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Anti-Christian Sentiment in Nepal Marks Journey for Bhutan's Exiles
February 24, 2010

KATHMANDU, Nepal, February 23 (Compass Direct News) – Thrust from their homes in Bhutan after Buddhist rulers embarked on an ethnic and religious purge, Christian refugees in Nepal face hostilities from Hindus and others. In Sunsari district in southeastern Nepal, a country that is more than 80 percent Hindu, residents from the uneducated segments of society are especially apt to attack Christians, said Purna Kumal, district coordinator for Awana Clubs International, which runs 41 clubs in refugee camps to educate girls about the Bible. “In Itahari, Christians face serious trouble during burials,” Kumal told Compass. “Last month, a burial party was attacked by locals who dug up the grave and desecrated it.” Earlier this month, he added, a family in the area expelled one of its members from their home because he became a Christian. Bhutan began expelling almost one-eighth of its citizens for being of Nepali origin or practicing faiths other than Buddhism in the 1980s. The purge lasted into the 1990s. “Christians, like Hindus and others, were told to leave either their faith or the country,” said Gopi Chandra Silwal, who pastors a tiny church for Bhutanese refugees in a refugee camp in Sanischare, a small village in eastern Nepal’s Morang district. “Many chose to leave their homeland.”


Laos Christians Pressured To Worship “Local Spirits”
February 17, 2010

VIENTIANE, LAOS (BosNewsLife)-- Dozens of Christian families in a village in Laos have been warned they will lose their homes and remaining live stock unless they abandon Christianity and start worshiping "local spirits" in accordance with Lao traditions, rights investigators said Thursday, July 16.

Authorities already slaughtered pigs of the 53 Christian residents in Katin village in the Ta Oih district of Saravan province, each worth the equivalent of six weeks' salary for an average laborer in the area, said The Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom (HRWLRF).

On Saturday, July 11, local authorities also announced they would confiscate other livestock and properties following a meeting for all residents where they announced that they had “banned the Christian faith in our village,” the advocacy group said in a statement distributed by Compass Direct News, a Christian news service.

Christians said the measures were a form of punishment for ignoring the order to abandon Christianity.

Last September officials seized a buffalo worth approximately US$350 from a Christian resident identified only as Bounchu, telling him the animal would be returned only if he renounced his faith, Christians said.

The Katin village leader said spirit worship was the only acceptable form of worship in the community, according to HRWLRF investigators.

It comes amid growing pressure on Christians in rural areas of Laos, amid concerns within the government about the spread of Christianity in the Asian country, Christians have said.

Copyright 2008 BosNewsLife. All rights reserved.


Burma: Karen Ethnic Cleansing w/ Killing Season Months Away!
February 12, 2010

This news is just making its way out of Burma from our friends at BosNewsLife. That said, I will send a report "from the ground" in Burma as soon as I hear from my indigenous Burmese and Karen friends. Meanwhile, the Military Regime of Burma has begun another round of Karen ethnic cleansing.

Imagine being among a predominantly Christian people group for whom WWII has never ended! The following is happening right now and the military's commonplace "Karen Killing Season" is still months away!

Please pray for our persecuted Family that have known life like this for over 60 years!

Pray that the Lord will give them courage, wisdom and strength for His Glory while facing yet another onslaught of persecution from this Godless regime.


RANGOON, BURMA (BosNewsLife)-- Over 70 houses, a mobile health clinic and two schools in eastern Burma have been burnt down by army patrols stepping up an offensive against predominantly Christian Karen villagers, rights activists said Thursday, February 11.

The Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People said in published remarks that
government backed troops set fire to 46 houses in Toe Hta area and 28 houses in Ka Di Mu Der area of Ler Doh township, Nyaunglebin District.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, but at least three Karen villagers are known to have died in previous attacks.

A vital mobile health clinic, a middle school, and a nursery school in K’Dee Mu Der village and
Tee Mu TaVillage were reportedly also destroyed by soldiers Monday, February 8.

Other schools have been forced to close.

THOUSANDS DISPLACED

Over 2,000 people have been displaced and are still in hiding following the attacks that began in January, according to Free Burma Rangers (FBR), a relief organization working in the conflict zones of eastern Burma.

“These latest attacks serve as clear evidence of a brutal plan of ethnic cleansing against the
minorities, instigated by Burma’s military regime," said Benedict Rogers, East Asia Team Leader of advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).

"Karen villagers have been subjected to severe human rights violations for far too long. Governments need to respond to these crimes against humanity by working to establish a United Nations commission of inquiry and an immediate and universal arms embargo," he added.

Karen villagers, many of whom are Christians, have been targeted after demanding more rights
and autonomy in their region, BosNewsLife learned from previous investigations. Christianity is also seen as a threat to the power base of the military government, rights groups say.

The United Nations said Thursday, February 11, that its top envoy on human rights in Burma will visit the country Monday, February 15, to talk with Burma's leaders and parties about planned elections, the country's first in 20 years.

OPPOSITION LEADER

Tomas Ojea Quintana said in a statement he also hopes to meet detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest in Rangoon. She has been under some sort of detention for 14 of the last 20 years.

Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won Burma's last parliamentary elections in 1990, but the country's military rulers never recognized the results.

She is seen as a unifying force and is expected to reach out to etnic communities, including Christian Karen villagers, rights activists say.

Copyright 2008 BosNewsLife. All rights reserved. This material may only be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed by those sponsoring BosNewsLife for $10/month and/or with our prior written consent.


Why Bhutan’s Royalists Fear Christianity
February 4, 2010

THIMPHU, Bhutan, (Compass Direct News)

Bars, pubs and discos have become legal in Bhutan – a cause of concern for the older generation – but construction of worship buildings other than Buddhist or Hindu temples is still prohibited. The prohibition remains in force even though Christians abide by Bhutan’s codes of conduct, speaking the Dzongkha language as well as the Nepali language at church gatherings, and wearing the national dress. The National Assembly of Bhutan banned the practice of non-Buddhist and non-Hindu religions through edicts in 1969 and in 1979. But Christians do meet for Sunday worship, with attendance of more than 100 Christians in an underground church not unusual. Why are Christians seen as a greater threat to the culture of the nation than the “democracy disco culture,” as one government official described the emerging subculture among the Bhutanese youth? “There are reasons why Christianity is not being tolerated in the country,” said a former high government official who requested anonymity. “Look at the communal tensions in India and Nepal. Christianity can divide the Bhutanese society as well.”