultural and political domains over the last three decades is a result of a Christian elite’s
engagement with changing national economic, social and political circumstances and
interaction with the forces of neighbouring Kachin and Burmese populations.
General assumptions persist that those who are the ‘elites’ must control material
resources (Scott 2008), maintain tight closed networks (Mills 2000 [1956]) and face
confrontations with other social groups (see also the introduction of this issue). The
Christian Lisu elite in the non‐Western, non‐industrial context challenge these assumptions. First, their elite position arises not out of any form of superiority but through
serving as the community advocate for their ‘non‐elite’ people (see also Rumsby, this
issue). Second, the foundation of Lisu elite status relies on their interactions, rather
than confrontation, with superior groups such as the Jinghpaw and Burmese leaders. The concept of elite, from this perspective, is dependent more on relationships (political, religious, etc.) between (elite) groups than it is on specific qualifications. This
echoes the view of Salverda and Skovgaard‐Smith’s recent article (2018) that the status
of elites are both contested and attributed by people they interact with and relate to.
Third, Lisu practice exemplifies how ‘the elites … are adapted and altered under the
influence of social changes’ (Salverda and Abbink 2013: 10), as new leadership emerged
out of religious authority.
In the analyses that follow, I examine through what kind of politics the state, religion, ethnicity and other actors possibly influence the Christian Lisu elite’s renewed
interest in their pre‐Christian litpix traditions, as well as the challenges involved in
translating the singularity of its abstraction into various embodied forms through viable projects. Central to this process is the selection, revision and standardisation of
previously marginalised traditional artefacts and practices in the Christian community
which are readily tagged as ethnically Lisu when assertion of difference is needed. I
argue that the construction of a specifically litpix space independent of religion was
crucial in a Christian Lisu elite’s attempt to gain access to political, economic and cultural resources and to legitimise claims to rights for survival and future development of
the Lisu while maintaining the church’s predominant influence in the faith community..."
Source/publisher:
Special Section Article
Date of publication:
2021-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2021-10-10
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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581.8 KB
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Sub-title:
Church leaders say the military’s shelling of places of worship, despite repeated appeals to respect their sanctity, is no accident
Description:
"Less than a month into its campaign to crush Karenni resistance forces in eastern Myanmar, the military has hit at least eight churches in what some are calling deliberate attacks.
Church leaders have appealed to the military to end its shelling of places of worship, which they say has greatly increased the hardships of civilians seeking refuge from the fighting.
“We told them there are no armed groups hiding in our churches, just people taking shelter,” said a Catholic priest who took part in talks with military officials during the early stages of the conflict.
“They know that we’re housing the elderly, children and women. Sometimes I don’t even know what to say about them. This is just a planned, deliberate action,” he added.
Local resistance forces, armed with hunting rifles and other simple weapons, began clashing with regime troops late last month.
Since then, eight churches have been damaged or destroyed by artillery shells in Kayah State’s Loikaw and Demoso townships and Moebye and Pekhon townships in southern Shan State.
According to local residents, junta troops have also set up camp in church compounds, further violating their role as sanctuaries for people in need.
Ignoring appeals
Father Celso Ba Shwe, the apostolic administrator of Christ the King Cathedral in Loikaw, said that church officials met with senior military officers several times to discuss their concerns.
“We let them know from the beginning. We’ve had a couple of meetings, both with the chief of the interrogation centre in Loikaw and at the Eastern Command,” he said.
However, as the situation continued to deteriorate, the church was forced to make a more public appeal.
On May 25, a day after an artillery shell killed four people and injured eight at the Sacred Heart Church in Kayan Tharyar, a village near Loikaw, Cardinal Charles Bo, the Archbishop of Yangon, released a statement calling on the junta to refrain from targeting churches.
“Let us remember the blood that is spilled is not some enemy’s blood; those who died and those who were wounded are the citizens of this country. They were not armed; they were inside the church to protect their families,” said the cardinal.
