RELIGION, CONFLICT AND CONFLICTING VIEWS ON THE RELIGIOUS "OTHER" IN MYANMAR

Sammanfattning: In Myanmar "othering" has severe consequences for religious groups, including contributing to escalate and sustain violent conflicts. Religious doctrine is among several other factors that inform the views on the "religious other". This paper analyzes "theology of religions" and representation of the "religious other" in one religious group in Myanmar: The majority Christian denomination, the Baptists, with a scope related to Northern Myanmar, particularly Kachin State. The findings are that there is no uniform way in which Christian Baptists in Myanmar, and related to Kachin State, deal with the "religious other". The findings suggest, however, that related to their "theologies of religions" Christian minority voices are mainly concerned with the Buddhist majority. This in a way in which the "religious other" from other religious groups are not of great concern. Conflicts and conflictual relations in which also religious identities across religious groups are present served but more as an implicit backdrop. Instead, positive social representation and explicitly encouraging peace-seeking engagement and relationships with the "religious other" were highlighted by some. Calls for cooperation among Christian groups were also highlighted. In addition, however, an important finding in the analyzed material was that there to a great extent was a Christian inter-group positioning with “in-grouping” and “out-grouping” - including affirmation or rejection of the "theology of religions" - of other Christian sub-groups or individuals. As such, the negative "othering" by some Christians were interestingly not mainly concerned with the "religious other", but with the "denominational other".