Buddhist structure erected on Baptist church land

HPA-AN, MYANMAR — An influential Buddhist monk in southern Burma (also called Myanmar) has erected Buddhist structures in a Baptist church compound.

Ethnic Karen Christians in Hpa-An, capital of Karen state, have protested a Buddhist pagoda and a stupa, a structure containing Buddhist relics, since building began in August. Myaing Kyee Ngu Sayadaw, a revered Buddhist abbot and founder of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, led the building over the protests of the Christian community.

An ethnic Karen woman in Hpa-An, Nang Khin Htwe Myint, said, “It is completely inappropriate to build a Buddhist religious project on Christian land.”

The Karen Buddhist community reportedly did not support the monk’s controversial decision.

Local Christian leaders and representatives from the Myanmar Baptist Convention have called on the monk to halt the project without success and reported their concerns to Soe Win, Burma’s religious affairs minister, who pledged to resolve the dispute, but there has been no progress.  

A church leader said the congregation has not been able to worship there since the stupa was built, as the monks recite Buddhist verses over loudspeakers, according to The Irrawaddy, a news magazine run by Burmese exiles in Thailand.

(MS)