Global Prayer to Counter Burma Atrocities
People around the globe will pray on Sunday for Burma – a country where over 1 million people have been forced to flee their homes because of state-sponsored violence.
The annual Global Day of Prayer for Burma will serve as an opportunity to raise awareness on the continuing atrocities of the Burmese military junta against the country's ethnic minorities and seek an end to the violence through petitions to God.
"The power of intercession is indispensable when seeking peace and healing in this suffering nation," said Stuart Windsor, Christian Solidarity Worldwide national director, in a statement.
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It is estimated that as many as 10,000 people a year are killed by the Burmese Army, which has been widely reported for burning homes, killing civilians, and using rape as a weapon against women.
Among those attacked are the Chin and Kachin ethnic groups, where 90 percent of the population is Christian. They suffer severely under Burma's pro-Buddhist military regime.
It has been said that the mountaintops of the Chin's homeland were covered with crosses but now there are none left. The crosses have been torn down by believers forced by the government as well as militant Buddhist monks. In place of crosses and churches are Buddhist pagodas which many times Christians are forced to build and fund.
Burma has been ruled by a military dictatorship since 1962. The government crushes any dissenting voice and has held pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for eleven years.
Moreover, the government is reported by dozens of prominent NGOs (non-governmental organizations) as to have planted more than 2,000 anti-personnel landmines to prevent villagers from receiving humanitarian aid and to alert foreign agencies of the violent campaign against the people
The U.S. State Department has designated Burma as a "country of particular concern" – a label given to the world's worst religious freedom offenders.
"I fervently urge as many people as possible to join us in prayer to win this spiritual battle for the people of Burma," concluded Windsor.
