RLPB 347. Burma: Global Day of Prayer For Burma

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 347 | Wed 09 Mar 2016


BURMA (Myanmar): GLOBAL DAY OF PRAYER FOR BURMA
-- Sunday 13 March 2016
By Elizabeth Kendal

click on map to enlarge

Burma is home to more than 135 ethnic groups, the largest of which is the Bamar (Burman) nation, which comprises 60 percent of the population. The Bamar are Buddhist. However, 57 percent of the land mass of Burma is occupied by ethnic minority nations, most of which are not Buddhist. The Chin (in the west) and the Kachin (in the north) are Christian nations, while Burma's largest ethnic minority nation, the Karen (in the east) is up to 30 percent Christian. Most of Burma's Christians are Baptist, the legacy of pioneer missionary Adoniram Judson.

After World War 2 General Aung Sun (father of Aung Sun Suu Kyi) united the ethnic nations, founded the Union of Burma, headed a parliamentary democracy and secured independence from Britain, before being assassinated in July 1947. Profound ethnic and religious differences made the Union fragile, and infighting left the government weak. On 2 March 1962 Army Chief of Staff, Ne Win staged a coup d'etat and declared himself head of state. Blending Marxism and Buddhist superstition, Ne Win advanced a Soviet-style nationalisation which brought all elements of society under the control of the military junta. It was a catastrophe from which Burma has yet to recover, especially as so many repressive and unjust militarist policies remain thoroughly woven into the fabric of the State. For an excellent backgrounder on Burma see: Oxford Burma Alliance.

In Burma all land still belongs to the central government and, though the government grants farmers tillage rights, it will also grab land back illegally if it wants it. Consequently, struggles rage between the central government, which is desperate for resources and foreign investment, and indigenous ethnic nations who would rather die fighting than surrender their ancestral lands. Motivated by greed, emboldened by power and impunity, and fuelled with ethnic-religious hatred, the Bamar-Buddhist Burmese military engages in ethnic cleansing and persecution of unfathomable cruelty.

UNFATHOMABLE CRUELTY WITH IMPUNITY

Kachin missionaries: murdered

On 19 January 2015 Burmese soldiers savagely tortured, gang-raped and then murdered two Kachin missionaries. Maran Lu Ra (20) and Tangbau Hkawn Nan Tsin (21) (pictured) had been asleep in the house in the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) church compound when attacked. The savagery was such that it remains the most heinous crime ever committed in the area [see RLPB 310 (20 May 2015)]. Despite an abundance of forensic evidence, and despite compelling circumstantial evidence that the perpetrators were soldiers from the Light Infantry Regiment No. 503, nobody has been charged. A report by the Kachin Women's Association Thailand (KWAT) and Legal Aid Network (LAN), released on the anniversary of the attack (19 January 2016), exposes a systemic cover-up of the Army's involvement. The report draws on the findings of the KBC's investigation team, which was comprised of 15 members and was led by the General Secretary of the KBC, Rev Dr Samson. Fear has escalated, for there is nothing more dangerous than impunity, and the Burmese Military has had too much impunity for far too long. [Full report: "JusticeDelayed, Justice Denied"]

DRUGS: A QUIETER WAY TO KILL

Whilst Burma has long been a centre of drug cultivation and trafficking, it seems drugs have now become central to a new military strategy of 'covert drug genocide'. Since the resumption of conflict in mid-2011, ethnic minority leaders have observed unprecedented quantities of drugs invading their regions. Two years ago in Kachin State, with the problem reaching catastrophic levels, the KBC formed a group called Pat Jasan (literally Prohibit Clear), a Kachin community-based drug-abuse eradication network. With some 100,000 members, Pat Jasan operates with full government support.

Pat Jasan units slash poppy fields before they can be harvested, often beating poppy farmers and dragging them off to faith-based drug rehabilitation centres. (Baptist and Catholic leaders are working together to create a more disciplined and compassionate force.) It is dangerous work, for the anti-drug activists face opposition not just from poppy farmers whose livelihoods are at risk, but from police and military personnel accustomed to taking bribes and receiving kickbacks. Ethnic minority leaders are convinced that the military is directing poppy production into ethnic regions as part of a strategy to divide and destroy the ethnic nations quietly. 'They want to kill [us] indirectly,' says a Karen leader in a YOUTUBE appeal. 'They are putting a lot of drugs into our territory, [so as to] make the up-coming generation so stupid that they cannot really think about politics ... or their motherland.'

