ENGLISH DEYEA NEWS

by Mungpi | New Delhi (Mizzima) - Christians in Rangoon said they are being forced to avoid their churches and conduct services in make-shift places of worship at the homes of their members in rotation after authorities earlier this month made them sign pledges not to worship in their apartment churches.

A youth pastor of a local church in Rangoon's downtown Township of Pabedan said their church members are fasting and praying for the government and blessing the authorities to change their minds and to allow them back to conduct normal church services.

"We are praying to God that the authorities be blessed and have a change of mind to allow us again to worship normally," the youth pastor told Mizzima, in a voice that shook.

He said, it has been two weeks since they were forced out of their apartment church, and are forced to conduct Sunday worship services at the houses of their members.

"Authorities had warned us that they would seal our church if we are found worshipping there," the pastor said.

But the pastor and his church are not the only group that is forced to avoid their church. According to him, at least a hundred churches, mainly those located in apartments in downtown townships of Rangoon are affected.

On January 5, the Kyauktada Township Peace and Development Council summoned a meeting of pastors and elders of churches that are worshiped in apartments and brief them on the new order restricting worship in apartments and made them sign a five-page pledge.

According to the pledge, a copy of which is with Mizzima, both Christians and Muslims are prohibited from conducting worship services and religious teachings in residential apartments and also prohibits the use of those apartments as churches or as mosquess without the prior permission from the ministry of religious affairs.

The pledge also mentioned that constructing or building churches or mosques is prohibited without the prior permission of the Ministry of religious affairs.

The prohibition, however, did not include churches and mosque that have earlier been designated by the government.

But with authorities having stopped issuing permission for constructing or even buying plots of land for churches since the 1990s, church pastors said they are forced to rent apartment buildings and use them for places of worship.

"Even these apartments cannot be rented or bought in the name of the church. So we have to use private names to buy or rent them," a Church pastor said.

While a few churches including the Emanuel church in Kyauktada Township, U Naw Baptist church in Pabedan Township, Siyin Baptist Church in Pazundaung Township and a few Catholic Cathedrals remained in the name of religious properties, Burma's ruling junta has prohibited Christians from building new churches.

The prohibition of buying or constructing new church owned buildings largely forced many emerging churches, mainly the Pentecostal and Independent churches, to have their worship centers in apartment buildings.

The London-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a Christian non-governmental organization working on religious freedom and human rights in Burma, in its report in 2007 said they have received a document that reveals the Burmese junta's policy to wipe out the Christian population in Burma.

In its report, Carrying the Cross: The military regime's campaign of restriction, discrimination and persecution against Christians in Burma, the CSW said it received a 17 point document titled "Programme to Destroy the Christian religion in Burma".

The first point of the document, allegedly from an organisation affiliated to the Ministry of Religious Affairs, states - "There shall be no home where the Christian religion is practiced."

Benedict Rogers, East Asia Team Leader at CSW and author of Carrying the Cross told Mizzima that the recent prohibitions on Christian churches seems to be a continuation of the regime's campaign against the Christians.

"I think ultimately it is the regime's campaign against Christians and it is very serious," Roger said.

However, the recent warning, which also includes prohibitions on the Muslim community, reveals that Burma's military rulers dislike the idea of mass gatherings in locations they cannot constantly monitor, an observer in Rangoon said.

"They [the regime] want to make sure that every mass gathering [like churches] should be below their nose. And it is difficult for them to monitor in apartments," the observer said.

Rogers, however, said the regime is fairly hostile to religious minorities strictly towards Christians and Muslims.

"I think there is definitely strong religious component to it [the recent prohibitions] but equally the regime is nervous about people gathering . So that may well be part of it," Roger said.

While religious discriminations against Christians or Muslims are not uncommon in military-ruled Burma, the regime also proves its determination to use all kinds of suppression to sustaining their power when they brutally cracked down on Buddhist Monks in September 2007.

According opposition sources, the junta killed and arrested hundreds of Buddhist monks, for leading a peaceful protest. Buddhist monks, whom the military generals have often been seen worshipping, are not exceptional for the junta if it poses a threat to their power.