Religion in Myanmar

Myanmar (Burma) is a multi-religious country. There is no official state religion, but the government shows extreme preference for Theravada Buddhism, the majority religion of the nation.[2] According to both the 2014 census of the Burmese government Buddhism is the dominant religion, of 88% of the population, practiced especially by the Bamar, Rakhine, Shan, Mon, Karen people and Chinese ethnic groups. Bamar people also practice the Burmese folk religion under the name of Buddhism. The new constitution provides for the freedom of religion; however, it also grants broad exceptions that allow the regime to restrict these rights at will.[2] Ethnic minorities practice Christianity (6.2%, particularly the Chin, Kachin and Karen people), Islam (4.3%, particularly the Rohingya, Malay, people from Yangon and other minorities), and Hinduism (0.5%, particularly by Burmese Indians).[1]

Religion in Myanmar (2014 Myanmar Census)[1][note 1]

  Buddhism (88%)

  Christianity (6.2%)

  Islam (4.2%)

  Hinduism (0.5%)

  Tribal religions (0.8%)

  Other (0.2%)

  No religion (0.1%)

Nat worship is common in Myanmar. Nats are named spirits and shrines can be seen around the country, either standing alone, or as part of Buddhist temples. Nat worship has a relationship with Myanmar Buddhism and there is a recognised pantheon of 37 nats.

Census statistics

Religious group	Population % 1973[1]	Population % 1983[1]	Population % 2014[1]
Buddhism	88.8%	89.4%	87.9%
Christianity	4.6%	4.9%	6.2%
Islam	3.9%	3.9%	4.3%
Hinduism	0.4%	0.5%	0.5%
Tribal religions	2.2%	1.2%	0.8%
Other religions	0.1%	0.1%	0.2%
Not religious	n/a	n/a	0.1%

• Note: the figures of Burma's Muslim population is divided into two. One that ignores the people who are believed to be not citizens of Burma and the other that includes them. Without these people in the demographics the Muslim population will only be as low as 2.3℅ of the whole population of Burma. Many minority religions claim that they have a greater following than the official statistics but they also tend to over-represent the number of adherents.

Buddhism

Further information: Buddhism in Myanmar

Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon - the most revered pagoda in Myanmar

The Payathonzu Temple is built in the Mon style.

Buddhism in Myanmar is predominantly of the Theravada tradition, practised by 88% of the country's population.[1][3][4] It is the most religious Buddhist country in terms of the proportion of monks in the population and proportion of income spent on religion.[5]

Adherents are most likely found among the dominant ethnic Bamar, Shan, Rakhine, Mon, Karen, and Chinese who are well integrated into Burmese society. Monks, collectively known as the Sangha, are venerated members of Burmese society. Among many ethnic groups in Myanmar, including the Bamar and Shan, Theravada Buddhism is practised in conjunction with nat worship, which involves the placation of spirits who can intercede in worldly affairs.

Buddhists, although clearly professed by the majority of people in Myanmar, have their complaints regarding religious freedom. A political party, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, split from the main Karen nationalist movement, the Karen National Union (KNU), after the Buddhists were denied to rebuild and repair the stupas at Manerplaw. The top leadership of the KNU were also dominated by Christians, although roughly 65% of the Karen are Buddhist.

Many monks took part in the 2007 Saffron Revolution and were reportedly arrested by government security forces. Some of the leading monks are still detained in various prisons across the country.[6]

Christianity

Further information: Christianity in Myanmar

St. Mary's Cathedral, Yangon

Christianity is practised by 6.2% of the population,[1][7] primarily among the Kachin, Chin and Karen people, and Eurasians because of missionary work in their respective areas.[8] About four-fifths of the country's Christians are Protestants, in particular Baptists of the Myanmar Baptist Convention; Roman Catholics make up the remainder.

Christians were the fastest growing religious group in Burma for the last 3 decades, still even though that growth gap have narrowed close to the general population they still are the fastest growing religious group.

