INEB: Don’t allow religious and ethnic lines to worsen

Home Issues

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Isolation between races and cultures will lead to mistrust and fear as groups grow more separate, warns an international Buddhist group.

The chairman of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB), Dr Harsha Kumara Navaratne, from Sri Lanka, said isolation would happen if a country allowed religious and ethnic lines to worsen.

“The people in Sri Lanka live in separate areas, attend separate schools and speak separate languages. This isolation contributes to mistrust and fear,” he said, adding that other groups become abstract and were easily stereotyped.

Dr Harsha was speaking at the International Buddhist-Muslim Forum on Peace and Sustainability which was held at the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (Ikim) on Friday.

The other speakers included Ikim director-general Datuk Nik Musta­pha Nik Hassan and International Movement for a Just World (JUST) secretary-general Anas Zubedy.

“If Buddhist and Muslim communities can overcome the challenges that confront them, there is tremendous potential for the growth and development of ideas and values that may help to transform the region,” said Dr Harsha.

More than 200 people attended the forum held to promote Buddhist and Muslim relations in the region.

Ikim deputy director-general Prof Datin Dr Azizan Baharuddin, JUST president Dr Chandra Muzzafar, INEB founder Ajarn Sulak Sivaraksa and INEB advisory committee’s Rev Alan Senauke, who were also at the forum, discussed moderate ways of addressing social issues between the two religions.

Dr Chandra noted that in the South-East Asian region, Muslims and Buddhists made up 40% and 42% of the population, respectively.

“If we allow violence to erode relations between followers of the faiths, it could destabilise peace in the region. Thus, we must come together to maintain relations,” he said.

The INEB conference has been held every two years since its inaugural gathering in Bangkok in 1989.

The conference has since been hosted in countries such as India, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Taiwan.

This year’s conference also discussed the Buddhist and Muslim tensions that occurred in certain countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

View the original article here

INEB: Don’t allow religious and ethnic lines to worsen

Home Issues

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Isolation between races and cultures will lead to mistrust and fear as groups grow more separate, warns an international Buddhist group.

The chairman of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB), Dr Harsha Kumara Navaratne, from Sri Lanka, said isolation would happen if a country allowed religious and ethnic lines to worsen.

“The people in Sri Lanka live in separate areas, attend separate schools and speak separate languages. This isolation contributes to mistrust and fear,” he said, adding that other groups become abstract and were easily stereotyped.

Dr Harsha was speaking at the International Buddhist-Muslim Forum on Peace and Sustainability which was held at the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (Ikim) on Friday.

The other speakers included Ikim director-general Datuk Nik Musta­pha Nik Hassan and International Movement for a Just World (JUST) secretary-general Anas Zubedy.

“If Buddhist and Muslim communities can overcome the challenges that confront them, there is tremendous potential for the growth and development of ideas and values that may help to transform the region,” said Dr Harsha.

More than 200 people attended the forum held to promote Buddhist and Muslim relations in the region.

Ikim deputy director-general Prof Datin Dr Azizan Baharuddin, JUST president Dr Chandra Muzzafar, INEB founder Ajarn Sulak Sivaraksa and INEB advisory committee’s Rev Alan Senauke, who were also at the forum, discussed moderate ways of addressing social issues between the two religions.

Dr Chandra noted that in the South-East Asian region, Muslims and Buddhists made up 40% and 42% of the population, respectively.

“If we allow violence to erode relations between followers of the faiths, it could destabilise peace in the region. Thus, we must come together to maintain relations,” he said.

The INEB conference has been held every two years since its inaugural gathering in Bangkok in 1989.

The conference has since been hosted in countries such as India, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Taiwan.

This year’s conference also discussed the Buddhist and Muslim tensions that occurred in certain countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

View the original article here

Remain vigilant against religious bigots: President

Home Asia Pacific South Asia Blangladesh

Dhaka, Bangladesh -- President M Abdul Hamid Advocate on Thursday urged all to be vigilant against the reactionary bigots with a view to maintaining traditional communal harmony in the country at any cost, reports UNB.

"A reactionary quarter of bigots is active with ill motive to misguide the people of the country in the name of religion. Ordinary people never accept the heinous activities easily. All of us will have to remain vigilant against the quarter," he told journalists at a reception programme at Bangabhaban.