While the military has denied targeting churches, few who are familiar with the situation on the ground believe that such incidents are accidental.
“There’s no way they shot these churches by mistake. For one thing, they’re on big compounds that are very easy to identify by their buildings. And we’ve set up white flags at every church,” said one priest who spoke to Myanmar Now.
On the night of May 26, just one day after Cardinal Bo issued his appeal, junta troops opened fire on the St. Joseph Catholic Church in Demoso, destroying walls and windows.
Civilians sheltering at the church were forced to relocate after the incident, according to a local priest who asked to remain anonymous.
“There were about a thousand people staying there at the time. Most were very old, or women with young children. Some were in bad health, and there were pregnant women as well. They came to the church because they couldn’t run far,” he said.
According to a local resistance fighter, the church is now being used by the military as a temporary base.
Three days later, St. Peter’s Intermedia Seminary in Loikaw’s Narnattaw ward came under attack. One 50-year-old man was killed instantly when junta troops raided the church, which was housing around 1,300 displaced people.
According to church officials, the soldiers also stole around 2 million kyat ($1,200) in cash that had been collected for charity purposes.
Ongoing attacks
Despite the military’s denials, attacks on churches continue unabated as the regime moves to bring the conflict zone firmly under its control.
On the evening of June 3, after clashing with resistance forces in San Pya 6 Mile, a village in Demoso Township, the military took over the village’s Our Lady of Lourdes Church.
The next day, junta forces broke into a church in Moebye Township’s Pwe Kone ward 3 and abducted three men and a 17-year-old boy who were there on security duty.
All four were used as human shields when fighting broke out later that day, according to local sources. The boy was also reportedly forced to carry a bomb.
“No one will go anywhere near the church now, because they’re afraid they’ll be kidnapped or shot by the soldiers deployed there,” said one Moebye resident.
On June 6, two churches—Our Lady of Lourdes in Pekhon and Our Lady, Queen of Peace in Demoso’s Dawngankhar ward—were badly damaged by artillery shells.
No longer able to claim that these attacks are accidental, the regime has begun trying to justify them by saying that local “terrorists” are using the churches to launch attacks on regime forces.
Resistance fighters dismissed these allegations as ridiculous.
“We would never use churches for cover,” said one. “We value religious buildings. Why would we use them to kill people?”
Meanwhile, even priests are no longer able to stay in churches, according to Father Celso Ba Shwe.
“Churches in these conflict areas aren’t safe for the displaced anymore. But we still have to make sure that they’re OK, so the priests of Demoso can’t stay there, either,” he said..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2021-06-15
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-15
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Inter-Communal violence and discrimination - Myanmar - General articles and analysis, Discrimination against the Karenni (Kayah), Christianity, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
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Description:
"Mountains, tall trees, the sunset over broad
desert landscapes, a painting by Klimt, even a
beautiful sculpture, all inspire me. A perfect
sentence that turns my mind inward, then out
and around an issue in a book is a wonder to
me. A smoothly executed move climbing steep
rock, the turns made descending a steep couloir
on skis, and the silence felt while paddling on a
mountain lake with no wind are other forms of
this sublime thing. My wife when she smiles and
my daughters when they stand their ground in
fierce goodness are yet other angles on what my
soul screams: “beautiful, absolutely beautiful.”
It may be my age. I’m 51. I’ve worked with
refugees and displaced people for nearly 30
years. Through the different seasons of life I’ve
felt the pull to originality, independence, and
characteristics like fearlessness. But now, the
thing that sets my soul on fire is beauty.
My work with refugees and displaced
people has formed how people know me and
even altered my sense of identity. My work has
been my passion. But finally I realize that what
shapes my soul is not context. War, violence,
and deprivation provoke a sense of injustice and
motivate me to work for restorative change; but
the deeper driver is the incredible fact of people’s
tenacity to thrive, to make the best out of what
meager provision and resources are left to them,
and to speckle the hard and terrible times with
laughter and even joy.
