Subj: Bhutan For: World Evangelical Fellowship's Religious Liberty E-mail <>

Dear Friends,

Here is an update on the Buddhist country of Bhutan. A small, landlocked Himalayan kingdom wedged between Chinese Tibet and India, it is ruled by 45 year-old King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, and is essentially a Buddhist theocracy. Although there have been some liberal reforms in the last three years, Tibetan Buddhism is still the state religion, and all government workers must take an oath which affirms their allegiance to "one nation, one king and one religion." Bhutan's government shuns foreign influence to preserve its Buddhist culture, and tourism is limited to supervised group travel.

Bhutan is one of the last remaining strongholds of the fascinating culture of Tibetan Buddhism, but because of their devotion to Buddhism and desire to keep the nation ideologically pure, the government has opposed the few existing house churches and the evangelistic activity of Christians from Nepal and India. There are a small number of Christian converts from among the native Drukpa people, but they are closely monitored by the state security forces, as the following press release from the Baptist World Alliance attests.

Tens of thousands of people, most of them Hindus of Nepalese origin who had lived in Bhutan for years, were expelled or encouraged to leave the country in the early 1990s. Bhutan claimed they were migrants who had illegally settled in the country, but the expulsions were widely condemned by human rights groups.

-MA ____

BAPTIST WORLD ALLIANCE INFORMATION SERVICE

April 17, 2001

The Situation in Bhutan by Wendy Ryan

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BWA) - Christians in Bhutan are now facing some of the strongest opposition and persecution they have ever seen. This report to the Baptist World Alliance comes from D. Kitbok Ryntathiang, director of the Christian Academy, Shillong, North East India and sent by Bonny Resu, BWA regional director for Asia.

According to Ryntathiang, 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 brought many pastors for interrogation and threatened them with imprisonment. They are demanding that the churches stop their witnessing and are even closing down churches, especially those that rent their facilities from Buddhist landowners.

Bhutan, a small country of more than two million people, is located in the Himalayan mountain region and is bordered by Tibet and India. Seventy-five percent of the population is Tibetan Buddhist 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. The church fears other actions which we are unable to report but Baptist leaders in North East India ask us to pray urgently.

BWA General Secretary Denton Lotz has written to Ryntathiang and assured him of the prayers of the Baptist community.

___________________________ Baptist World Alliance 405 North Washington Street Falls Church, VA 22046, USA Tel: 1703 790 8980 Fax: 1703 790 5719

Wendy Ryan, Director Communications Division

Denton Lotz General Secretary

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