Global Baptists Gather in Thailand for BWA Gathering

About 300 Baptists from nearly 50 nations trekked to Bangkok, Thailand, this week for the annual gathering of the Baptist World Alliance. Meeting in a predominately Buddhist nation, global Baptist leaders learned from Thai Baptists and offered encouragement to...

Bhutanese Protest Tobacco Charge Against Buddhist Monk

NEW DELHI (RNS) Protesters in Bhutan are denouncing the three-year prison sentence of a Buddhist monk charged with violating the small kingdom’s anti-tobacco law. The 23-year-old monk, Sonam Tshering, was the first victim of a ban rooted in the religious zeal of...

Karmapa Lama Denies Charges of Spying for China

NEW DELHI (RNS) In an unprecedented probe of exiled Tibetan Buddhist monks, Indian officials want to know why top Buddhist leaders had $1.5 million in cash stashed away at their headquarters in Dharmsala. Police seized $1.5 million of cash in Indian and foreign...

Buddhist Bhutan Bans Clergy from Voting in Elections

(RNS) Officials in Buddhist-majority Bhutan have barred Hindu and Buddhist clergy from voting in upcoming elections in order to keep a clear distinction between religion and politics. The landlocked Himalayan nation considers Mahayana Buddhism the state religion and...

Baptists and Buddhists Work Together in Sri Lanka

BERUWALA, Sri Lanka–An inter-religious flag representing Christians, Buddhists and Muslims sits atop a newly erected memorial to the 136 tsunami-related deaths in Beruwala, Sri Lanka. The metal sculpture has hands jutting from roiling waves, suggesting the...