Chittagong, Bangladesh and the Muslim Bengali People
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CHITTAGONG, BANGLADESH AND THE MUSLIM BENGALI PEOPLE Chittagong, Bangladesh and the Muslim Bengali People © Center for the Study of Global Christianity, 2020 Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary Cover Photo: Men gathering plants. Termukh Bridge, Narayanganj District, Bangladesh. Unsplash: Hasib Matiur Unless otherwise noted, data is sourced from the World Christian Database and the fol- lowing citation should be used: Todd M. Johnson and Gina A. Zurlo, eds., World Christian Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, accessed December 2019). ABOUT THE CSGC The Center for the Study of Global Christianity is an academic research center that mon- itors worldwide demographic trends in Christianity, including outreach and mission. We provide a comprehensive collection of information on the past, present, and future of Christianity in every country of the world. Our data and publications help churches, mission agencies, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to be more strategic, thoughtful, and sensitive to local contexts. Please visit our website at www.globalchristianity.org. DATA AND TERMS This dossier includes many technical terms related to the presentation of statistics. A complete methodology document is found here: https://www.gordonconwell.edu/ center-for-global-christianity/research/dossiers. We use a social scientific method for measuring religion around the world; namely, self-identification. If a person calls herself a Christian, then she is a Christian. We measure Christians primarily by denominational affiliation in every country of the world and these data are housed in the World Christian Database. Ethnolinguistic people groups are distinct homogeneous ethnic or racial groups within a single country, speaking its own language (one single mother tongue). These dossiers measure gospel access (also known as “evangelization”) by a number of variables, including but not limited to, evangelistic crusades, church planting, personal witnessing, sharing on social media, etc. These dossiers also utilize data from the United Nations relat- ed to socio-economic, development, and gender-justice related issues. CONTENTS 4 Executive summary 7 Overview 7 History and people groups 7 Portuguese-Catholic beginnings 9 British colonialism and Protestant Bengal missions 10 Christian minorities of the Chittagong Hill Tracts 13 Holidays 14 Religion 19 Refugees 21 Religious Freedom 22 Traditions & denominations 22 Independents 22 Catholics 24 Analysis 26 Appendix Features: 6 Bangladesh in context 12 People groups in Bangladesh 23 Bible translation and access in Bangladesh 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Bangladesh borders India and Myanmar to the east, west, and north, and is bordered by the Bay of Bengal to the south. The term “Chittagong” refers simultaneously to the division, district, and capital city of the district. The Chittagong Division has an area of nearly 34,000 km2 bounded by Dhaka and Sylhet divisions on the north, the Bay of Bengal, and Arakan (Myanmar) on the south, Mizoram, Tripura states of India and Chin state of Myanmar on the east, Dhaka and Barisal Dhaka, Bangladesh. divisions on the west. There are many lofty hills in Rangamati, Khagrachhari, Bandarban districts, and in the eastern part of Chittagong division, collectively known as the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Christians in Bangladesh form a very small minority and consist mostly of former low-caste Hindu peasants and members of certain tribes, including the the Khasi, Garo, Oraon Sadri, Santal, Kurukh, Chakma, Mahili, and Bawm. The tribes have been far more receptive to Christianity than the Bengalis, upon whom it has had little influence. Bangladesh has the fourth largest population of Muslims in the world, who consti- tute 89% of the country’s total population. Bangladesh has experienced Islamic terrorist attacks in recent years. On balance, it is a combination of the premature and preemptive secularization attempts in the formation of Bangladesh as an independent nation with the abundance of Western NGOs working in the country in the subsequent decades that helped to incite politico-religious violence. Following a general religious trend, forms of Islam that are regarded from within to be syncretistic are typically associated with rural Bangladesh and are based in its origin there among agriculturalist Sufis. The more polit- icized, doctrinally, and juristically conservative expressions of Islam are more common in urban areas. Cross-cultural workers seek to bring about holistic transformation of Muslim com- munities in Chittagong, but in doing so ultimately alter the experience of women in the district. Some scholars have demonstrated how village women are able to indeed negoti- ate between the secular NGO and Islamist agendas to leverage them to procure more rights for themselves, pointing to a general BANGLADESH QUICK FACTS POPULATION (2020): 169,775,000 trend toward increased autonomy. Despite CHRISTIANS: 903,000 (0.5%) assumptions regarding the malleability of RELIGION: 89% MUSLIM, 