Myanmar crisis taking an enormous toll on Christians
January 23, 2023 · By UCA News Network for www.ucanews.com
Myanmar crisis taking an enormous toll on Christians
The military junta in Myanmar torched and destroyed a 129-year-old Catholic Church amid ongoing violence against Christians in the conflict-torn country.
The Assumption Church in Ye-U township in the northwestern Sagaing region was set ablaze last Sunday along with homes in the predominantly Christian Chan Thar village. No human casualties were reported as villagers managed to flee before the army raid. Besides the church, the parish priest’s house and nuns’ convent were also destroyed.
However, a Marian grotto and the adoration chapel were spared. A Catholic villager lamented that the destruction of the historic church amounted to losing their last hope. The fourth raid in the village in eight months saw the army destroy more than 500 houses.
Christians make up around 8.2 percent of Myanmar’s 55 million population. Since the military coup in February 2021, many churches and Christian institutes have come under heavy military assaults in Christian-majority regions where rebel groups and resistance forces waged war against the junta rule.
The 129-year-old Assumption Church in the Sagaing region was completely destroyed in a raid by junta forces on Jan.15. (Photo: People’s Defense Comrade)
Pope Francis prayed for the victims of Nepal’s deadly plane crash and their bereaved family members. In a telegram message to Nepal’s President Bidya Devi Bhandari last Sunday, the pope commended “the souls of the deceased to the mercy of the Almighty,” and invoked upon those who mourn their loss “the divine blessings of healing and peace.”
The pope also prayed “for those involved in the recovery efforts.” The plane crashed on Jan. 15, en route from Nepal’s capital city Kathmandu to Pokhara, the second most populous city and a favorite tourist spot.
At least 69 of the 72 people aboard including crew members have been confirmed dead, and the remaining three passengers were reported missing.
Among the passengers were 15 foreign nationals including five Indians, four Russians, two South Koreans, and one each from Ireland, Australia, Argentina, and France. Since 2000, nearly 350 people have died in plane or helicopter crashes in Nepal.
India’s Supreme Court has asked an activist of the pro-Hindu Bhartiya Janata Party to remove derogatory remarks he made against Christians and Muslims in his petition that sought a national law to curb religious conversions.
In the public interest litigation filed last December, the Delhi-based lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay termed Christians and Muslims rapists and accused them of indulging in illegal religious conversions. He has urged the federal government, headed by his pro-Hindu party, to frame laws to stop religious conversion.
Some 11 out of a total 28 states in India have enacted laws that criminalize religious conversions including marrying for the sake of conversion.
Christian leaders say these laws have become a tool in the hands of pro-Hindu right-wing groups to persecute Christians and Muslims, who together make up 17.3 percent of India’s 1.3 billion people. About 80 percent of Indians are Hindus.
Religious minorities and rights groups have expressed concerns as Pakistan’s parliament amended its draconian blasphemy law to make it more stringent. Christian leaders fear sharpening the blasphemy law could stoke rights abuses and can be used to target religious minorities.
The National Assembly passed the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill on Tuesday, increasing punishment for insulting the Prophet Muhammad’s companions, wives, and family members to 10 years in jail along with a fine of 1 million rupees which is around 4,400 US dollars.
Peter Jacob, executive director of the Lahore-based Centre for Social Justice, called the amendment an “unfortunate development” that was unnecessary. Pakistan already has a blasphemy law, which stipulates death for convicts. Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are sensitive as mere allegations have led to extrajudicial killings and mob violence that have caused deaths.
Punjab Governor Salman Taseer — a prominent critic who tried to reform the law — was assassinated by his bodyguard in 2011. Christian groups lament that Muslims misuse the law by making false allegations to win even petty quarrels and have long demanded the repeal of the law.
A movie on Korean Catholic patriot Ahn Jung-geun has become a big hit in South Korea. The on-screen adaption of the musical play “Hero” which documents the final year of Ahn’s life was released last December. Box office data shows the movie occupied the second spot after James Cameron’s “Avatar 2: The Way of Water.”
The musical play first premiered in 2009 and garnered widespread attention among Koreans. Born on Sept. 2, 1879, Ahn Jung-geun was the eldest of four children of his Buddhist parents. Ahn and his family members converted to Catholicism in 1897.
