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A.C.N - Aid to the Church in Need Italian Office |
Religious Freedom in
the Majority Islamic Countries |
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Bangladesh Population:
125,340,000
Under the former secular type of regime there was freedom to profess, practise and preach any kind of religion. But from 1975 onwards the state has gradually taken on a denominational character of an Islamic stamp. Instances of intolerance are recurring today with some frequency and violence. The State of Bangladesh proclaimed Islam as the state religion in 1988, although it should be underlined that this decision was taken for a variety of reasons due more to internal politics than to strong popular pressure. Bengali Islam is the fruit of a long process of inculturation which has not eliminated the earlier cultural traditions - for example it contains many elements typical of Sufi mysticism, such as the practices of meditation and asceticism. There are also obvious elements probably derived from Hinduism, such as the veneration of statues similar to our Saints or the importance attributed to spiritual teachers. Although Bengali Islam is in fact more tolerant than elsewhere, and inter-religious dialogue here has met with some limited success, there are nonetheless forms of discrimination and acts of violence against Christians. Under the law, the adherents of other religions may not carry out "works of proselytism" among Muslims, but still more worrying is the growth of Islamic fundamentalism. On April 28 1998, a crowd - instigated by the Islamists - ransacked and partly burnt down the Catholic girls’ college of St Francis Xavier, the churches of Santa Croce and St Thomas in the capital, and the Baptist church in Sadarghat. Some priests, nuns and even ordinary workers have been threatened with death, according to reports in Human Rights Without Frontiers of May 28 1998 and by the Vatican news agency Fides of June 8 following. The reason for the conflict was a plot of land belonging to the Church which the adjacent mosque wanted for itself. Seven thousand people, incited via a loud-hailer with claims that the mosque had been invaded by Christians and Jews, broke into the St Francis Xavier College, burning books, smashing crucifixes and statues of Our Lady, breaking down doors, windows and ransacking the dormitories. Following the intervention by the nunciature, the internal ministry, the United States ambassador and the British High Commission, no further incidents have occurred. The College of St Francis Xavier, founded in 1912, has always been attended by female students who are in the vast majority Muslims. Currently the school has 1,950 pupils out of whom just 86 are Christians, 182 Hindus and the remaining 86 per cent Muslims. According to the "Report on Religious Freedom" written in July 1997 for the American government, the religious freedom guaranteed by the constitution of Bangladesh is in fact respected in practice, although there is strong social resistance to people converting from Islam. The official American report also notes instances of discrimination against the religious minorities in access to employment by the State. |
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