Article

2014-05-31 Southeast Asia

Connecting the Dots on Buddhist Fundamentalism

The religion of peace fights back.
Buddhist fundamentalism seems to be fast spreading its tentacles in Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand, as newspapers report violent attacks on religious minorities and shrill demands to ban "blasphemy" against Buddhism.

In Thailand, the Buddhist-Muslim conflict has thus far been confined to the south, but it's not hard to foresee it expanding to other parts of the country if extremist Buddhist groups from Sri Lanka and Myanmar are allowed to influence local Buddhist groups.

The jihadist are just pissing everybody off; even the smiling fat man.
Nor can Cambodia be taken for granted. Prime Minister Hun Sen has on occasions portrayed the Cham Muslim minority as a possible threat to national and international security. This positioning could potentially be used as fodder to create tensions.

Islamist militants have been waging war against Shias, Ahmadis, Jews, Christians, and secular governments across the world, but now their list of "enemies" could well include Buddhists, as suggested by the recent bombings at the Ekayana Buddhist Centre in western Jakarta, Indonesia and in Bodh Gaya in Bihar, India.

Posted by Squinty 2014-05-31 11:26|| || Front Page|| [4 views ] Top

#1 Nor can Cambodia be taken for granted. Prime Minister Hun Sen has on occasions portrayed the Cham Muslim minority as a possible threat to national and international security. This positioning could potentially be used as fodder to create tensions.

Because when I think of reasoned discourse on the subject of religion, peace, and Buddhism, I think of "former" communist Khmer Rouge officer Hun Sen.

Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2014-05-31 12:54|| 2014-05-31 12:54|| Front Page Top

#2 I have mentioned the lack-of-context in other reporting attempts on Buddhist vs. Moslem conflicts in SE Asia before, and could again about the other countries, but the casual way they selected the subset-of-the-truth to report about in the Cambodian situation just about says it all.

Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2014-05-31 12:56|| 2014-05-31 12:56|| Front Page Top

#3 The watchword is "Morgenland erwache!"
Dozing Buddhas will shrug off their lacquer
And go on the offense
Until all their incense
Has been quenched in the Strait of Malacca!

Posted by Zenobia Floger6220 2014-05-31 16:40|| 2014-05-31 16:40|| Front Page Top

#4 Heck, just imagine if they talked about Christian violence in Russia under the administration of former seminarian Joseph Stalin.

Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2014-05-31 18:01|| 2014-05-31 18:01|| Front Page Top

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