Hinduism

Further information: Hinduism in Myanmar

A Hindu procession in Yangon, Myanmar

Shri Kali Temple in Yangon

Hinduism is practised by 0.5% of the population.[1][9] Most Hindus in Myanmar are Burmese Indians.

Hinduism, along with Buddhism, arrived in Burma during ancient times. Both names of the country are rooted in Hinduism; Burma is the British colonial officials' phonetic equivalent for the first half of Brahma Desha the ancient name of the region.[10] Brahma is part of Hindu trinity, a deity with four heads. The name Myanmar is regional language[11] transliteration of Brahma, where b and m are interchangeable.[10]

Arakan (Rakhine) Yoma is a significant natural mountainous barrier between Burma and India, and the migration of Hinduism and Buddhism into Burma occurred slowly through Manipur and by South Asian seaborne traders. Hinduism greatly influenced the royal court of Burmese kings in pre-colonial times, as seen in the architecture of cities such as Bagan. Likewise, the Burmese language adopted many words from Sanskrit and Pali, many of which relate to religion. While ancient and medieval arrival of ideas and culture fusion transformed Burma over time, it is in 19th and 20th century that over a million Hindu workers were brought in by British colonial government to serve in plantations and mines. The British also felt that surrounding the European residential centre with Indian immigrants provided a buffer and a degree of security from tribal theft and raids. According to 1931 census, 55% of Rangoon's (Yangon) population were Indian migrants, mostly Hindus.[12] After independence from Britain, Burma Socialist Programme Party under Ne Win adopted xenophobic policies and expelled 300,000 Indian ethnic people (Hindus and Buddhists), along with 100,000 Chinese, from Burma between 1963 and 1967. The Indian policy of encouraging democratic protests in Burma increased persecution of Hindus, as well as led to Burmese retaliatory support of left-leaning rebel groups in northeastern states of India.[12] Since the 1990s, the opening of Burma and its greater economic engagement has led to general improvement in the acceptance of Hindus and other minority religions in Myanmar.

Aspects of Hinduism continue in Burma today, even in the majority Buddhist culture. For example, Thagyamin is worshipped whose origins are in the Hindu god Indra. Burmese literature has also been enriched by Hinduism, including the Burmese adaptation of the Ramayana, called Yama Zatdaw. Many Hindu gods are likewise worshipped by many Burmese people, such as Saraswati (known as Thuyathadi in Burmese), the goddess of knowledge, who is often worshipped before examinations; Shiva is called Paramizwa; Vishnu is called Withano, and others. Many of these ideas are part of thirty seven Nat or deities found in Burmese culture.[13]

In modern Myanmar, most Hindus are found in the urban centres of Yangon and Mandalay. Ancient Hindu temples are present in other parts of Burma, such as the 11th-century Nathlaung Kyaung Temple dedicated to Vishnu in Bagan.

Judaism

Although Burma's Jews once numbered in the thousands, there are currently only approximately twenty Jews in Yangon (Rangoon), where the country's only synagogue is located. Most Jews left Myanmar at the commencement of the Second World War, and most of the Jews who still remained in Myanmar after World War II ended in 1945 left the country after General Ne Win took it over in 1962.

Islam

Further information: Islam in Myanmar

Bengali Sunni Jameh Mosque in Yangon

Islam, mainly of the Sunni group, is practised by 4.3% of the population according to the government census.[1]

Burmese Muslim groups

• Muslims are spread across the country in small communities. The British Indian-descended Muslims live mainly in Yangon. See Burmese Indian Muslims.
• Rohingyas, a minority Muslim ethnic group in northern Rakhine State, Western Burma. The Rohingya population is mostly concentrated in five northern townships of Rakhine State: Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Rathedaung, Akyab, Sandway, Tongo, Shokepro, Rashong Island and Kyauktaw.
• Panthay, Burmese Chinese Muslims.
• Muslims of Malay ancestry in Kawthaung. People of Malay ancestry are locally called Pashu regardless of religion.
• Zerbadi Muslims are descendent community of intermarriages between foreign Muslim (South Asian and Middle Eastern) males and Burmese females.[14]
• Kamein

