Re ecting on the Church’s Response to the Recent Military Coup

The principle of the separation of church and state relegates churches in Myanmar to remain active in resisting the military coup. Christian ministers and leaders are enormously careful to keep the boundary between church and state. This emphasis on the separation of church and state has hindered them from providing clear and decisive leadership to Christians who are desperate for guidance during the anti-military protests. Many pastors in ethnic states, such as Kachin, Karenni, and Chin, cooperated with their congregations individually in the frst two weeks of the protests. The commitment of individual pastors at the regional level could not mobilize all Christians to resist the coup at a national level efectively without the involvement of the entire body of churches in Myanmar. Although most Kachin, Karenni, and Chin pastors have insisted on remaining active in resisting the coup, other Christian ministers have become silent as time has passed. The failure of Christian ministers to give leadership amid social and political turmoil has had the efect of prolonging the military coup. Although the separation of church and state has overall had the efect of discouraging congregations, there is nevertheless a spirit of resistance that continues to grow fervently in the hearts of many Christians.

Christians in Myanmar have lived most of their lives under military rule. They have been living with fear, insecurity, and poverty since 1958. No law enforcement prevents the Tatmadaw from exploiting the people, violating human rights, and threatening their lives. Non-Buddhist Burmese ethnicities, such as Kachin, Karen, Karenni, and Chin, have experienced a double oppression. That is, those individuals who are both an ethnic minority and also Christians simultaneously face ethnic and religious oppression. Despite experiencing varied forms of oppression, however, the ethnic minority Christians have continued to resist the military rule in daily life.

James Scott, in Domination and the Arts of Resistance illustrates how oppressed people resist the suppression of rulers. Scott highlights two forms of resistance: public transcripts and hidden transcripts.33 According to Scott, public transcripts are acts of deference conducted by oppressed people superfcially in addressing oppressive rulers or superiors as a means of conforming to the established structure of domination to sustain themselves under the oppressive circumstances.34 In contrast, hidden transcripts describes the oppressed’s reciprocal actions or reactive behaviors, including gestures, speech, and practices at the back of oppressive rulers or superiors.35 The hidden transcripts are backstage, where the oppressed accumulate their sentiments and courage to break the wall of suppression. Scott says that the explosion of public defance and resistance fueled by the hidden transcripts is the buildup of bitter life experiences and collective conversations of oppressed men and women of diferent social locations.36 The hidden transcripts emerge on the surface of the public in diferent forms of resistance when charismatic persons trigger an explosion of anger and disappointment of the oppressed.

Similarly, the invisible defant attitudes of Christians against the military rule were transformed into visible forms of resistance. A peaceful protest was the frst form of resistance led by young generations. Esther Ze Naw, a Kachin Christian woman, was one of the prominent young leaders who took the initiative and led the frst anti-Tatmadaw protest on the

33 James C. Scott, Domination and the Arts of Resistance (New Heaven: Yale University, 1990), 17–45.

34 Ibid, 24–33.

35 Ibid, 27–44.

36 Ibid, 224–227.

150 | Hkun Ja front line.37 The nonviolent protests include peaceful rallies, the civil disobedience movement (CDM), and the boycotting of Tatmadaw products and commercial services. Numerous Christian youths, adults, and older people occupied many essential streets in Yangon, Mandalay, and Naypyidaw and protested thes Tatmadaw fve days after the coup began. The campaign of the CDM, which was organized by medical workers (including many Christians), increased the spirit of resistance and extended the protest across the country. The principal objective of the CDM is to solicit civil servants to stop working for the military junta. The CDM has convinced a large number of engineers, teachers, bankers, lawyers, railway workers, transport workers, and healthcare workers across the nation.38 The campaign successfully persuaded thousands of civil servants to quit their occupations,39 and approximately 1,500 soldiers defected from the Tatmadaw. 40 The CDM has signifcantly weakened the Tatmadaw’s capacity to govern the country. Many banks, government hospitals, schools, post ofces, and transportation services stopped functioning properly.41

37 Mi Mi Aye, “Esther Ze Naw Bamvo and Ei Thinzar Maung,” The New York Time, September 15, 2021, https://time.com/collection/100-most-infuentialpeople-2021/6095960/esther-ze-naw-bamvo-ei-thinzar-maung.