The President and his wife Rashida Khanom hosted the reception for the members of the Buddhist Community on the occasion of Buddha Purnima, the biggest religious festival of the community.

The President and his wife welcomed the guests and exchanged greetings with them.

President Abdul Hamid said: "Bangladesh is a country of communal harmony. The country came into being with the spirit of building a non-communal society free from oppression? for that secularism was identified as one of the main principles in the constitution of 1972."

He said: "We've to keep in mind that people of the country are pious, but not bigots."

The President mentioned that secularism does not mean non-religiousness. Secularism means to work for national development through pursuing respective religion.

The time has come to work for building Bangladesh as non-communal country as dreamt by father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, he said.

"The state and festival are for all irrespective of religion. All of us-Hindu-Muslim-Bouddha-Christian-are Bangalis. Our today's pledge will be to advance the country towards development and prosperity with the joint efforts of all."

Abdul Hamid noted that from time immemorial, the Buddhist community has been contributing to the country's education, culture and socio-economic development. "Different archeological sites in different parts of the country bear the proof," he said.

Industries Minister Dilip Barua, State Minister for Religious Affairs M Shahjahan Miah, ambassadors and high commissioners of different countries including Myanmar, Bhutan, Vietnam, Thailand and Sri Lanka as well as representatives of various international organisations and professionals of Buddhist community attended the reception.

Secretaries to the President's office were present on the occasion.

BSS adds: Members of the Buddhist community here today celebrated their most sacred and largest festival Buddha Purnima in the city and elsewhere in the district with traditional enthusiasm and solemn devotion.

Buddhists celebrate the Purnima marking the three significant events, took place in the life of Lord Buddha- the birth, enlightenment and passing away.

Lord Buddha was born on the Full Moon day in 563 BC, attained supreme enlightenment and nirvana (the cycle of rebirth) on the same day.

The festival was celebrated in all monasteries and different Buddhist organizations with elaborate programmes.

The day's programmes were heralded with hoisting of the national and religious flags atop all monasteries in the dawn and chanting of the sacred verses from the Tripitaka.

The Buddhist devotees also offered fruits, flowers, candles etc to statues of Lord Buddha throughout the day.

Prayer meets, sermons on the life of Gautam Buddha, religious discourse, continuous recitation of Buddhist scriptures, group meditation, processions, worships of the statue of Buddha were the highlights of the day's programmes.

In the city, the main religious congregations were held at Nandankanan Buddhist temple, Katalganj Nabapandit Vihar, Purnachar International Buddhists Monasteries at Devpahar, Sarbajanina Buddha Vihar at Momin road and Biswamoitry Buddha Vihar at Agrabad.

The Buddhists in Chittagong organized a two-day programme ahead of Buddha Purnima. Deputy Commissioner of Chittagong Abdul Mannan will inaugurate a religious procession at Nandankanan Buddhist Monastery at 8 am Friday.

To mark the day, local dailies also brought out special articles while Bangladesh Betar and Bangladesh Television, Chittagong centres aired special programmes highlighting importance of the festival.

To mark the occasion, special issues of a good number of periodicals of the community like Amitabh, Sombodhi, Krishti, and Arya were brought out.

View the original article here

Religious sensitivities no excuse for violence in Muslim world

Home Opinion

Ramu, Bangladesh -- Religious sensitivities cannot be used to justify violent attacks. A perceived insult against one’s faith is simply not an excuse for breaking the law. And it is not an excuse to persecute people with different religious beliefs.

The looting and destruction of Buddhist temples and monasteries in Bangladesh by thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims is the latest example of this dangerous and warped way of thinking.

The mob’s rationale: they were angry about a photo of a burned Koran allegedly posted on Facebook by a Buddhist boy. While these protesters demand respect for their religion, where is their respect for the religion of others?

The Buddhist minority in Bangladesh, a country of 150 million, has traditionally coexisted peacefully within the majority Muslim society; however, there are now fears of further sectarian violence. For its part, the government blamed the attack on Islamists, as well as on Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.