Rohingya conflict

Around 800,000 Muslim Rohingyas live in Burma with around 80% living in the Western state of Rakhine. The Government of Myanmar has been driving off the Rohingyas outside of their countries since then they have been fighting on and off since the 1940s to create an Muslim-free land in Western Burma.[15]

In the 1970s, uprisings appeared again during the period of the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. Recently, the aspiration of the government, according to various media reports, is to create northern part of Arakan an independent or autonomous state.[16][17]

According to the US State Department’s 2009 international religious freedom report, the country's non-Buddhist populations were underestimated in the census. Islamic scholars claim the country's Muslim population at around 6 to 10% of the total populace.[18] Muslims are divided amongst Indians, Indo-Burmese, Persians, Arabs, Panthays and the Chinese Hui people.

Persecution

Main articles: Persecution of Muslims in Myanmar and Freedom of religion in Myanmar

The Muslim population faces religious persecution in Myanmar. Since independence, successive governments (both democratic and military) did not grant the citizenship of the Muslim Rohingya of Northern Rakhine (Arakan) and forbid missionary activities. The Rohingyas have been forced to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh or to Muslim states. Their claim to citizenship has been marred by disputes with the ethnic Arakanese, who are mainly Buddhists.

See also

• Burmese folk religion
• Religion in Thailand

Notes

1. Based on the estimated overall population, including both the enumerated and non-enumerated population (51,486,253), and on the assumption that the non-enumerated population in Rakhine State affiliate with the Islamic faith.

References

1. Department of Population Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population MYANMAR (July 2016). The 2014 Myanmar Population and Housing Census Census Report Volume 2-C. Department of Population Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population MYANMAR. pp. 12–15.
2. "2008 Human Rights Report: Burma". State.gov. 25 February 2009. Archived from the original on 26 February 2009. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
3. "The World Factbook". Cia.gov. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
4. "Burma—International Religious Freedom Report 2009". U.S. Department of State. 26 October 2009. Archived from the original on 30 November 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
5. Cone & Gombrich, Perfect Generosity of Prince Vessantara, Oxford University Press, 1977, page xxii
6. "Burma—International Religious Freedom Report 2009". U.S. Department of State. 26 October 2009. Archived from the original on 30 November 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
7. "The World Factbook". Cia.gov. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
8. Mang, Pum Za (August 2016). "Buddhist Nationalism and Burmese Christianity". Studies in World Christianity. 22 (2): 148–167. doi:10.3366/swc.2016.0147. ISSN 1354-9901.
9. "Table: Religious Composition by Country, in Numbers | Pew Research Center". Pewforum.org. 18 December 2012. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
10. Toʻ Cinʻ Khu, Elementary Hand-book of the Burmese Language, p. 4, at Google Books, pp. iv-v
11. in both Talaing and Burmese languages; Prome is similarly derived from Brohm or Brahma.
12. Donald M. Seekins (2006), Historical Dictionary of Burma, ISBN 978-0810854765, pp. 216-220
13. Thant Myint-U (2001), The Making of Modern Burma, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521799140, pp. 27-47
14. Islam in South-East Asia. Retrieved 29 May 2015 – via Google Books.
15. "Myanmar, Bangladesh leaders 'to discuss Rohingya'". Agence France-Presse. 29 June 2012.
16. "টার্গেট আরাকান ও বাংলাদেশের কয়েকটি জেলা স্বাধীন রাষ্ট্রের স্বপ্ন জঙ্গিদের (Some Arakan and Bangladeshi militants target of Independent State)". Dainik Purbokone Bangladesh. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
17. "নতুন রাষ্ট্র গঠনে মিয়ানমারের ১১ টি বিচ্ছিন্নতাবাদী গ্রুপ সংগঠিত হচ্ছে (11 secessionist group is organizing to create a new state in Burma)". The Editor, Bangladesh. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
18. "Burma—International Religious Freedom Report 2009". U.S. Department of State. 26 October 2009. Archived from the original on 30 November 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2009.