The repressive military government of Burma (Myanmar) is intent on eradicating Christianity, according to a document said to originate in the country's Ministry of Religious Affairs.

A shocking new report about a range of tactics used by the military regime in Burma to suppress Christianity is about to be released in London.

Called “Carrying the Cross: The military regime’s campaign of restriction, discrimination and persecution against Christians in Burma” it cites a document, allegedly from the Ministry of Religious Affairs, which has been widely circulated in Rangoon with the headline “Programme to destroy the Christian religion in Burma.”

It begins: “There shall be no home where the Christian religion is practiced.”
. . .
[T]he report claims that Burma’s regime is “shaped by a fascist mentality with echoes of Hitler and the Nazis,” found in the junta’s hostility towards ethnic and religious minorities. Citizens who do not conform to the regime’s version of Burman Buddhist nationalism – which, the report argues, is a “perverted and distorted form of Buddhism” – face “potentially serious consequences.” The regime’s tactics range “from churches in Rangoon finding it difficult to obtain permission to renovate their buildings, to pastors in Chin State being killed,” the report claims.

"Carrying the Cross" is set to be released at the British House of Commons on Tuesday, 23 January.  The report's foreword was written by Baroness Caroline Cox, who has entered Burma's border areas several times.

The Most Rev Samuel San Si Htay, Anglican Archbishop of Myanmar, was interviewed by mission agency Crosslinks while on a visit to the UK in 2004.  The interview contains much information on the challenges facing Myanmar's Christian minority.

As part of the 2007 Primates Prayer Meeting Prayer Campaign, Lent & Beyond has posted prayers for Abp Htay and the Anglican province of Myanmar.

h/t Lent & Beyond and Transfigurations

UPDATE (17 Jan.): The Sunday Telegraph carries a report on the secret document, along with more details of anti-Christian persecution in Myanmar.