But the incident is not an isolated one; it comes on the heels of last month’s protests in Muslim countries over the offensive depiction of the Prophet Mohammed in a low-budget film produced by an Egyptian Copt living in the U.S.

This pattern of intolerance is alarming, and should concern religious leaders, as much as governments, because the violence is being committed in the name of Islam, and subverts what the religion actually stands for. Of course, minority religions across vast swaths of the world are subject to attacks, but religious minorities in the Muslim world, including Baha’is, Ahmadis, Zoroastrians and others, are particularly vulnerable because of the failure in many countries to guarantee freedom of religion, as well as the rise of Islamist governments in the wake of the Arab spring.

In Egypt, Christian Copts are concerned about the erosion of their religious rights. In Pakistan, the country’s blasphemy laws were recently used to arrest a Christian girl with mental disabilities who was accused of desecrating the pages of the Koran. A furious mob demanded she be punished. Last year, the country’s national Minister for Minorities – a Christian and a critic of the blasphemy law – was shot dead, In Nigeria, churches in the North have been destroyed by Boko Haram, the militant group trying to establish an Islamic state.

These acts of persecution against should be condemned. Entire communities should not have live in terror that a perceived insult of one’s faith will prompt indefensible acts of aggression.

View the original article here

Gender discrimination in religious practice

Home Asia Pacific South Asia Bhutan

Timphu, Bhutan -- Gender inequality took over to blend with spirituality in the second session of the Mountain Echoes festival, which began yesterday at the Tarayana Centre in Thimphu.

<< Writing the spirit: Swati Chopra, Kunzang Choden and Dr Tashi Zangmo

Three women speakers constantly argued and discussed that women have equal spirit to attain the level of spirituality as men, while they referred to religious traditions that underestimated the spirits of women.

The conversation revolved around Buddhist traditions where, at one point, Swati Chopra, who writes on spirituality and its relevance to modern lives, explained the Madhyamika ideology and the middle path teaching, associated with change and impermanence.

According to her, the irrational system that became a tradition blocks change, where women are deprived from certain spiritual teachings, even in Buddhism.

“Change has to be enlightened change, not just jettisoning tradition in entirety, but certain aspects of tradition should be questioned, which unfortunately in India there is less tolerance of questioning tradition,” she said.

The oral tradition of Buddhism, which says that to achieve nirvana one has to be born as man is ‘irrational’, Swati Chopra said. “If there is no gender in enlightenment or nirvana, according to Madhyamika teaching, why do we have to be born as man to achieve enlightenment?” she questioned. “In enlightenment, you can’t be even Buddhist.”

Well-known Bhutanese author, Kunzang Choden, said that, while there are beliefs being implanted that a woman would take nine generations to achieve nirvana, there are no such written references so far noticeable.

“Three years ago, a woman asked Jamyang Khyentse rinpoche, if a reference can be found that says so, and rinpoche said he couldn’t find it anywhere,” Kunzang Choden said.

She said the protagonist in her book, The Circle of Karma, is also looking for her spirit, and believes she will find this through literacy.  She receives basic teaching from a spiritual master, shaves her head, and wears the robes, but realises that appearance is not everything, and that spirit and appearance don’t go together.

“You can’t just trash tradition, we have to segregate it,” Kunzang Choden said, referring to patriarchal society. “With education, empowerment, opportunities, you begin to question things.”

When a male from among the audience asked how men are responding to empowerment of women efforts, Swati Chopra said, “They dig in their heels, and use tradition as a reason, but women also don’t support women, as a result of internalising tradition; but right now there is nothing to worry about, the wave is still being built.”

“Nunneries follow the same curriculum as the monk body, but smaller nunneries don’t have any set curriculum, but very ritualistic kind of practices, no qualified teachers, no proper classrooms,” explained Dr Tashi Zangmo, director of Bhutan nuns foundation.

“Households prefer male monks for pujas, while they invite nuns only when there are prayers that include fasting,” she said.

View the original article here

Khmer Krom: Vietnam’s Record On Religious Freedom Denounced

Home Issues

Washington D.C., USA -- The US Commission on International Religious Freedom published a report on the situation of religious rights in Vietnam and slammed the State for its countless instances of violations.