Beauty is magnified when it grows out
of the war-torn Nineveh desert; it is enhanced
when it appears in remote hiding places in
Karen State, and it is more arresting when it
smiles broad goodness in moments, even years,
of terrible crisis.
It’s audacious. In the face of overwhelming
violence and oppression, how can people be
so courageous, so daringly wonderful, and so
incredibly sacrificial? I’m finding answers to my
deepest questions of faith by observing a loving
father teaching his son to make a toy of bamboo
and rubber bands, not by reading yet another
book on theology.
The refugees and displaced families our
team serves are not cast in a victim mold.
Though victimized, the majority of those I
have met are strong, resilient, loving, and selfsacrificing. They fall in love on the run; through
dangerous times they build a life, a family, and
exploit what possibilities exist not merely to
survive, but to live a full and joyous life.
Do you want to know what it means
when we say “To Love Is To Act?” Observe any
displaced or refugee community. Do you wish to
see beauty? Observe the poor with curious and
hopeful eyes.
The collection of news and stories you hold
has been assembled by a dedicated team to give
you an inside look at what doing something
beautiful looks like in Myanmar and other
conflict zones. I’m proud to contribute to a
work so congruous to what Partners Relief
& Development is all about. We went to the
battlefield to give, to help the displaced and
poor stand against seemingly insurmountable
odds. What we gained is a priceless gift. We
have learned beauty, learned to pray, and are
attempting to live it out..."
Source/publisher:
Christians Concerned for Burma via Free Burma Rangers (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2020-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-28
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.08 MB (28 pages)
Local URL:
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Description:
"Everything seemed to be going pretty well. Because of the recent protests and riots, I was nervous about traveling by myself to Hong Kong (population 7.400,000). The Hong Kong airport was closed to residents coming into the airport to pick up visiting passengers. But I found my way outside and met up with long-time friend and 40-year missionary in Hong Kong, Linda Smyth.
I stayed a few days in Hong Kong and then Linda and I boarded a plane to Yangon, Myanmar. We would stay there overnight and then go onto Myitkyina (population 200,000) where we would team teach at Faith Theological Seminary for two weeks.
When we landed in Yangon (population 7,500,000) we were directed to immigration. Linda went in one line and I went in another. There was absolutely no problem for me. I showed them my passport and then my visa. Quickly, I passed through..."
Source/publisher:
"The Havre Daily News" (Montana)
Date of publication:
2020-01-06
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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Description:
"When you read this, I won’t be around. I am bound for Asia: Hong Kong and then onto Myanmar (Burma). It is probably the longest, scariest trip I have ever taken. If you are a praying person, please stop and say a prayer for me.
It isn’t the first time I have been to Asia. In 1974, I was getting ready to graduate from Bible College when I was asked to join a mission team for the summer in Hong Kong. There were four girls and two guys on our team named “The Harbingers” (Messengers). One of the students was Wong Yan Wing who was in my graduating class. He was returning to his homeland and taking a team with him to lay a foundation for a new church work in Mei Foo Sun Chuen.
Nearly all the schools in Hong Kong were operated by churches. They were thrilled to have a group of college students come and present a program consisting of music, drama and art. I was the “art” portion of the program and drew a picture of a rock wall surrounding a garden while Wing beautifully sang the hymn “In the Garden.” I may have done some drama, also.
In Hong Kong they say or write the last name first and the first name last. So “Wong Yan Wing” was “Wing Wong” to us or just “Wing.” He used to say, “My father’s name is ‘Ling,’ my name is ‘Wing,’ I have a sister named ‘Ying’ and a brother named ‘Ming.’ So, when you call our house be sure you don’t ‘Wing’ the ‘Wong’ number!” Ha! I still think that’s funny..."
