The Consequences of Becoming Christian

 

Marcia sitting with some women and kids in Oh
Loh Tha Village - Dec 1985

It seems in some circles that the Karen are seen as mostly being Christian. It’s true that the Karen had a significant role in the early church in Burma and that there are strong Karen churches in both Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand. Christian Karen historically, also seem more willing to engage with Western church and government leaders and in that way are more visible. In recent years, with the resettlement of Karen refugees from Burma by a number of countries around the world, Karen churches are being established internationally further increasing their visibility. As noted in the previous post however, evangelism continues to be a focus for the Karen. Still, even the highest estimates of the numbers of Christians among the Karen population puts the total at 30 percent or so. A large majority of Karen therefore, remain either Buddhist, animist, or some combination of both.

Of course fear is a major obstacle to a Karen person becoming a Christian. There is fear of what the spirits will do to you and your family, fear of what the village shaman might require you to do, fear of how your family will respond and simple fear of the unknown.

Villagers working on an irrigation ditch to provide water
for new rice paddy fields in Oh Loh Tha - 1985 

Another significant fear is the fear of rejection. Karen culture is village based. Everyone lives close to
each other literally and relationally. Everyone in a village takes care of each other and everyone has a sense of security because of the village life and culture. However, becoming a Christian often meant the new Christian had to leave the village. Sometimes the village leaders would say the new Christian had to leave out of anger or out of feelings the Christian was rejecting them.

Often though, the Christian was forced to leave because the village leaders feared a Christian living among them would anger the spirits and calamity would come down on everyone as a result. So to protect the village as a whole, the Christian had to leave. The problem came about because when it came time to perform certain spirit related ceremonies, everyone in the village was required to participate. No exceptions! And of course, Christians had declared their faith in Christ to protect them and did not want to participate.

 In some cases, Christians could establish a new home just outside the village boundary so at least physically, they were barely outside the old village. At other times, they had to remove themselves some distance from their original village. Being removed from the village could also mean being removed from the process of distributing fields at planting time. No fields to plant also meant no way to feed their familiea. In some cases, if there were unused areas new fields outside the traditional village planting areas might be assigned. But, especially with the influx of people from neighboring Burma as well as natural population increases, unused land was increasingly hard to find. Keep in mind, property ownership was often poorly defined or not recorded at all throughout Thailand and particularly so in tribal areas. Many villages did not legally “own” any land even if they had been living on it and farming it for decades or centuries. So usually, a new Christian in a remote village did not have any land seen as “their own” on which to rely.

Nae Gay (left) with the evangelists and agricultural
worker Pho Mee (right) in soybeans planted as a
second crop in an Oh Loh Tha paddy field. -1991

One of the villages we would often visit during our Mae Sariang years was Oh Loh Tha. By the time we arrived, everyone living there was Christian. It was located where a creek named Oh Loh Glo joined the Mae Ngow River. I heard different versions of just how Oh Loh Tha came to be established. But apparently, at some point in the past there had been a village there. However, there was a disease outbreak and many people in the village died leaving the site haunted in the hearts and minds of everyone in the surrounding areas. No one would live there anymore.

In addition, the general area was considered to be full of robbers and opium addicts and was seen as dangerous to visit. Even when we began visiting in the 1980s, it seemed government authorities rarely if ever visited.

Eventually though, due to the evangelistic efforts of the Karen Baptist Church, people in several area villages became Christian. The Christians were driven from their villages and told the only place available to them to live was the haunted place where the Oh Loh Glo Creek joined the Mae Ngow River. Imagine hearing that a place was haunted all your life and “knowing” that merely sleeping there for a night would mean certain death. Now imagine being rejected by your village and having to leave the only sense of security you’ve ever known. Finally, imagine the courage it took to build your bamboo house and spend the first few nights sleeping in this haunted place. It was a true test of faith the new Christians of Oh Loh Tha and many other places passed.

Preparing a pig to be the main course for a wedding
feast in Oh Loh Tha village - 1988

In Oh Loh Tha it worked out well. Being at the junction of the creek and the river meant they had ample
water resources. Some of land had a relatively gentle slope and leant itself to the development of terraced paddy fields which could produce crops consistently once irrigation systems were developed. Then once established, the paddy fields produced rice to eat (and sell) and a second crop like soy beans for cash could also be grown. As Christians, they were less afraid of outside influences and accepted help from the government, Christian groups, NGOs and others. Parents sent their kids to school through the scholarship program Marcia helped with and education and communication with the local government improved. Eventually, a government school and clinic were put in the village and staffed and a road was built among other improvements.

In short, what was a village of outcasts when we first arrived in Thailand is now seen as one of the more prosperous and influential villages in the area and the source of church and even government leaders. It all got started from a Karen evangelist and a few people willing to accept the consequences of faith in Christ.