<< Khmer-krom Buddhist monks in street demonstration (Civic Center, San Francisco)

Below is an article published by IBIB:

In its Annual Report for 2012 unveiled in Washington D.C. this week, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has named Vietnam as one of the world’s worst religious freedom violators along with Burma, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Iraq, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan,Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and recommended that these countries be designated as “Countries of Particular Concern” (CPC) by the US administration for “systematic, ongoing and egregious violations” of religious freedom.

The USCIRF, a federal government commission that monitors global religious freedom, was created under the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act to provide independent policy recommendations to the US President, Secretary of State, and Congress. Each year since 2001, the USCIRF has urged the US to place Vietnam on the CPC list. Vietnam was designated CPC by the State Department in 2004 and 2005, but removed in 2006 prior to the visit of President Bush to Vietnam for the APEC summit conference. Under the 1998 Act, the U.S. may impose a series of measures, including economic sanctions, on countries blacklisted as CPCs.

In its 21-page chapter on Vietnam, the USCIRF reported that “the government of Vietnam continues to control all religious communities, restrict and penalize independent religious practice severely, and repress individuals and groups viewed as challenging its authority”. It noted “marked increases in arrests, detentions, and harassment of groups and individuals viewed as hostile to the Communist Party” over the past four years, and an overall climate of religious repression in which “individuals continue to be imprisoned or detained for reasons related to their religious activity or religious freedom advocacy; independent religious activity remains illegal; legal protections for government-approved religious organizations are both vague and subject to arbitrary or discriminatory interpretations based on political factors.”

The USCIRF also observed that “the U.S.-Vietnamese relationship has grown quickly in recent years, but it has not led to needed improvements in religious freedom and related human rights in Vietnam.” The report urged the US government to use the CPC designation to press for “measurable improvements”, and adopt programmes to “protect and support those in Vietnam peacefully seeking greater freedom and the rule of law”.

The report detailed widespread abuses against the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), “Vietnam‘s largest religious organization with a history of peaceful social activism and moral reform”, noting that the UBCV had “faced decades of harassment and repression for seeking independent status and for appealing to the government to respect religious freedom and related human rights”. It deplored the detention of UBCV Patriarch Thich Quang Do and other senior monks, restrictions on humanitarian activities of UBCV Provincial Committees and the UBCV Buddhist Youth Movement, and harassment of UBCV followers.

Mr. Vo Van Ai, Director of the International Buddhist Information Bureauand international spokesman of the Unified Buddhist Church in Vietnam(UBCV) welcomed the USCIRF’s report, commenting that it reflected the reality endured by UBCV followers and members of all other religious confessions in Vietnam. “Having failed to eradicate religion by force, Vietnam is increasing controls on religious activities and reducing religion to the practice of quasi-superstitious rites”, he said. “The recent nomination of Major-general Pham Dung, a high-ranking Public Security official as the Head of the Government Religious Board shows how Hanoi intends to pursue its religious policies in Vietnam”.

Mr. Ai stressed that UBCV members all over the country routinely suffer harassments and abuses in all aspects of their lives. Earlier this month, UBCV monk Thich Thien Phuc was intercepted by Police and subjected to interrogations and harassments as he attempted to visit Venerable Thich Thanh Quang at the Giac Minh Pagoda in Danang. The Giac Minh Pagoda, which is also the headquarters of the UBCV’s Buddhist Youth Movement and the UBCV Provincial Committee for Quang Nam-Danang, has been the target of systematic Police surveillance in recent years. Police prohibit the celebration of Buddhist festivals such as Vesak and Vu Lan at the Pagoda, and intercept all Buddhists who try to attend.

In Dong Nai province, UBCV monk Thich Vien Duc, Superior monk at the Buu Duc Meditation Centre has been repeatedly interrogated and harassed. In Quang Tri, UBCV monk Thich Tu Giao has been intercepted and threatened by Police, who broke into his Pagoda during the monks’ summer retreat and assaulted several Buddhists. In Hue, senior UBCV official Thich Thien Hanh reports routine Police harassments and intimidation at many UBCV Pagodas, including the Kim Quang Pagoda of which he is Superior monk, and at the Mai Vinh Buddhist Centre, which has been confiscated by the authorities.

