Saturday, November 10, 2007

Myanmar: Eradicating Christianity


Read this, about Myanmar or Burma, it is very easy to forget the plight of Christians there, pray for them.


...a Burmese government document describing a plan for eradicating Christianity in that country. The document began with the words “there shall be no home where the Christian religion is practiced.”

What followed were “point by point instructions on how to drive Christians out of the state.” While the junta denied authorship of this specific document, it “made no public attempt to refute or repudiate its contents.”

It could hardly do otherwise—its persecution of Burma’s Christian minority is well-documented. Christian churches have been torn down and replaced by Buddhist pagodas; and Christians have been forced to financially support Buddhist projects and festivals.

It gets worse: Christian children have been removed forcibly from their homes never to be seen again. And members of largely Christian ethnic groups—the Chin, Lachin, and Karen—have been tortured by the Burmese army. Christian women are gang-raped by soldiers, killed, and their mutilated bodies placed on display as a warning to others.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Communications and claims under Art.15 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in the matter of genocide may be addressed to:

Information and Evidence Unit
Office of the Prosecutor
Post Office Box 19519
2500 CM The Hague
The Netherlands

or sent by email to otp.informationdesk@icc-cpi.int,

or sent by facsimile to +31 70 515 8555.

Since Burma is not a party to the ICC the Prosecutor may only act in the event of a mandate of the UN Security Council. I see no reason why the Holy See cannot refer the matter to the Council:

The Address of Apostolic Nuncio Celestino Migliore at the UN is:

Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See
20 East 72nd Street
New York
NY 10021-4196

Telephone: (1-212)734-2900
Fax: 988-3633

Anonymous said...

Of course we should pray for the Christians who suffer so terribly, but we should pray for all the people of that tragic country.

gemoftheocean said...

What's shocking is that most people don't think of Buddhists as being violent.

Michael: I guess it's fine to write the Hague et al. But seriously: Have they ever been effective in actually DOING something other than making "tut-tut" noises? Is that the cynic or the realist in me? At any rate, I am glad Father Blake shines the spotlight of truth on them. May such evil people be put to shame. It saddens me that so many people who DO have freedom of religion take it for granted, while people who don't are persecuted for it.

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