Christian churches urge Burma junta to stop religious persecutions
Feb 20, 2006 (DVB) - Six Christian churches in Rangoon jointly urged Burma’s military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) chairman Gen Than Shwe, to stop religious persecutions on Christians, in a pleading letter dated 20 February.The action was prompted by the continuing intimidations of evangelical Christians at Rangoon Insein, Phawkkan, Shwepyitha and Hlaing Thaya areas by the local authorities. They 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 told DVB. "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 Burma for them (local authorities) to persecute, intimidate and extort money from us thus."