38 Tommy Walker, “How Myanmar’s Civil Disobedience Movement Is Pushing Back Against the Coup,” Voice of America, February 27, 2021, https://www.voanews. com/a/east-asia-pacifc_how-myanmars-civil-disobedience-movement-pushingback-against-coup/6202637.html.

39 New Mandala, “The Centrality of the Civil Disobedience Movement in Myanmar’s Post-Coup Era,” New Mandala, October 19, 2021, https://www. newmandala.org/the-centrality-of-the-civil-disobedience-movement-inmyanmars-post-coup-era.

40 Myanmar Now, “‘Around 1,500’ Soldiers Have Defected and Joined the Civil Disobedience Movement since Coup,” Myanmar Now, August 17, 2021, https:// www.myanmar-now.org/en/news/around-1500-soldiers-have-defected-andjoined-the-civil-disobedience-movement-since-coup.

41 Aye Min Than and Yan Aung, “How the CDM Can Win,” Frontier, March 4, 2021, https://www.frontiermyanmar.net/en/how-the-cdm-can-win.

Another type of protest is boycotting Tatmadaw-associated products, for which Christians have actively called. This boycott includes food, beverage, cosmetics, construction material, interior and exterior accessories, banks, health services, transportation, education services, telecommunication, media, entertainment, manufacturing, and tourism.42 The political activist, Way Way Nay has developed apps that enable the public to detect military-related companies easily.43 Way Nay listed 250 military-owned business frms in these apps, which were downloaded over 100,000 times within ten days.44 Protesters in the Kachin State also wore shirts which read, “Do not buy military-linked products.”45 The boycott later extended to persuading retailers and merchants to not sell Tatmadaw products and commercial services. The campaign has overall been very successful. Many private shops and restaurants in Yangon and Mandalay cities and Kachin and Karen States have put a notice in front of the shop declaring, “We do not sell to the military personnel and police.”46 It is the frst time in Myanmar history that Christians have publicly shamed the Tatmadaw.

The Tatmadaw’s violent oppression of unarmed civilians has pressured some Christians into an armed resistance. The Tatmadaw initially used police force to crack down on the protests. At the start of the protests, the police assaulted the crowds with water cannons, rubber bullets, and tear gas.47 The wearied police force was later reinforced by military personnel to break down the fervent protesters.48 In an efort to scare of the protesters, military personnel eventually began shooting the crowd. For instance, military personnel gunned down eightytwo unarmed protesters in Bago city alone on April 9.49 The increased attacks of the Tatmadaw have displaced thousands of people, causing massive destruction and fatalities in Sagaing, Magwi, Chin, Karen, Karenni, and Kachin regions. Some Christian youth began to conclude that armed resistance is required to protect civilians from the brutal repressive reaction of the Tatmadaw. Christians who promoted the idea of armed resistance are primarily Chin youth living in the western part of Myanmar. The Chin youth established the Chinland Defence Force (CDF) on April 4, 2021.50 The objectives of the CDF are to protect the people from the military’s violent repression, to abolish the 2008 constitution, to terminate dictatorship, and to establish a federal democracy.51 Three months after the CDF’s formation, 125 separate People Defense Forces (PDF) were established in urban and rural regions across the country with similar objectives to the CDF.52 Some PDFs function under the supervision of Myanmar’s shadow National Unity of Government (NUG), while others resist the Tatmadaw independently.53

42 “Burma Campaign UK,” Military Product Boycott Lists, accessed December 7, 2021, https://burmacampaign.org.uk/military-products-boycott-list-updated.

