Various church leaders in Hakha Town held a prayer meeting on June 16th to boycott the proposed Religious Conversion Law drafted by the Ministry of Religious Affairs. About 800 people attended the prayer meeting at Hakha’s Carson Hall, where Pastor Bawi Cung Lian said, “This draft can hinder the progress of Christianity. So we’re holding a prayer meeting to oppose the adoption of this law and change the mindset of concerned authorities and the President.”
The draft “Religious Conversion Law,” which was published in state-run media on May 27th, requires individuals to apply for permission to convert from one religion to another.
Many NGO’s also adamantly oppose the draft law on grounds that it infringes on human rights such as freedom of religion. On June 12th, the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) issued a statement saying that the draft law “grants township-level officials from various government departments [with] sweeping power” to determine if an applicant is exercising his/her own “free will” in deciding whether to convert to a different religion.
Under the draft Religious Conversion Law, those individuals found to be applying for conversion “with the intent of insulting or destroying a religion” can face up to two years’ imprisonment— a draconian punishment that can be used to deter people from converting from Burma’s majority Theravada Buddhist religion to a different faith.
A demonstration protesting the draft Religious Conversion Law was also held by members of the Chin Baptist Church in front of Myanmar’s embassy in Washington, DC on June 13th, and US-based Chin leaders sent a letter to Burmese President Thein Sein asking him to reject the proposed law and discourage any discussion of the law in Burma’s parliament.
