10%

Pressure on Myanmar converts matches worst country in world for persecution

Word Watch List 2022

By Open Doors

January 19^th, 2022

Myanmar climbs to No. 12

The World Watch List (WWL) by Open Doors is the annual ranking of countries where Christians face the most persecution. Afghanistan is number one for the first time – persecution has increased since the Taliban took control in August 2021.

To help create the list, data is collected to measure pressure on being a Christian in six areas; private life, family life, community life, national life and church life. A sixth area, violence, is also measured to assess whether Christians have been attacked, arrested, abducted, tortured, imprisoned or killed.

In Myanmar, because of a combination of rising violence and pressure, due in large part to the military coup which commenced in February 2021, the situation for Christians has got markedly worse. It is one of the highest risers in this years list, moving from position 18 in 2021, to 12th in the 2022 WWL.

Pressure on Myanmar converts matches worst country in world for persecution

Let's zoom out for a moment and consider Myanmar's position on the WWL over the past 5 years. You'll see in the following chart that, since 2018, when Myanmar was 28th on the WWL, it rose to 18th in 2019, moved to 19th in 2020, back to 18th in 2021 and then climbed to its current position in 2022, being the 12th most dangerous country in the world to live in as a Christian.

Pressure on Conversion

So why is the situation getting worse for Christians in Myanmar? One key development to consider happened 7 years ago. Since 2015, when new laws for the 'Protection of Race and Religion' were introduced, the 'Religious Conversion Law', has required citizens who wish to change their religion to obtain approval from the Registration Board for religious conversion and undergo an interview. During this period, the application is posted on community boards meant to put the convert under severe community pressure to retract their application. Because of this, conversion is usually done in secret. Converts also face pressure from their family and community and are sometimes disowned and expelled from the family home.

Digging into the data, beyond the country rankings, we can zoom in and focus on how persecution effects the 'private life' of Christians in areas of Myanmar, where pressure is exerted on those that have converted to Christianity from another religion. Question 1.1 of the WWL questionnaire asks, "Has conversion been opposed, forbidden or punishable?"

The data highlighted in the table below suggests that over the past five years converts in Myanmar have consistently faced pressure equivalent to that which is applied to converts in Afghanistan, both in terms of frequency and intensity.

While converts in both Myanmar and Afghanistan face intense pressure from within their communities to renounce their new faith, how this pressure is exerted can be very different. In Myanmar as already noted, the formal process to register and the resulting public "outing", encourages converts to remain silent, oftentimes moving to the cities to start new lives. In Afghanistan, if a conversion is discovered, new believers can be forced by their families to go to the Mosque, or reported to the Taliban - and in extreme cases will be killed if they remain committed to their new faith.

Amid intense strife, God is working mightily in Myanmar

We've looked at the statistics but what about the people behind the numbers? Open Doors' partnerships and in-country contacts provide us with unique insight and direct access to the story of the persecuted church inside Myanmar since the military coup erupted early last year.

“The situation is difficult to describe,” Brother Lwin, an Open Doors local partner, reports. “Wherever the military goes, they burn the houses, kill the pigs [which many families rely on for income], and occupy churches.”

Yet like so many situations where God’s people are pressed on every side (2 Cor. 4:8), faith continues to survive amidst the devastation. Our local partners report that increasing numbers of people are turning to Jesus for their hope. Watch as children worship at a recent Open Doors training.

In October 2021, the Tatmadaw (Burmese local army) started to send more troops to the predominantly Christian Chin State to ward off opposition fighters. The fighting left believers homeless, and church buildings ransacked, shelled and occupied. According to our field records, 30 church buildings have been attacked by the military since the coup began.

Lwin adds: “The fighting is intense in Christian areas in Falam Township in Chin State and Kachin State. It’s alarming because believers’ families there are forced to hide in the forest—migration in Chin State is happening in droves, and the towns have become completely empty. There is nowhere to hide but the jungle.”

Zew That, a believer in Chin State forced to flee to the jungle, told Open Doors: “Whenever we hear a loud voice, or gunshots, we are in fear.”

Pockets of opportunities

Despite the violence, God has been opening what our local partners describe as “pockets of opportunities,” to reach believers in Myanmar.

“We are able to implement training online, and we are able to go and visit the persecuted church and internally displaced people in the midst of unrest in the country,” Brother Lwin shares, adding that they are also able to reach refugees to provide relief.

As of September 2021, Open Doors local partners helped 17,135 believers in Myanmar, including emergency relief aid and discipleship support.

Women carrying bags of rice on their bicycles, received from local Open Doors partners.

Given the challenges of distribution, that number is even more remarkable. “We have to be careful with our relief work because, sometimes, a truck full of supplies for believers can be misconstrued as supplies being provided to rebel groups,” Brother Lwin explains. “We have to be careful, but we believe the Lord is in control.”

As well as the threat from the military there are also the practical and environmental challenges of delivering help to hard-to-access locations. Below we see Open Doors partners transporting aid, on their way to a remote tribal area. Trips to distribute aid, including food and medicine can take many hours, even days by motorbike, by foot, and sometimes involve wading through fast moving rivers.

During one of the distribution trips, our partners met Hayma Aye, who was forced to flee from her home in Chin State. She and her daughter have been living in the forest. Hayma shared with our team: “Praise the Lord for the food relief distribution. Me and my daughter have been able to sustain our lives so far. It’s been three months for us in the forest. You are our life savers.”

Brother Lwin says that even in the helplessness, “God is still bringing people unto Himself.” Even during these trying times our local partners share that more and more people are coming to realise the love of God and are growing stronger in their prayer life.

“Praise God! Even if there is helplessness, we are seeing a lot of people coming to Christ at this time."

“By partnering with local churches, we are reaching the unreached children, assuring salvation in their young age, strengthening their faith, building good character, and helping to develop a Christlike attitude in their lives."

Amidst the backdrop of intense strife and violence, God is working mightily!

A children's camp taking place in a remote location in Myanmar, facilitated by OD partners.

Never alone

In Myanmar, the registration period to notify ones desire to convert is lengthy and arduous, and during the process converts face tremendous pressure to retract their request to be registered as a Christian - which can include disownment and ostracisation from their family and local community. Some are even beaten and tortured, others have lost their family inheritance. Despite it being so difficult for converts, the Christian church is standing firm and his Kingdom is growing.

Most conversions, then, are done secretly, without undergoing the process of notification stipulated by law. Leaving their former faith, and by implication their local traditions and cultural practices, leaves new converts vulnerable and exposed.

Join with us to make sure they are:

Not Alone

Not Forgotten

Not ever.

Click here for more information on the 50 countries in which it's most difficult to be a Christian.

Footnotes

Button Label

FootNotes

Story Told With

Start publishing stories like this