43 KrAsia, “Myanmar Protestors Use Apps to Boycott Military-linked Product and Businesses,” KrAsia, March 8, 2021, https://kr-asia.com/myanmar-protestors-useapps-to-boycott-military-linked-products-and-businesses.

44 KrAsia, “Myanmar Protestors Use Apps to Boycott Military-linked Product and Businesses,” KrAsia, March 8, 2021, https://kr-asia.com/myanmar-protestors-useapps-to-boycott-military-linked-products-and-businesses.

45 The Irrawaddy, “Growing Number of Businesses Shun Myanmar MilitaryLinked Goods, Services,” The Irrawaddy, February 25, 2021, https://www. irrawaddy.com/news/burma/growing-number-businesses-shun-myanmarmilitary-linked-goods-services.html.

46 Ibid.

47 The Economist, “The Shooting Starts,” The Economist, March 4, 2021, https:// www.economist.com/asia/2021/03/06/the-armys-response-to-protests-inmyanmar-is-growing-more-brutal.

48 Ibid.

49 Joyce Sohyun Lee, Shibani Mathani, Meg Kelly, and Atthar Mirza, “Anatomy of a Crackdown,” The Washington Post, August 25, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost. com/world/interactive/2021/myanmar-crackdown-military-coup.

50 “Who Are the Chinland Defense Force, Chin Myanmar,” Myanmar Speaks, accessed February 25, 2022, https://www.myanmarspeaks.com/posts/who-arethe-chin-defence-force-myanmar.

51 Ibid.

52 Anthony Davis, “Prospects for a people’s war in Myanmar,” Asia Times, August 6, 2021, https://asiatimes.com/2021/08/prospects-for-a-peoples-war-in-myanmar.

Christians have maintained diferent responses to the recent military coup even among those within the same denomination and with the same ethnic background. Many of the responses to the coup has regrettably stood at odds with the example Christ has provided in the Gospel of Luke. Christians are morally obligated to abstain from committing evil deeds and are required to restore wrongdoers (Galatians 6:1). Cooperating with evil people, especially when it goes against one’s conscience, is sinful. Likewise, protesting against unjust sociopolitical structures while failing to extend Christlike love to evildoers is equally sinful. Seeking personal piety by ignoring the needs of neighbors is hypocricy. Similarly, pursuing justice and liberty with violence creates more violence. Christ did not respond to his persecutors with violence. Christ commanded Peter to put away his sword when he cut of the right ear of Malchus in the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:52). Christians are called not to be separated from the physical realm and wicked people but are commissioned to the sinners and physical realm to actualize the reign of God through Christian witness. Thus, Christians must model themselves after Jesus Christ as described in the Gospel of Luke.

Jesus Christ began his public ministry declaring that He was the fulfllment of Isaiah 61. Christ said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty 53 Ibid.

those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18–19).54 Christ’s ministry throughout the Gospel of Luke emphasizes caring for the poor (6:20, 16:22), liberating those who were oppressed and held captive by the devil (4:31–35, 11:24–26, 13:12–14, 8:26–39, 9:37–42), giving sight to the blind (18:35) and healing sickness (Luke 4:38–41, 5:12–14, 5:17–25, 14:1–4).

The Gospel of Luke also describes the confrontation between Jesus Christ and Rome. Jesus Christ confronted Roman political power, not to replace it with another type of political system, but to restore God’s kingdom. Luke’s account of Jesus Christ’s interactions with the high priest, Pontius Pilate, and Herod Antipas in the trials explicitly portrays Christ’s restorative work as transcending political power. The chief priests perceived Jesus Christ as a potential threat to their religious power and desired to kill him. The high priests and religious council were desperate in their eforts to fnd evidence to set Christ against the Roman political power. Luke describes how the high priests set a trap in their question, “Are you the Son of God, then?” And he said to them, “You say that I am.” And they said, “What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips” (22:70–71).

