Christian churches urge government to stop religious persecutions

Earlier this year six Christian churches in Yangon jointly urged Myanmar's military ruler, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) chairman Gen Than Shwe, to stop religious persecutions on Christians.

The action was prompted by the continuing intimidations of evangelical Christians in Yangon by local authorities. People were forced to pledge not to attend the church and Bible classes which were also threatened with closures.

“We told the low-level authorities about them, but there is no development,” a church member said “Therefore, we directly appealed to Gen Than Shwe for all the churches in Burma”.

He added that his church members are not involved in politics as they are only interested in freedom of worship. “It is not right for Myanmar for them (local authorities) to persecute, intimidate and extort money from us thus.”