Guest Posted March 16, 2003 Report Share Posted March 16, 2003 http://sg.news.yahoo.com/030228/1/38d0c.html Predominantly Buddhist Cambodia has barred Christian groups from proselytizing and disseminating religious propaganda in public, religious officials said. The move aims to head off potential religious conflict stirred up by what the government sees as overzealous preaching of the faith in Khmer communities. "All public proselytizing activities are prohibited," according to a directive released by the ministry of cults and religious affairs. "Christians are not allowed to proselytize (at) citizens' houses by knocking on doors or waiting for them, saying 'the Lord is coming,' which is an interruption of daily life or may intrude on privacy in the community," it added. Evangelical Christians and Muslims have vigorously promoted various brands of religion since Cambodia began emerging from its communist past more than a decade ago. "Some Christian groups are not good. They force people to believe in Christianity," undersecretary of state for cults and religious affairs Dok Narin told AFP, explaining that groups often went door-to-door pressuring people, mainly Buddhists, to join their sect. "These actions infringe on the rights of the Cambodian people," Dok Narin said. The clampdown, which reportedly began in January, has to date shown limited success, he added. A director of an international Christian organization working in the country said the decision would not affect many Christian charity operations. "I don't think it's a blow for groups operating under the guidelines of government ministries," said the director, who did not want to be identified. "Activities done in a manner which are respective of other groups would not challenge that directive." Last November the ministry supported Cambodian teachers' demands that the word "god" be struck from school text books, saying that putting the interests of god above all others was not a Buddhist principle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rovineye Posted March 16, 2003 Report Share Posted March 16, 2003 I wish my neighborhood would do the same! Keep the bible thumpers away from my door at 8 am on a Sunday. No, 24/7/365 is more like it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USVirgin Posted March 16, 2003 Report Share Posted March 16, 2003 Who says Cambodia is not a progressive country? Good for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rookie Posted March 17, 2003 Report Share Posted March 17, 2003 Hurray...now half of the do-nothing NGO's will have leave town. That's a positive step! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 17, 2003 Report Share Posted March 17, 2003 And about time too......I was recently in Indonesia where there is a fundamentalist christian channel beamed into the country 24/7. Some of the crap that these jerry falwell types were sprouting made me feel as if the Muslims were being given more reasons to hate foriegners. I hope that this ban extends throughout ASEAN before too long. Cheers Jaga Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 17, 2003 Report Share Posted March 17, 2003 I agree: good riddance. There is no proselytizing that is good proselytizing, whether it be Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, or what have you. Come to think about it...not many religions other than Christianity are big into proselytizing. You're either born a Jew or a Muslim or Hindu -- or you're not. One of Christianity's major flaws, in my view. Or, at least, one of the big flaws in the way Christianity is practiced by certain sects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adikgede Posted March 17, 2003 Report Share Posted March 17, 2003 Sadly it cuts both ways. There is a series of photagraphs in circulation that document the brutilisation, murder, and defilement of a young man. Christian pass around the photos as proof of Muslim brutality and Muslims pass around the photos claiming the villans are Christians one day and Communists the next. The Truth is that the boy was a student at Indonesian Christian University, and he was beaten to death by a group Ambonese who would also claim to be Christians. His fatal error was to pass a group from a rival university on his way to catch the bus. In addition to televangalists they also beam Fox News to Indonesia 24/7 who also should be identified for helping the cause of religious intolerance. The last time I tuned in ( a long time ago ) a group of "reporters" were covering the war on terror, and the one that looked like a college football has-been spouts out "The reason M. Omar is not out there on the front lines with his Muslim is because hes to busy having sex with his four wives." Genious, but at least you can turn the TV off. Try telling the Imam down the street from me to pipe down. He was indowed with a karaoke machine on steroids last year and during Ramadan he took it upon himself to make sure nobody missed thier prayers. "The time is now 3.15, ninety minutes until morning prayers, wake up wake up. The time is now 3.13 Western Indonesian Time, 88 minutes..." Some people in the nieghbourhood used the early rising as an execuse to hang out on the curb and play cards load music and get drunk when the oppurtunity arose. Half way through the month a number of people took up a collection and sent Si Imamn Brisik (The Noisy Preacher) on a religious retreat for the remainder of the month, and his novice carried the torch with with a heavenly softness of voice. for which he was rewarded an endless supply of cigerettes. Or maybe it was the cigerettes that kept the bark at bay? By the time Imam Brisik returned his beloved karaoke machine had been donated to a religious school in the country. Not one to wallow in misfortune Imam Brisik took to the drum. A hand drum, like an Irish Boron, can make quite a racket at three in the morning. ag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adikgede Posted March 17, 2003 Report Share Posted March 17, 2003 Come to think about it...not many religions other than Christianity are big into proselytizing. You're either born a Jew or a Muslim or Hindu -- or you're not. Actually Islam like Christianity is a portable religion or universal religion, meaning that you don't have to be born into the faith or belong to an ethnic group to practice it. ag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 17, 2003 Report Share Posted March 17, 2003 Perhaps, but I have never run into any Muslim evangelists or missionaries out there trying to convert lost souls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
check_bin_krap Posted March 17, 2003 Report Share Posted March 17, 2003 "Perhaps, but I have never run into any Muslim evangelists or missionaries out there trying to convert lost souls." ....................................................................... But be prepared to convert if you want to marry a muslim gal. The things people do for love.. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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