As the high priests heard Christ’s reply, they told each other that they had adequate evidence to charge Jesus as a politically rebellious person against Rome. When the high priests reached Pilate, they accused Christ by saying, “We found this man perverting our nation, and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ a king” (23:2). Pilate asked Christ, “Are you the King of the Jews?” (23:3).

Christ responded, “You have said so” (23:3). When Pilate learned Christ was a Galilean, he sent him to Herod (23:6–7). Herod provoked Christ to give some sign, but Christ was silent and endured all humiliation. Jesus Christ’s response to the Roman political authoritative fgures was submission to God. Christ was silent throughout the trial except witnessing to the truth. His identity as the Son of God and restorative work of God’s Kingdom is the truth to which Christ testifed. Christ carried out the truth at the cost of his life. As the Son of God, Christ could use his power to prove himself innocent. The gospel of Luke describes that Pilate was eager to release Christ since it records that he declared Christ innocent three times (Luke 23). Herod also favored Christ’s release.55 Pilate and Herod could have set Christ free if he had cooperated with them. Additionally, Christ could have used his popularity and infuences to provoke his followers to take armed resistance against Roman political power like the Zealots.56 But Christ opted to endure contempt, mockery, and agony for the cause of God’s reign in the world. In other words, Christ purposefully took up the sufering to liberate sufering people and persecutors.

54 All translations taken from the RSV unless otherwise specifed.

Jesus Christ also received sinners. Christ claimed that he received sinners to ofer them the opportunity to repent (5:31–32). The Gospel of Luke tells us that Christ associated with outcasts. Although some outcasts were the victims of social injustice, others, such as tax collectors and prostitutes, were rejected in society due to the consequence of their own choices (5:27–32, 7:36–50). However, Christ’s command of repentance was not restrained to outcasts, but it extended to all people, including his persecutors. The marginalized, outcast, blind, demon-possessed, and lame were immediately restored to society. The “conduct outcasts,”57 tax-collectors and prostitutes went through the process of repentance before their sins were forgiven. Similarly, Christ extended the opportunity of repentance to Pharisees, Sadducees, and high priests through dialogue and teaching.

55 Richard J. Cassidy, Jesus Politics and Society: A Study of Luke’s Gospel (New York: Orbis, 1978), 71.

56 Cassidy, Jesus Politics and Society, 75-76.

57 Jefrey E. Miller, “Jesus Among Luke’s Marginalized” (DMin diss., Divinity School of Duke University, North Carolina, 2017), 2.

The Gospel of Luke summarizes all these characteristics of Jesus Christ as a liberator, suferer, and receiver in the parable of the Good Samaritan (10:25–35). The traditional interpretation of the Good Samaritan tends to focus more on the Samaritan as the main agent, refecting Christ’s characteristic of healing and liberating the oppressed. In contrast, Asian liberation theologian Suh Nam Dong proposes reading Christ’s attribute as a suferer for the oppressed from the position of the victim struck by robbers.58 Additionally, David Thang Moe ofers a new methodological reading of the Good Samaritan, a lens which embraces the Samaritan and the victim together.59 Moe argues that emphasizing one over the other loses the fuller meaning of the Lukan parable.60 Moe also claims that the innkeeper plays an equally signifcant role in the parable.61 The innkeeper, who received the Samaritan and the victim, is as essential as the Samaritan and the victim because he refects the character of Christ as a receiver. Thus, the three agents, the Samaritan, the victim, and the innkeeper, embody Jesus Christ.

The three roles of Jesus Christ refected in the parable are the model that churches in Myanmar should adopt to respond to the military power. In taking the role of the Samaritan, churches reach out to marginalized, oppressed, and victims of injustice, particularly the civilians suppressed by the Tatmadaw. Many civilians require material support, healthcare services, emotional support, and spiritual guidance in ongoing conficts. Churches can reach out to each location that requires assistance.

58 Suh Nam Dong, Exploring Minjung Theology (Seoul: Hangil, 1983), 107–108.

59 David Thang Moe, “A Cross-Cultural and Liberative Hermeneutics of Luke 10:25–37 in Asian and Asian-American Perspective: Reading One Text through the Two Lenses,” The Expository Times, Vol. 130 (October 2019), 440.

60 Moe, “A Cross-Cultural and Liberative Hermeneutics of Luke 10:25–37 in Asian and Asian-American Perspective: Reading One Text through the Two Lenses,” 440.

61 Moe, “A New Reading of Luke 10:25–37 for the Three Models of the Church in the Chin Context and Beyond,” Chin Christian Journal, vol. 7 (May 2020), 11.

The second model is to victimize oneself to liberate the victim. Both the oppressed civilians and the oppressor, the Tatmadaw, are the victim. As the civilians are the victim of the Tatmadaw, the Tatmadaw per se is the victim of its own greed. Churches must liberate the oppressed and the oppressor concurrently. However, violence and aggressive behaviors are not a means for churches to transform the Tatmadaw. Nor are churches fghting for a particular political party against the Tatmadaw. Instead, churches work to free the oppressed from the Tatmadaw’s oppression and the Tatmadaw from its obsession of evil power through promoting God’s dominion in this world. The Kingdom of God, which is for all people, is built on love and sacrifcial services. Likewise, the principalities and power that entangle the Tatmadaw can only be redeemed by expanding the Kingdom of God in society. In taking the role of the innkeeper, Myanmar churches are to receive the oppressed and the oppressor. All people are sinners (Romans 3:10, 23). Despite this, God loves everyone (5:8). Dietrich Bonhoefer correctly said, “Christ belongs both to the wicked and to the good; He belongs to them only as sinners, that is to say, as men who in their wickedness and goodness have fallen away from the origin. He summons them back to the origin so that they shall no longer be good and evil but justifed and sanctifed sinners.”62 Lesslie Newbigin observes that the church is the chosen community that bears the foretaste of the Kingdom of

God.63 As churches are the sanctifed communities witnessing the good news of Christ’s forgiveness, they embrace all sinners for everyone to repent of their sins. Similarly, churches in Myanmar embrace the oppressed and the Tatmadaw and invite them to repent for their sins instead of imposing punishments and rejecting them. Churches are consecrated to receive sinners like the innkeeper.

Churches are not a motionless entity that only takes care of the needy and receives sinners from those oppressing them. But churches are called to be sent into the public sphere beyond the church walls. Missiologist Gregg Okesson defnes churches as a public entity that exists in and for community.64 The church is public in that congregations are scattered and gathered by being a life-transforming agent and a reconciler to diferent aspects of life in a community.65 Similarly, churches in Myanmar, bearing the characteristics of the Good Samaritan, victim, and innkeeper, are called to go into the public sphere and preach the Gospel in and for the community where they live. In other words, teachers, nurses, medical doctors, and civil servants in government ministries must keep their occupations and be life-transforming agents and reconcilers through their professions within their working communities instead of quitting their careers and initiating a Civil Disobedient Movement that cuts of a relationship with the Tatmadaw’s SAC. Christian politicians serving as state ministers, economic and political advisors, and members of the SAC under the Tatmadaw must convince and persuade the Tatmadaw to stop committing atrocities against civilians by being salt and light with sacrifcial love instead of seeking personal advantages by cooperating with the Tatmadaw at the cost of civilian lives. In place of holding deadly weapons in selfdefense and revenge, Christian youth must bring forgiveness and love to the Tatmadaw as Christ has forgiven their sins and loved them unconditionally. Church leaders and pastors must empower congregations to name public injustices caused by the Tatmadaw’s military power and redeem it from self-indulgence. Churches can redeem the greed-driven military power with the collective witnesses of God’s image-bearers within and for the Tatmadaw.

63 Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), 134.

64 Gregg Okesson, A Public Missiology: How Local Churches Witness to A Complex World (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2020), 253.

65 Ibid., 239–43.

Hence, Christ in the Gospel of Luke explicitly saysthat Churches are designed to be yeast in a community. Being yeast for the community, Myanmar churches are meant to be in and for the community. Particularly, churches must not separate themselves from interaction with the Tatmadaw; rather, churches must engage with the Tatmadaw and embrace and transform it with loves.

The recent military coup in Myanmar results from the Tatmadaw’s power struggle for domination in politics, economics, and the public sphere by stressing its military power over civilians. Christians have responded to the coup in varied ways, from non-violence to armed confrontation. The Tatmadaw’s cruel suppression of the protests exacerbated the conficts. Consequently, violence, atrocities, and grief have dispersed across the country. In the midst of the conficts and despair, Churches in Myanmar must be sensitive to realize their God-given responsibilities and be decisive in carrying out those responsibilities.

The God-given responsibilities for churches in Myanmar are nothing other than to imitate Christ’s public ministry. Like Christ, churches are called to go into the public sphere and witness the Gospel holistically in and for the community with love in words and action. In other words, churches must engage the public and the Tatmadaw’s military power by identifying silent injustice and oppression that undermines the reign of God and transforms the evil-driven military power by witnessing in and for the Tatmadaw collectively with the characteristics of the Good Samaritan, victim, and innkeeper.

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Jijo Rajan

Introduction

India has 4,381 universities according to a data from July 2020, which is the greatest number of universities in the world,2 and a total enrollment in 2019–20, of 38 million.3 From a sheer numerical perspective, its signifcance for India is inconceivable. Universities are an integral part of any nation and play a signifcant role in its development and growth. The census of 2011 revealed that 74.3%4 of Christians in the country are literate and 8.85% of them are graduate level and above.5 While this might not look like a big percentage, the numbers involved here are enormous. These Christian students can have a signifcant impact on the world of the university as Christians,

1 “Engaging the University” is a phrase probably coined by Vinoth Ramachandra, but as he acknowledges it has been the vision of IFES; it means to demonstrate the practical relevance of the Gospel to all that goes on in a university. https:// www.universityresources.org/node/1

2https://www.statista.com/statistics/918403/number-of-universities-worldwideby-country/

3https://www.business-standard.com/article/education/india-s-gross-enrolmentin-higher-education-rose-marginally-in-2019-20-121061001249_1.html

4 https://thewire.in/education/census-literacy-religion

5https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/jains-have-highest-percentage-ofliterates-census-data/articleshow/53942863.cms

170 | Jijo Rajan but unfortunately, most of them have compartmentalized their faith and their academics neatly into boxes that do not intersect at any point, which is inherently unbiblical. There is a substantial need for “Christian integrity, and a greater Christian credibility in the university and society,” Vinoth Ramachandra pertinently points out.6 This lack of intersection hinders the Christian university students to participate in the redemption of their academic disciplines and ultimately engage in the task of nation-building as an outcome of their faith.

Hence, this paper will attempt to elucidate a public theology on how the Christian academia in secular universities should engage in their felds as Christians and redeem their academic disciplines and the universities to usher in the kingdom values and thereby playing their part in building the nation. Therefore, the focus of the paper is on Bible-believing, Christian students in the universities and their engagement with their non-theological academic disciplines.

In this paper, I will look at some features of the university followed by a brief history of the university in India. Subsequently, I will examine briefy how Christian mission has theologized and engaged the university historically. Further, I will focus on the current situation of universities in India, especially their contribution to nation-building. Finally, I will attempt to formulate a public theology for engagement in the context of Indian universities, focusing particularly on how Christians can play their part in redeeming their academic disciplines, the universities, and ultimately contribute to the nation.

6https://meetjesusatuni.com/2013/09/04/vinoth-ramachandra-interview-part-2