This month, we share reflections from ministry leaders supported by Harvest Bridge as they witness growing religious nationalism throughout South Asia and Myanmar.

Religious nationalism has resulted in increased persecution, violence, and restrictions on the freedom to practice and share their faith in a region that is already difficult for ministry.

“From time to time in the history of the nation state, there has been a kind of fusion of national identity with religious affiliation. Sometimes this is an innocent sort of identity. But sometimes it’s much more strident, particularly when it’s meant to exclude groups within society that are not part of the dominant religion. I think this is what we’ve been seeing in the last 30 years since I’ve been studying this phenomenon around the world. This really is a global phenomenon. There is now a new kind of movement to standardize the notion of nationalism and identify it with one particular culture. That can alienate a lot of people, and sometimes, sadly, in a very brutal way.”

—Mark Juergensmeyer, Professor of Sociology and Global Studies and Affiliate Professor of Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara (used with permission from the Council on Foreign Relations. Read the full interview here.)

“Our political situation is unstable—unstable government. One party never gets the majority. They have a crisis, a leadership crisis. Then what they do is simply raise the religious issue to get the Hindus or some other people—those who are very neutral in politics—just to make them aggressive. Then some people will come with Hindu ideology, [saying] ‘we should make Nepal as a Hindu nation’, and those who are in favor of Hinduism, they will support the government. So, this kind of play is going on … You know, if you raise a religious matter, you can divide the people … You know, actually people—Hindu, Christian, Muslim, all are living in harmony. You know, but some political parties—they are trying to play with the religious groups.” 

– Shalva* · Co-Country Leader in Nepal

“You can say the motivation for persecution is this: in India Christianity is considered as a foreign religion. The British ruled India for many years so Indians were slaves to them. So [Hindu] religious people are motivated by their religious leaders, and general people are motivated by politicians to persecute. You can say hatred for Jesus Christ—Even in the early church period religious leaders strongly prohibited preaching about the name of Jesus Christ. So in India also Jesus Christ is a foreign God for them. Fear of loss of power—in India Hinduism is the main religion. But people are touched by God’s love, by Good News healing, and they are converting.”

– Joshua* · Indian State Leader

“This is in the whole of South Asia now. There will be some who want to fight, to snatch your things, beat you, and the government can’t do anything because it’s the government itself. They did it. They help the people to do it. We are controlled. Muslims are targeted. Christians are targeted. It has become everyday, so much. So much hate speech.”

– Swapnil* · Missionary in India

“In the schools, they are forcing children to bow before the idol and drink water offered to the idol. Earlier our church children used to not go for Buddhist prayers, and the teachers would allow them, but now they are forcing the children to go. It is causing much distress and mental torture for the children.”

-Isaiah* · Pastor in Bhutan

“It is not hate of Jesus. No. To the core they don’t want to lose their identity of their culture which is interconnected with their religion. In terms of Bhutanese culture, it is very peculiar that their culture is their religion and their religion is their culture.” 

– Jagan* · Bhutan Country Leader

Even as the governments encourage division among the people, God is building bridges to encourage peace and reconciliation. “In this duration, we are safe only by our living Lord and Almighty. An extremist kept me in their knowledge—where and when we would go out for preaching. One day I went with a pastor to a village with our motorbike and they found it and came to attack, asking why we are preaching. They took this matter to a local parliament member, blaming us, saying that the people are being converted by these two Christian leaders. These men told this parliament member to administer punishment, otherwise they would kill us. That parliament member was my classmate, and still today he is my closest friend. So he told the people, ‘Elisha and this [other] pastor are my friends. So, if anything happened to these people, all the blame will be yours and you will be punished. So, give them the right that every religion has to collect converts.’”

– Elisha* · Pastor in Bangladesh

Join us in praying for all those who have been impacted by the spread of religious nationalism around the world. In the words of Swapnil in India, “The prayers of the saints avail much. May all communities live in peace, brotherhood and religious tolerance. Let the people search and find Jesus the prince of peace.”