See Religious Liberty Monitoring (9 March 2016) for a more detailed report entitled 'Burma: Covert Drug Genocide'.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL

* empower the new government, led by Aung Sun Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy,  to rein in the military, end corruption, eradicate drugs and defend the rights and interests of the ethnic nations; may Aung Sun Suu Kyi be Burma's 'Cyrus' (Isaiah 45:1-13).
'I equip you [Cyrus, king of Persia], though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other.' (v5c-6 ESV)

* direct and empower the new government to institute justice and bring the era of impunity to an end. Recognising that this is an exceedingly dangerous business, pray for God's intervention and protection of all who pursue justice, righteousness, truth and life; may the Lord of Hosts go before them. (1 Timothy 2:1-4)

* bless the Christian leaders of Burma's ethnic nations with divine wisdom and insight, strength and grace, so their nations will know healing.

* intervene in the lives of multitudes of drug-dependent youths now in Chin, Kachin and Karen States, that they will know the healing power of our loving, forgiving, merciful Saviour.

SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN WHOLE ARTICLE
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GLOBAL DAY OF PRAYER FOR BURMA (Myanmar)

Sunday 13 March is Global Day of Prayer for Burma. The largest ethnic group is the Bamar (Burman) nation, comprising 60 percent of the population. The Bamar are Buddhist. However, 57 percent of the land of Burma is occupied by over 135 ethnic minority nations, mostly not Buddhist. The Chin and the Kachin are Christian nations and the Karen nation is up to 30 percent Christian. Today, 54 years after the March 1962 military coup, many repressive and unjust militarist policies remain woven into the fabric of the State and the Christian ethnic peoples are still marginalised and persecuted. Pray that God will intervene to empower and protect all who risk much to pursue justice, righteousness, truth and life. Please pray for Burma and its Christians.

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Elizabeth Kendal is the author of
Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today 
(Deror Books, Dec 2012).
This book offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat.

RLPB 346. China and Egypt: court rules designed to intimidate

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 346 | Wed 02 Mar 2016

CHINA AND EGYPT: COURT RULINGS DESIGNED TO INTIMIDATE
-- updating two critical trends in religious liberty

By Elizabeth Kendal

Pastor Bao Guohua and his wife, 
Xing Wenxiang

* CHINA: TIGHTENING THE REINS 

Pastor Bao Guohua of Holy Love Christian Church in Jinhua, central Zhejiang, was arrested in early August, along with his wife and son, after they publicly criticised the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) policy of demolishing crosses on churches in Zhejiang. In what has become an established pattern, they subsequently dismissed their lawyers. On 25 February the Wucheng District People's Court of Jinhua found Bao Guohua, his wife Xing Wenxiang and son Bao Chenxing guilty of offences pertaining to corruption, delivering harsh prison sentences of 14, 12 and 3 years respectively. Nine other essential church staff received sentences of varying lengths. The sentences come a week after authorities detained 16 pastors in and around Wenzhou city, Zhejiang, during confrontations with the authorities over the cross removal program. While some have since been released, at least eight remain in criminal detention without access to lawyers.

Christian attorney, Zhang Kai

Exactly six months after he was dragged out of a church in Wenzhou and 'disappeared' into secret detention, Christian attorney and defender of the cross Zhang Kai has appeared on Chinese state-run television 'confessing' to his 'crimes'. 'I really regret doing these things, I feel very remorseful,' Zhang said in the 25 February telecast. 'I also warn those so-called human rights lawyers to take me as a warning and not collude with foreigners, take money from foreign organisations or be engaged in activities that break the law or harm national security and interests.' Zhang's friends and colleagues expressed concern about his appearance, noting weight loss, lack of glasses, and signs of stress and 'physical exhaustion'. They do not doubt the 'confession' was coerced. The scene would have been very familiar to Chinese survivors of the Cultural Revolution. Zhang Kai is now being held in criminal detention on charges of 'disturbing public order' and 'endangering state secrets'.

TREND: The CCP is deeply anxious that the US might seek to exploit unrest or dissent in China to facilitate 'regime change' or a 'colour revolution' in Beijing to install a regime more amenable to US interests. Consequently President Xi Jinping is escalating his anti-corruption campaign, which actually is less about pursuing corruption than it is about purging dissent and consolidating power ahead of the 19th Party Congress in 2017. Xi is also establishing a personality cult around himself as 'the core' and is bringing all segments of society under his control. Criticism is not tolerated. Repression is escalating. The state is militarising and establishing deterrence. President Xi is tightening the reins.