Ahn became a pro-independence revolutionary against Japan’s occupation of Korea. He shot dead Hirobumi Ito, the first Japanese governor of Korea on Oct. 26, 1909, at Harbin train station in China.
He was detained, imprisoned, and executed by hanging on March 26, 1910, in Lushun prison in China. Ahn is regarded as a hero in Korea, and is a popular subject in drama, art, literature, and music.
A legal team representing Hong Kong’s jailed Catholic media mogul Jimmy Lai has denied any professional association with an international group of lawyers who met with the United Kingdom’s junior foreign minister, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, for the case.
In a statement last week, Hong Kong law firm Robertsons Solicitors brushed off the Hong Kong government’s allegations that a team of lawyers working for Lai had met with Trevelyan.
The 75-year-old Lai is a close ally of Hong Kong’s outspoken Cardinal Joseph Zen, a strong critic of China’s communist regime who faced a criminal charge for associating with a humanitarian fund that assisted the supporters of Hong Kong’s often violent pro-democracy movement.
A British national, Lai is accused of colluding with foreign forces and producing allegedly seditious publications. He has been behind bars since December 2020. He is currently serving a sentence of five years and nine months for fraud.
Church officials in Sri Lanka have demanded proper investigations to find out criminals who planted a live hand grenade inside the All Saints Church in the capital Colombo a year ago.
About one hundred Catholics marched on the streets to protest the government’s failure to arrest the real culprits behind the act after the Mass last Sunday. They also carried a photo of the alleged suspect recorded in the CCTV cameras at the church. The event came just three days ahead of the commemoration of the 1,000th day of the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.
A parish sacristan and three others, including a minor boy, were detained on suspicion but released by a court a month later. Later, a retired doctor was arrested but there was no progress in investigations.
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith criticized the government for detaining “innocent people” in the case and even boycotted the official Independence Day celebration as a form of protest.
Cambodia’s increasingly authoritarian government led by Prime Minister Hun Sen has targeted another opposition leader ahead of the election in July this year.
Thach Setha, vice-president of the Candlelight Party, was arrested and imprisoned last Sunday. He is the third senior opposition leader charged with embezzlement in recent weeks.
Local media reported that Setha was arrested for issuing a bad check. If found guilty, he will face a jail term of between one and five years. Setha is a former lawmaker from the now-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party.
He was among 118 opposition members banned from political activity for five years when the main opposition party was outlawed in November 2017 for “attempting to overthrow the government through a color revolution.” He was granted a royal pardon in April 2021 and joined the Candlelight Party, which emerged as the strongest challenge to the long-ruling Cambodian People’s Party.
Indonesian President Jokowi Widodo has told heads of provinces and districts to guarantee equal religious freedom to all citizens.
During a coordination meeting with heads of provinces and districts in Sentul, West Java province on Monday, Widodo said local officials should be “careful” to ensure every believer enjoys the same right to worship.
Widodo highlighted the role of the Forum for Religious Harmony in each region, which often makes agreements contrary to the constitution, such as denying the permit for the building of places of worship for religious minorities. The group is often criticized by human rights groups for making decisions or policies that appease Muslims. The president’s call comes amid concerns over cases of obstruction of worship for religious minorities including Christians by Muslims in Indonesia.
Research body, Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, reported that Catholics and Protestants have frequently faced harassment and abuses over places of worship since 2017. Churches faced resistance to construction, theft, destruction, and attacks including bombings.
The Church in Vietnam has urged Catholic students to show their piety to God, ancestors and the motherland as people gear up to celebrate the Lunar New Year, popularly known as Tet festival.
Bishop Peter Huynh Van Hai of Vinh Long termed the Tết celebrations as a rare opportunity for students to show their filial affection to God, who created them, to their parents, who gave birth to them, and to the land which is their spiritual mother.
Tết is the Vietnamese celebration of the Lunar New Year. This year, the festival will be held from January 22 to 24. Schools throughout the country are closed for the festival.
During the festival, Catholics pray for national prosperity on the first day, for their ancestors on the second day, and for their livelihood on the last day in an effort to integrate Christian values into the national tradition.
