What Does MAGA have to do with Myanmar?
The Strange Partnership Between Buddhist and Christian Nationalists
Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) is ruled by a military dictatorship that has deliberately targeted ethno-religious minorities, including the Karen and Chin people groups, the majority of whom are Christian.
Many of the Chin in particular are Baptist and their churches have been bombed by the Myanmar airforce. Other acts of violence include rape, murder, unlawful arrest, burning villages, and deliberately displacing people. Part of the motivation for the persecution is historic ethnic rivalries but also Buddhist Nationalism which provides a religious impetus to attack religious minorities.
According to Christianity Today, largely following Myanmar Witness:
The Myanmar military has destroyed at least 107 religious buildings, including 67 churches, in Chin State since the military coup began nearly three years ago, according to the Chin Human Rights Organization. Elsewhere in the country, the destruction of houses of worship, including Buddhist temples and churches, is also growing. In mid-January, junta soldiers burned down a 129-year-old Catholic church in Sagaing Region.
Myanmar became increasingly democratic in 2010 climaxing in the installation of democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi as national leader in 2015. However, in 2020, the military rejected the result of an election as fraudulent and overthrew the civilian government, placing Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest. The Myanmar military was directly inspired by Trump’s election denial claims across 2020/21 for their own denial of the legitimacy of the Myanmar election!
To make matters even weirder, the influence between MAGA and Myanmar moves in both directions. Trump’s former National Security Advisor, Gen. Mike Flynn, declared that the USA should follow the example of the Myanmar Military and launch a coup to seize back power from Joe Biden.
Evidently, religious nationalists, whether Buddhist or Christian, can find violence and autocracy as something that unites them against democracy and basic human rights.
It goes to show that reading national news and global news is a good idea.
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