* EGYPT: SACRIFICIAL LAMBS 

5-yrs jail for
'contempt of Islam'

On Thursday 25 February four teenage Coptic boys faced court charged with 'contempt of Islam' and 'inciting sectarian strife'. The boys had been filmed mocking the pseudo piety of Islamic State.  [See: RLPB 345 (23 Feb).] The court deemed the boys guilty, sentencing the three older boys to five years in prison and the youngest boy to an indefinite term in a youth detention facility. An appeal will be launched. Observers have commented on the dramatic escalation in blasphemy ('contempt of Islam') cases since the fall of the Mubarak government in late 2011. In this respect, the regime of General Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi is no better than the regime of the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi. Christians are not the only ones in the firing line. In January an Egyptian court sentenced Islamic scholar and theologian Islam al-Buhairi to a year in prison (reduced from 5 years) after he was deemed guilty of blasphemy / insulting Islam. Al-Buhairi's questioning of some sources of Islamic interpretation had enraged the academic elite at Cairo's Islamic Al-Azhar University. On 20 February a court sentenced Egyptian author Ahmed Naji to two years in prison on charges of 'public indecency' after receiving complaints about the sexual content of his latest novel.

TREND: The two primary power blocs that struggle for supremacy within Sunni Islam are the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and the Salafi/Wahhabi movement. Egypt's President Abdel-Fatteh al-Sisi (who seized power from the MB's Mohamed Morsi) leans towards Salafism and receives regime-sustaining financial aid from Wahhabist Saudi Arabia. A pragmatist, al-Sisi does not want war with Israel, which has earned him the wrath of the Muslim Brotherhood and of Islamic jihadists in the Sinai. To retain power, al-Sisi must crush -- or at least contain -- the MB and the jihadists who are working to destabilise Egypt. But the MB and jihadists have a lot of support. So before he can act al-Sisi must establish his Islamic credentials and earn the political capital which will be spent in the crackdowns. This is done through the pre-emptive appeasement of influential Islamic fundamentalists in the mosques, universities and courts. The fundamentalists will let al-Sisi kill jihadists and imprison Muslim Brotherhood members as long he lets them advance an Islamic order, something the conservative al-Sisi is more than pleased to do. Hence the dramatic rise in blasphemy cases over recent years. The law's victims are simply sacrificial lambs.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT GOD WILL

* grant China's church leaders divine wisdom and moral clarity as they negotiate an increasingly dangerous path. May the great and good Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ, lead them; may the ever-present Holy Spirit embolden them; may the eternal Father comfort, bless and sustain them. 'Be still, and know that I am God.' (Psalm 46:10a ESV)

* dwell powerfully with all China's pastors and Christian leaders now imprisoned for having criticised the repressive policies and unjust actions of the Chinese Communist Party. '[Nothing] will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.' (From Romans 8:39 ESV)

* grant Egypt's indigenous Copts, along with other Egyptian Christians, divine wisdom and sensibility as they navigate a hostile and increasingly dangerous environment. 'If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.' (James 1:5 ESV)

* intervene in the situation in Egypt, so that the harsh sentences handed to the four Coptic teenage boys will be overturned on appeal. May the Spirit of God draw the boys, their parents, their churches and indeed all Egypt's Christians deeper into prayer; may their prayers be heard and their suffering be redeemed -- may Egypt know healing. (Isaiah 19:22)


SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN WHOLE ARTICLE
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COURT RULINGS IN CHINA AND EGYPT SHAPED TO INTIMIDATE

CHINA: On 25 February a court sentenced Pastor Bao Guohua of Holy Love Christian Church in Jinhua, Zhejiang, to 14 years prison, his wife Xing Wenxiang to 12 years and their son Bao Chenxing to three years on charges about corruption. Nine church staff were also imprisoned. The family was arrested for protesting against the forced removal of crosses from churches. The same day Christian attorney Zhang Kai appeared on state television 'confessing' to his 'crimes'. EGYPT: On 25 February three  teenage Coptic boys received five-year jail sentences for 'contempt of Islam' by mocking the pseudo piety of Islamic State, and a younger teenage Coptic boy involved was sentenced to a youth detention facility. These harsh rulings are shaped to intimidate. Please pray for China and Egypt and their Churches.

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Elizabeth Kendal is the author of
Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today
(Deror Books, Dec 2012).

This book offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat.