Religion in Burma
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Burma is a multi-religious country. Buddhism in Burma is predominantly of the Theravada sect intermingled with local beliefs. According to the military government, it is practiced by 89%[1][2][3] of the population, especially among the Bamar, Rakhine, Shan, Mon, and Chinese.
Christianity is practiced by 4% of the population,[1] primarily among the Kachin, Chin and Kayin, and Eurasians because of missionary work in their respective areas. About four-fifths of the country’s Christians are Protestants, in particular Baptists of the Myanmar Baptist Convention; Roman Catholics make up the remainder.
Islam, mainly of the Sunni sect, is practiced by 4% of the population according to the government census. However, according to the U.S. State Department’s 2006 international religious freedom report, the country's non-Buddhist populations were underestimated in the census. Muslim leaders estimate that as much as 20% of the population may be Muslim.[4] Muslims are divided amongst Indians, Indo-Burmese, Persians, Arabs, Panthays, Rohingyas, and the Chinese Hui people. See Islam in Burma.
Hinduism is practiced mainly by Burmese Indians.
The Muslim and Christian populations are said to face religious persecution in Myanmar. Since independence, successive governments (both democratic and military) did not grant the citizenship of the Muslim Rohingya of Northern Rakhine and forbid missionary activities. The Rohingyas have been forced to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh or to muslim states. Their claim to citizenship has been marred by disputes with the ethnic Arakanese, who are mainly Buddhists. Some Rohingyas claim to be the original inhabitants of the region, even stating that the temples of Mrauk U were once Rohingya mosques. Those claims have caused the Buddhist Arakanese to be hostile to the Rohingya.
Christians are also said to face persecution. The first is that Christians have not moved to the higher echelons of power. Also, foreign missionaries have been banned from entering the country ever since independence, a ban that is seen as hostile to Christianity, whose doctrine involves a call to cross-cultural missonary efforts. The ban may be a reaction to the Christian favorism shown by the British during colonial rule, which had a profound impact on the governments of the independent state. But perhaps most alarming of all, the burning of Christian churches is reported in South Eastern Myanmar, where the Karens live.
Christians have also been accused of misconduct. Karen villagers say that clinics set up by missionaries refuse to treat Buddhist or animist patients. Bedside conversions are promoted of other Karen patients in non-religious health institutions on the border and in neighbouring Thailand.
Buddhists also have their complaints regarding religious freedom. A political party, the DKBA, split from the main Karen nationalist movement, the KNU, after the Buddhists were denied to rebuild and repair the stupas at Manerplaw.
Although Burma's Jews once numbered in the thousands, there are currently only approximately 20 Jews in Rangoon, where the country's only synagogue is located. Most of the Jews left Myanmar at the commencement of the Second World War, and also after General Ne Win took over in 1962.
[edit] References
- ^ a b CIA Factbook - Burma
- ^ International Religious Freedom Report 2007 - Burma
- ^ Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs - Background Note: Burma
- ^ "Burma—International Religious Freedom Report 2006". U.S. Department of State. 2006-09-15. http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2006/71335.htm. Retrieved on 2007-09-25.