Mr. Ai noted that religious freedom violations, notably against the UBCV, are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Instead of imprisoning UBCV leaders or staging well-publicized public crackdowns, the government’s policy is to quietly isolate UBCV leaders by maintaining them under de facto house arrest, threaten and intimidate Buddhist followers to prevent them attending UBCV Pagodas, and prevent UBCV Pagodas celebrating major Buddhist festivals, thus cutting off all contacts between the UBCV leadership and their followers.

This is exactly the strategy devised by the Communist Party in 1981 when it set up the State-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church (VBC) to supplant the UBCV. The architect of this policy, former high-ranking religious cadre Do Trung Hieu, described this policy in “Buddhist Unification”, a document circulated underground in 1994, which led to his arrest and subsequent imprisonment.

According to Do Trung Hieu, the Communist Party’s aim was to “transform Vietnamese Buddhism into a people’s association. Its structure should be inferior to that of an ordinary association, restricted exclusively to monks and nuns without any participation of lay-followers - a top-level structure without any popular structural base”.

The activities of the State-sponsored VBC, he said “should be confined exclusively to the celebration of religious ceremonies and worship in Pagodas. It must on no account be allowed any activities related to society or to the people... Thus, the mass following of Buddhist laity will never be allowed to structure its forces into organic units of the Church.”

View the original article here

Myanmar to hold grand religious function to mark 2600th anniversary Shwedagon Pagoda

Home Asia Pacific South East Asia Myanmar

YANGON, Myanmar -- Myanmar is making preparation to hold grand religious function to mark the 2600th anniversary of the world's famous Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, the official daily New Light of Myanmar reported Monday.

<< Shwedagon pagoda

Renovation work on the Shwedagon pagoda is underway for the event falling on a full-moon day of Myanmar calendar in March 2012 under the supervision of the Yangon region government.

Newly tiling of prayer halls and shrines for convenience of pilgrims, installing of elevators at museum, repository of Buddhist scriptures and archives of the pagoda, building separate staircase to Buddha's Life Museum with landscape gardening, modernized display of life of Buddha at the museum are being done, the report said.

Colorful illumination during the anniversary Buddhist function, offering Lord Buddha with 84,000 pieces of blooming flower and construction of two gateways of grandeur to the pagoda are also underway, the report added.

The Shwedagon Pagoda, enshrining four Buddha hair relics, was built by King Okkalapa and two-brother merchants in B.C. 588, the year when Lord Buddha gained enlightenment.

Over the past 2600 years, the height of pagoda increased from 20 meters to 99 meter through repeated renovations in different dynasties and eras.

Shwedagon Pagoda, a symbol of Myanmar, traditionally remained famous to the world.

View the original article here

Tibetan religious heads meet to ponder over Dalai Lama reincarnation

Dharamshala, Sep 22 (ANI): Chief monks from the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism met here today to discuss the future of their religion and reincarnation of their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

The heads of the four Buddhist sects Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya and Gelug, along with other senior Buddhist monks are also expected to discuss ways to improve Buddhist teaching to make them more relevant to the changing times during the three-day conference.

"The basic agenda is usual how to improve and disseminate the Buddhist teaching but it may also discuss about reincarnation issue," said Samdhong Rinpoche, former Tibetan PM in-exile.

Senior monks from Tibetan settlements across India and neighbouring countries of Nepal and Bhutan have come to participate in the three day conference.

"The lamas are mainly from Tibetan settlements. We also have lamas coming from Nepal, Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh and other corners of Tibetan settlements and the purpose is just to hold the 11th Buddhist religious conference which is normally held after almost every two to three years," said DN Cheodak, Secretary of religion and culture department of Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). (ANI)

View the original article here

Fight for religious rights but reject extremism, Anwar says

By Melissa Chi

PETALING JAYA, June 7 — Defend religious rights protected under the Constitution but stay away from extremism, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim told religious leaders last night.

The Pakatan Rakyat (PR) de facto chief met leaders of the inter-faith group Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism, and Taoism (MCCBCHST) at The Club here, yesterday to discuss current issues.

“To the Muslim representatives and representatives of the Buddhist religion, Christians, Hindus and others, we would like to reiterate our commitment to defend the principle of the supremacy of religious life enshrined in Article 3, under the Constitution.

