CAMBODIA Government Move To Restrain Aggressive Evangelization Does Not Alarm Catholics

Posted: 20th July 2007

PHNOM PENH (UCAN) -- Catholic Church personnel say a new government directive that bans house-to-house proselytizing and material inducement for conversion should not adversely affect the Church.

Some also say they agree with the directive the Ministry of Religions and Cults released July 13, which also regulates construction of worship places. The directive is widely seen as an effort to restrain certain Christian groups seen as evangelizing aggressively.

According to the decree, religious leaders and teachers can preach only within the compounds of their worship places. Door-to-door proselytizing "disturbs people's daily lives and the security of Cambodian society," it says.

It also prohibits the use of money or other material inducements to convert people. Furthermore, permission must be obtained from the authorities before building a place of worship. Another prohibition deals with the issue of forcing children to learn a foreign language.

The directive, which was signed June 26 by Religions and Cults Minister Khun Haing, covers all religions except Buddhism, the religion of about 95 percent of Cambodians. It says persons or religious groups that persist in actions against the directive will have their operating permits revoked and will be "educated" on the matter. If foreign missioners are involved, they can be deported or imprisoned.

Over the last few years, there have been reports of groups going from house to house trying to convert people to Christianity. These groups also start English classes for children, which many parents seek.

One Buddhist in Phnom Penh with whom UCA News spoke related her experience of having missioners knock on her door. "I told them I do not believe, but they tried to push me to read (the Bible) and pray," said Kong Leang, 56.

She recalled that last year angry Buddhists prevented the building of a church near a pagoda in Kandal province, about 10 kilometers south of Phnom Penh. She also recalled Buddhists protesting against a house church in Svay Rieng in 2003 and attempting to burn another in Pre Veng the following year. Both provinces lie southeast of the capital. Catholic Church sources confirmed a 2003 attack on a Protestant church in Svay Rieng.

Commenting on the new directive, Leang said, "It is right."

Monsigor Enrique Figaredo, apostolic prefect of Battambang, told UCA News the government directive does not affect the Catholic Church.

All Church activities outside church premises serve poor people and support children's education, and local government officials know this well, he explained. "We never push anybody to be a Catholic. Some of our Church social workers are not Catholics. We try very much to have good relations with other religions and work with them, especially our Buddhist brothers and sisters," the Spanish Jesuit missioner explained.

Dong Savong, a catechist, agrees with the government directive, because some Christian groups are "pushing too hard."

The Catholic Church respects other religions, he told UCA News. Recalling an interreligious meeting in 2005 in Phnom Penh, Savong said he told participants that to be a Catholic one has to study the Bible and Catholic teaching for three years. He said people have to take time before deciding whether to be baptized or not, and it is all right if they choose not to receive baptism.

Father Omer Giraldo, head of the Church communications ministry in Cambodia, also agrees with the government directive. The Catholic Church does not push people, and "we never have any problem with other religions," he commented. Even so, "every year we have about 150 new converts," the Colombian priest of the Yarumal institute for foreign missions told UCA News.

Yim Yu Davan, an official of the Ministry of Religions and Cults, told UCA News that similar directives were issued in 1999 and 2003.

Article Source: UCAN- CSC