Christians in the country of Bhutan are facing a much escalated level of opposition and persecution, according to a report to the Baptist World Alliance from D. Kitbok Ryntathiang, director of the Christian Academy, Shillong, in northeast India.
Bhutan is a small country of more that 2 million people in Himalayan mountain region bordered by Tibet and India.
According to Ryntathiang’s report, 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 interrogated a number of pastors and threatened them with imprisonment, demanding that the churches stop their witnessing. Authorities have even closed down churches, especially those that rent their facilities from Buddhist landowners, Ryntathiang reported.
Seventy-five percent of Bhutan’s population are Tibetan Buddhists 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. (BP)
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