Global Baptist leaders condemn attack on Myanmar school

Leaders of the Baptist World Alliance and the Asia Pacific Baptist Federation condemned the shelling of Kachin Bible School by the Burmese military.

Elijah Brown, BWA general secretary and CEO, and Vesekhoyi Tetseo, general secretary of the Asia Pacific Baptist Federation, expressed their concern in a letter to leaders of the Myanmar Baptist Convention and the Kachin Baptist Convention.

International Christian Concern first reported  the Nov. 3 attack on the Kachin school in northern Myanmar by the military junta, known as the Tatmadaw.

Four young men in a dormitory were injured by shrapnel, but none of the injuries were life-threatening.

In the letter to Myanmar and Kachin Baptist leaders—dated Nov. 9 and released publicly Nov. 14—Brown and Tetseo express support for the families of the injured students and for Baptists in the region.

“We condemn the attack while we thank God that the students only suffered minor injuries,” they wrote. “The BWA and APBF families remain committed to religious freedom for all and lament with the many who remain impacted in Myanmar.”

‘Campaign of terror and violence’

The letter quotes a resolution the BWA general council approved at its July meeting in Birmingham, Ala., condemning the February 2021 military coup in Myanmar.

It particularly singled out the Tatmadaw for waging “a campaign of terror and violence, particularly against minority religions.”

The resolution called for “the establishment of a true democracy that respects the rights of religious and ethnic minorities,” and it pledged prayer for Christians ministering “in persecuted communities and among displaced persons.”

“We grieve for all who are suffering even as we note our special concern for those impacted by this bombing, call for the full restoration of the Kachin Bible School, urge the Tatmadaw to respect all churches, houses of worship and places of religious training, and pray for the establishment of true democracy and human rights for all,” the letter states.

The attack on the Kachin school occurred four days after shelling partially destroyed a Baptist church and hall in Momauk township, Kachin State.

Since the Tatmadaw staged a coup in February 2021, more than 2,400 people in Myanmar have been killed and at least 16,000 have been jailed by the junta, including many who have been tortured.