Source/publisher:
"Havre Daily News" (USA)
Date of publication:
2019-12-02
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burma/Myanmar's Foreign relations, general, Society and Culture, global - general studies, Christianity
Language:
more
Description:
"An eleven-year-old Christian boy is now spending his days studying and playing football in a safe environment, rather than running into the jungle to hide from soldiers and gunfire, a local Barnabas Fund partner in Myanmar told us in August.
“Shein” is just one of 39 Christian children that a Barnabas-supported ministry has helped to escape from war zones or transfer from Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in the conflict-ravaged south-east Asian country in 2019.
The children are now living in a safe village that has a school where they can study and churches where they can worship. They are making new friends and sharing their testimonies at local churches, said the Barnabas project partner.
In Shein’s home village there is no school or hospital and in the last month he was there, he was forced to flee three times into the jungle to hide from the Myanmar Army that has turned mainly Christian areas into war zones..."
Source/publisher:
"barnabasfund" (England)
Date of publication:
2019-09-17
Date of entry/update:
2019-09-18
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Children and armed conflict, Christianity
Language:
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Description:
"Commissioned by CPCS, Myanmar: Portraits of Diversity is a series of short films seeking to stimulate discussion and move audiences towards recognizing, accepting, and celebrating religious diversity in Myanmar. Directed by Kannan Arunasalam, the films present individuals from Myanmar?s different religious communities and highlight the inter-faith connections and engagement that take place naturally around the country. Featuring stories of cooperation across religious and ethnic divides, as well as the capacity for peace leadership within the country, community leaders share analysis and insights into the threat of inter-communal violence and illustrate the capacity for peace leadership...The film series seeks to stimulate alternative narratives regarding ethnic and spiritual issues in Myanmar where tolerance and cooperation are highlighted, rather than conflict and persecution. Screened together with guided reflections, the films can be used as tools to stimulate exchanges of ideas about diversity and tolerance, and to create a space to foster acceptance and share visions for the future. The issues raised by individuals featured in the films can be used to generate discussions on Myanmar?s different religious communities and highlight the kinds of inter-faith connections and engagement that take place naturally around the country. A discussion and study guide is available for each video portrait, followed by suggested activities that can also be adapted to different learning environments. For each film, background is provided on the person and their context, followed by five discussion questions and extension activities..."
Source/publisher:
Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS)
Date of publication:
2015-04-00
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-29
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Religion in Burma - general, Christianity, Ethnic groups in Burma: general studies and articles, Videos and multimedia on Burma in Burmese, Karen and other languages of Burma, most with English subtitles., Individual videos and films on Burma in English and other non-Asian languages
Language:
English and Burmese
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Description:
Paper delivered at the International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-26 July 2015
Marja‐Leena
Heikkil ä‐Horn
Source/publisher:
International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-26 July 2015
Date of publication:
2015-07-26
Date of entry/update:
2015-08-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Christianity, Chin (Zo)- economic, social, cultural, political, International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies (ICBMS) 23-26 July, 2015
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
154.79 KB
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Description:
Interview mit dem Präsidenten des Kachin Theological College (KTC).Im Gespräch mit Livenet berichtete er von seiner Schule in der Stadt Myitkyina, der grössten theologischen Ausbildungsstätte im Norden des Landes, die den Bachelor of Theology und den Master of Divinity verleiht und in den letzten 15 Jahren ein starkes Wachstum erlebt hat. Seit dem Zusammenbruch des Sozialismus wollen viele Absolventen von Colleges und Sekundarschulen das KTC besuchen.? Zahlreiche Kurse werden englisch unterrichtet; im abgeschotteten Land sehen Eltern hier offensichtlich ein Sprungbrett für die Laufbahn ihrer Sprösslinge;
Verfolgung von Christen, Kachin
Interview with the president of the baptist Kachin Theological College; Christian students;
Persecution of Christians
Source/publisher:
Livenet
Date of publication:
2007-02-26
Date of entry/update:
2007-08-18
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
German, Deutsch
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