9% HINDU rural populations and their susceptibility GOSPEL ACCESS: MEDIUM to ideological manipulation, whether for a PEOPLES: 68 LEAST-ACCESS: 37 secular or Islamist agenda, Bangladesh’s DEVELOPMENT: 61 (GLOBAL AVG. 70) GDP PER CAPITA: $3,500 (AVG. $15,300) women are finding ways to resist these ste- GENDER INEQUALITY: 54 (AVG. 37) reotypes and wield burgeoning, grassroots 4 democracy to attain more rights that conform neither PROVINCE QUICK FACTS wholesale to secular nor Islamist principles. Regard- less, Christian workers should be mindful of their CHITTAGONG objectives in engaging Muslim women, and, it seems, POPULATION: 33,887,000 the safest approach to communicating their message CHRISTIANS: 136,000 (0.4%) GOSPEL ACCESS: MEDIUM holistically is to show how Christianity circumvents the competing agendas of both the politically vehement Islamist movements and the liberal, anti-Muslim, an- ti-indigenous associations with the West Myanmar’s brutal military crackdown in 2017 caused more than 700,000 Rohingya peo- ple to flee Rakhine State for Bangladesh. The governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar quickly agreed to a rapid repatriation process shortly after. Their agreement came up against interna- tional opposition by the Rohingya currently in refugee camps. In the meantime, Cox’s Bazar has become a semi-permanent home of more than one million refugees. With the presence of one of the largest refugee camps in world on their doorstep, and the ensuing pressures therefore exerted on the local population in Chittagong, managing local sentiments toward the camps is vitally important. The creation of security posts in Ukhia and Taknaf areas designed to monitor the Rohingya who move out of the camps has meant that local residents now have to regularly carry and show their photo identity for security personnel. One major obstacle to Christianity in the region is its association with colonialism. In addition, some scholars and government officials see Christianity as preying on the poor, converting people with lower socio-economic backgrounds because only the “poor” among Bangladesh’s people could possibly be persuaded by Christianity. Christian work- ers among the village peoples of Chittagong (whether in the Hill Tracts or elsewhere) have an immense opportunity to undermine the dehumanizing elements of these “tribal history” campaigns by honoring and celebrating the diverse peoples of this region as living cultures and not relics of the past in need of preservation. It seems one of the major differences between the effects of Islam on these peoples and the potential effect of Christianity is in its goal not merely to pre- serve cultures but to cele- brate them and invite them into the family of God as their people, and not as part of an amalgamation of reli- gious, political, and national values. Lumber mill on a river in Bangladesh. 5 BANGLADESH IN CONTEXT COUNTRY 200 Development 150 Rural 1%Christians 1%Buddhists Gender Inequality 100 Corruption 9% Urban Education 50 89% Hindus Internet 0 Water Population (in millions) Muslims 0 20 40 60 80 100 1975 = Global Average 1950 2050 2000 2025 population religion human need CHRISTIANITY Christian traditions Region % Christian 250 Population 32% 200 2 8% 3 150 3 % 3 8% 9 4% 100 % 1% < 1 50 % Orthodox Independents Christians Asia Asia 0 Protestants World South Catholics Population (in millions) 1960 1990 1930 1900 2050 2020 Bangladesh region history tradition M usli m s MISSION 100 portions none Received 1,000 80 11m 0.5m NT only 60 % Access 25m 40 Percent National 5,700 20 Full Bible % Christian 0 134m Christian Workers Sent 30 1960 1990 1930 1900 2050 2020 evangelism bible translation personnel 6 OVERVIEW Bangladesh borders India and Myanmar to the east, west, CHRISTIANITY IN and north, and is bordered by the Bay of Bengal to the BANGLADESH BY 2 south. It has a land area of 147,570 km . The term “Chit- PROVINCE tagong” refers simultaneously to the division, district, and capital city of the district. In April 2018, the government changed the official anglicization of these Chittagongs to “Chattogram” for consistency with contemporary scholar- ship on this region. Nevertheless, this dossier will maintain the former spelling convention. The Chittagong Division has an area of nearly 34,000 km2 bounded by Dhaka and Sylhet divisions on the north, the Bay of Bengal and Arakan (Myanmar) on the south, Mizoram, Tripura states of India and Chin state of Myanmar on the east, Dhaka and Barisal divisions on the west. There are many lofty hills in Rangamati, Khagrachhari, Bandarban districts, and in the eastern part of Chittagong division, collectively known as the Chittagong Hill Percent Christian Tracts. 0 0.3 0.31 0.4 0.5 0.7 Christians in Bangladesh form a very small minority and consist mostly of former low-caste Hindu peasants and Christians comprise less than members of certain tribes, including the Khasi, Garo, Ora- 1% of the population of Bangla- on Sadri, Santal, Kurukh, Chakma, Mahili, and Bawm. The desh, though there are slight differences in the concentraions tribes have been far more receptive to Christianity than the of Christians by province. Bengalis, upon whom it has had little influence.