“On that note, we also want to challenge the tendency of some to suggest extremism within their faiths without regard to the sensitivity of Muslims in this country,” he said in a statement after having a closed-door dialogue with them.

In addition to leaders from the non-Muslim faith council and the Opposition leader, PKR President Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as well as several other PKR leaders, and the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM) President Haris Ibrahim, attended the dialogue.

Anwar (picture) was tight-lipped about the agenda of the meeting before it started but had only said that it would be related to current issues and the narrow-thinking of some Malaysians.

“Islam is a religion which upholds the principles of justice, peace loving, respecting the rights of its followers and the rights of followers of other religions to practice their faith. The main principles of sharia, known as sharia ‘maqasid’ conclude that it is a priority to protect religion, life, lineage, ‘aqal’, property and dignity.

“So based on the accurate understanding of Islam, there needs to be a comprehensive appreciation of religion by Muslims to ensure a way of life with integrity. Muslims who want to fulfill the purpose of mercy and justice as it is, are often advisable to reject oppression, corruption and all forms of abuse. Thus it is not surprising that many of the Muslims are upset with the attitude of Umno leaders and the inconsistencies of its controlled media in appreciating the religion. What’s more corruption and abuse of power is still widespread,” he said.

Prior to the meeting, Anwar said he hoped to come up with an action plan following the meeting, but did not elaborate in his statement sent out later.

“More recently, some Umno leaders and the party-owned media tried to undermine the peacefulness between religions in Malaysia with a sharp racial rhetoric, the shallow and not based on Islamic principles of justice, as recommended.

“Their efforts solely want to frighten and scare the Muslims and create misunderstandings between us. We regret that rhetoric and propaganda by the UMNO leaders and the media had only hinder efforts from both of parties to fulfil the purpose of Li ta’arafu message, which is trying to understand the different beliefs and cultures,” he said.

Last month, several Muslim organisations lodged police reports after reading a front-page article in the Umno-owned daily titled: “Malaysia, negara Kristian? (Malaysia, a Christian country?).

The working committee on seeking an understanding on issues among adherents, under the Cabinet’s Special Committee to Promote Interreligious Understanding and Harmony, was among four subcommittees formed on December 2 last year.

It is jointly helmed by Datuk Mustapha Ma and Reverend Hermen Shastri, and it last met on March 17, though sources told The Malaysian Insider that there was no headway in talks on thorny issues as Muslim representatives had failed to turn up for the meeting.

View the original article here

South Korea's religious harmony put to the test

Home Asia Pacific North Asia S/N Korea News & Issues

SEOUL, South Korea --  Many South Koreans concerned about the country's increasing religious polarisation are haunted by a single image - their president on his knees.

<< President Lee Myung-bak and his wife Kim Yoon-ok say prayers kneeling down at a breakfast prayer meeting for the nation held at Coex Samsungdong, Gangnamku, Seoul, on Thursday, Mar 03, 2011

While attending a national prayer breakfast in March, Lee knelt to pray at the urging of Christian leaders.

Footage of the event shocked many in this pluralist country, where about half the population professes no particular faith and the remainder is split between Buddhists, Christians and homegrown creeds.

The main Buddhist Jogye Order called the scene "unforgiveable," and even right-leaning media outlets generally supportive of the conservative leader expressed reservations.

The Joongang Ilbo daily in an editorial urged Lee, a devout Protestant and an elder at Seoul's Somang Church, to keep his beliefs private and avoid provoking public ire.

"(The prayer breakfast) convinced people how dangerous the current situation really is," said Park Gwang-seo, head of the Korea Institute for Religious Freedom, a civic group that works to promote the separation of religion and state.

"We're at a peak as far as the relationship between politics and religion is concerned."

South Korea's constitution stipulates that there is no official religion and bars the country's leaders from elevating one faith above others, but analysts say Lee's outspoken religious beliefs and strong links with the Christian community have opened the administration to charges of bias.

"We have for the first time very high-level conflicts going on, particularly between the Christian community and the Buddhist community," said Hahm Sung Deuk, a professor of political economy at Korea University. "And most of these conflicts can be attributed to President Lee."

