Barnabas Fund, 2 August 2021, 2021 (excerpts)
The inhabitants of a Christian village in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh, were forced to flee after suffering threats and two violent attacks from Buddhist radicals.
The villagers, who converted from Buddhism 16 years ago, were attacked after they refused to re-convert and demolish their church building.
The Buddhists attacked both members of the church and the building, breaking a cross, tearing down part of a wall, and damaging the roof.
The assistant pastor, Tubel Adetion, explained, “We were Buddhists and we met Jesus Christ in 2005. In January of this year, we built the church. Every day we gathered and prayed, but the local Buddhist majority didn’t like it.”
On 12 July Buddhist radicals warned the 50 Christian villagers to demolish the church within three days.
Three days later the Buddhists returned, attacked the villagers and church building, and ordered them to re-convert to Buddhism within seven days.
On 22 July the extremists returned once again, launching another violent assault against the Christian village. They also warned the villagers of further consequences if they reported the incident to police or local media.