Bhutan denies Vatican report of Christian persecution
WRNS (28.04.2001) / HRWF International Secretariat (03.05.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - The government of Bhutan denied Friday a Vatican report that said Christians are persecuted in the Buddhist kingdom in the Himalayan Mountains, and that pressure on them is increasing. Responding to a report Monday by Fides, the news service of the Vatican's missionary arm, the Bhutanese Embassy in New Delhi said, "The allegation that Bhutanese Christians are being issued ultimatums to abandon their religion or leave the country is totally untrue."
Fides had quoted Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a British-based organization, as making the charge, and as saying that fear was growing among Christians, who make up less than 1% of Bhutan's population.
The Vatican organization, Fides, also said it has received its own reports through the years of persecution of Christians in Bhutan.
The Vatican agency cited Christian Solidarity as saying that on Palm Sunday, April 8, Bhutanese authorities and police went to churches to register the names of believers, and that many pastors were detained for interrogation and threatened with imprisonment.
In a statement faxed to the Associated Press Friday, the Bhutan Embassy said the assertion that authorities had harassed Christians on Palm Sunday was untrue. "No such incidents have ever taken place in Bhutan," said the embassy. "It is evident that such disinformation is being spread by politically-motivated individuals to malign Bhutan's positive global image."
The embassy said that freedom of religion is enshrined in the country's laws, and that "Bhutanese are free to profess and practice any religion of their choice."
"While Buddhism and Hinduism are the two major religions practiced in the country, there is no discrimination against any other religion," it said.
Bhutan's national anthem, which children are told to sing each day in school, is a hymn to Buddha, and many of the state offices are located in Buddhist monasteries.
Christians often meet in private homes.
The situation in Bhutan
by Wendy Ryan
BWA (17.04.2001) HRWF International Secretariat (20.04.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Christians in Bhutan are now facing some of the strongest opposition and persecution they have ever seen. This report to the Baptist World Alliance comes from D. Kitbok Ryntathiang, director of the Christian Academy, Shillong, North East India and sent by Bonny Resu, BWA regional director for Asia.
According to Ryntathiang, when Christians came to church on Sunday morning April 8, they were met by authorities and police who recorded their names. Some Christians ran away out of fear, not wanting to be identified.
The police have brought many pastors for interrogation and threatened them with imprisonment. They are demanding that the churches stop their witnessing and are even closing down churches, especially those that rent their facilities from Buddhist landowners.
Bhutan, a small country of more than two million people, is located in the Himalayan mountain region and is bordered by Tibet and India. Seventy-five percent of the population is Tibetan Buddhist and the country is ruled by constitutional monarchy.
The Christian church in Bhutan numbers just a few thousand and both Nepalese and Indian believers have been instrumental in evangelizing Bhutan. The church fears other actions which we are unable to report but Baptist leaders in North East India ask us to pray urgently.
BWA General Secretary Denton Lotz has written to Ryntathiang and assured him of the prayers of the Baptist community.