ACCUSATIONS OF BIAS

Buddhists, secularists and even some Christians have bristled at cases that they believe point to a rising Christian influence in the operations of government.

These include its failure to pass legislation supporting Islamic bond, or sukuk, issuances, which was strongly opposed by Christian groups, and a reduction in funding for a program that lodges tourists at Buddhist temples.

Many also believe Lee filled key government positions based on recommendations and advice from the Christian community, Hahm says.

Christian groups say they enjoy good relations with the administration, but deny having any direct influence.

"Some people might say the church and state are too friendly, but it's not favourable for the church to participate in politics," said Kim Woon-tei, executive secretary of the Christian Council of Korea (CCK), which claims to represent around 8 million people under 69 protestant denominations.

"We only give our opinions to the state, to show how Christians view politics and the political process."

The Council's opposition to sukuk laws was not based on religion but because the proposals "(did not serve) the well-being of the economy and Korean people," Kim said.

BUDDHISTS FEEL LEFT BEHIND

A sense they are being left behind has mobilised Buddhists, who are increasingly flexing their political muscle, observers say.

"Buddhists think Christians are getting too much support (from the government)... so are organising more clearly to express themselves through political action and as a political movement," said Yoon Yee-heum, an honorary professor of religious studies and Seoul National University.

In late 2010, the Jogye Order cut off relations with the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) over the temple funding row, barring its officials from attending official temple events even throughout the campaign period for April by-elections, when candidates frequently do the rounds of prominent temples and churches.

The dispute appeared to reach a resolution on June 7, when the head of the order announced that despite the government's "religious favouritism", it would normalise ties with the ruling party and endeavour to resolve any issues through "communication and an open approach."

ELECTIONS LOOM

The timing of the peace with the Jogye Order is fortuitous for the GNP as political parties move to galvanise support ahead of the presidential election next year. In an increasingly charged environment some fear religion could play a bigger role in the results.

Kim of the CCK says while the organisation does not officially endorse specific candidates or parties, its membership is largely conservative and some church leaders "may say they are favourable to certain politicians and candidates."

Park of the Korea Institute for Religious Freedom said: "Most priests speak about politics and many people are affected by their opinions."

Others believe the impact of religious groups on the vote will be minimal and that elections could even ease the tensions that have characterised the Lee administration.

"Voters don't care much about candidates' religion itself, but how it relates to their governing," said Korea University's Hahm.

Hahm said the figures generally tipped as presidential candidates, including apparent front-runner Park Geun-hye, are careful to be circumspect about their religious views. Park aides say she professes no specific faith.

"Because of the Lee experience, many candidates will be very careful about the religious issue or selecting people from a particular religious group," he said. "They know the majority of Koreans support the principle of separating religion and politics and will try to get as much support as possible across religious communities."

Yoon warns candidates who ignore the conflicts that have arisen in recent years and turn to religion to win support may further imperil the harmony that has so far characterised relations among Korea's different faiths.

"If politicians do not look at this change, no one knows where the situation will go," he said. "Politicians see religion as a voting matter, so they're ignoring it ... (it is) clearly rising as a social problem."

---------
Additional reporting by Seongbin Kang, Editing by Jonathan Thatcher and Sanjeev Miglani

View the original article here

Ship sets off on religious cruise to free suffering souls

Home Asia Pacific North Asia Taiwan

Taipei, Taiwan -- A luxury cruise ship departed from Keelung Harbor in northern Taiwan Wednesday on a three-day cruise around the island, with over 1,000 Buddhist monks and nuns on board.

They were all invited to jointly perform a religious ritual on board to free the souls of people who had died in accidents at sea, said Yen Hsiu-hua, chairperson of the Chinese Charity Sailing Foundation that planned the trip.

The monks and nuns will pray for the deceased to rest in peace and be reincarnated in a better world, she said.

They will be joined by 11 others from Japan, who will also pray for the victims in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, she added.

The foundation leased the Star Cruises ship at a cost of nearly NT$20 million (US$693,000) and spent other NT$10 million to cover the Buddhist masters' expenses during the voyage, according to Yen.

The ship will travel clockwise around the island and return to its departure point.

View the original article here