Last month First Things columnist David Hart raised some eyebrows with his tongue-in-cheek suggestion that the nominee for “Greatest Nation on Earth” might just be Bhutan.
While that country may have clean rivers and a dearth of strip malls, it’s sorely lacking religious liberties:
A court in predominantly Buddhist Bhutan has sentenced a Christian to three years in prison for “attempting to promote civil unrest” by screening films on Christianity. . . .
Gurung was arrested four months ago after local residents complained that he was showing Christian films in Gonggaon and Simkharkha villages in Jigmecholing block. Gurung invited villagers to watch Nepali movies, and between each feature he showed films on Christianity.
Government attorneys could not prove “beyond reasonable doubt” that Gurung promoted civil unrest, and therefore “he was charged with an attempt to promote civil unrest,” the daily reported.
(Via: Religion Clause)
October 19th, 2010 | 11:03 am
I live in a small city with a well-established refugee resettlement network, so despite our relative obscurity, we have groups of people from all corners of the world settling here.
In the last few years, we’ve been getting families of Bhutanese Hindu refugees because the peaceful, idyllic Buddhist government has been persecuting the Hindus near the Nepali border.
Things are not always as they seem.