CANADIANS have reacted with mixed emotions to a television report examining the religious aftermath of the 2004 tsunami along the Andaman coast.
One wonderful thing about Thailand is that, unlike many countries, people remain free to choose their religion. And if they wish, unchoose their religion.
The program made the point that some overzealous Christians along the Andaman coast attempted to win converts in the wake of the tsunami by offering material benefits.
This will not come as a revelation to many people who were there at the time.
Yet because the word ''Christian'' covers such a wide spectrum (just like the words ''Buddhist'' and ''Muslim'') some righteous people take instant umbrage, for all the wrong reasons.
I recall talking to one Thai nun about 12 months on from the tsunami who asked me to call her Catholic, not Christian, because the word ''Christian'' carried too many negative connotations at the time.
That said a lot.
There is no disputing that most Christians who came in the wake of the tsunami offered their money, their labor and their compassion without attaching any conditions.
For most of those people, religion had little, if anything, to do with it. It was the people who came and declared themselves ''Christian'' who caused the anguish.
The latest television report, by videojournalist Sasa Petricic, is a well-rounded and thought-provoking examination of the impact of a longer-lasting Christian presence along the coast.
It first appeared on a popular Canadian Broadcasting Corporation program, The National, and can now be seen on the Internet here:
Phuketwan travelled with Petricic as he visited churches, temples and mosques and interviewed Christian, Buddhist and Muslim leaders in Phang Nga.
What went to air was just a tiny portion of the research behind the report.
The Canadian reaction is fascinating and well worth reading online. Yet whether some of the Christian groups behaved badly is history now.
Far more important for those who live here is the long-term effect that a stronger, more prominent and well-supported Christian presence will have along the coast.
Three years on, some sizeable churches, plus a large Catholic pastoral centre, seem to comprise the main religious and social legacy of the big wave in southern Phang Nga.
Although most of the multitude of Christian ''churches'' that opened in shopfronts along the tsunami coast have gone now, there is no denying that Christianity rode the wave.
We were told later that there are now also more than 20 small churches on Phuket, most of them evangelical, although the total number of parishioners is said to be less than 2000 in a population that rises to perhaps a million each high season.
Most of the holidaymakers who visit Phuket are probably Christian, but you'd never know it. Faith seems to pretty much take a holiday, too.
Yet while small in numbers, the influence of the incoming Christians among the clannish townships and villages of Phang Nga is likely to be insistent and profound.
Whether one comes under the umbrella of ''Christian'' or ''Buddhist'' or ''Muslim,'' there's one word that local wise heads in all three religions embrace: tolerance.
Even if there are some misunderstandings in the future, hopefully people of all faiths will continue to respect and uphold that essential common bond.
ONE PUZZLE
It is apparently morally reprehensible for a Christian group to ask that someone convert for, say, a house.
What would happen, though, if someone undertook to convert, moved in and lived in the house, then opted to no longer be a Christian?
Register above at Phuketwan and see your comments published
One wonderful thing about Thailand is that, unlike many countries, people remain free to choose their religion. And if they wish, unchoose their religion.
The program made the point that some overzealous Christians along the Andaman coast attempted to win converts in the wake of the tsunami by offering material benefits.
This will not come as a revelation to many people who were there at the time.
Yet because the word ''Christian'' covers such a wide spectrum (just like the words ''Buddhist'' and ''Muslim'') some righteous people take instant umbrage, for all the wrong reasons.
I recall talking to one Thai nun about 12 months on from the tsunami who asked me to call her Catholic, not Christian, because the word ''Christian'' carried too many negative connotations at the time.
That said a lot.
There is no disputing that most Christians who came in the wake of the tsunami offered their money, their labor and their compassion without attaching any conditions.
For most of those people, religion had little, if anything, to do with it. It was the people who came and declared themselves ''Christian'' who caused the anguish.
The latest television report, by videojournalist Sasa Petricic, is a well-rounded and thought-provoking examination of the impact of a longer-lasting Christian presence along the coast.
It first appeared on a popular Canadian Broadcasting Corporation program, The National, and can now be seen on the Internet here:
Phuketwan travelled with Petricic as he visited churches, temples and mosques and interviewed Christian, Buddhist and Muslim leaders in Phang Nga.
What went to air was just a tiny portion of the research behind the report.
The Canadian reaction is fascinating and well worth reading online. Yet whether some of the Christian groups behaved badly is history now.
Far more important for those who live here is the long-term effect that a stronger, more prominent and well-supported Christian presence will have along the coast.
Three years on, some sizeable churches, plus a large Catholic pastoral centre, seem to comprise the main religious and social legacy of the big wave in southern Phang Nga.
Although most of the multitude of Christian ''churches'' that opened in shopfronts along the tsunami coast have gone now, there is no denying that Christianity rode the wave.
We were told later that there are now also more than 20 small churches on Phuket, most of them evangelical, although the total number of parishioners is said to be less than 2000 in a population that rises to perhaps a million each high season.
Most of the holidaymakers who visit Phuket are probably Christian, but you'd never know it. Faith seems to pretty much take a holiday, too.
Yet while small in numbers, the influence of the incoming Christians among the clannish townships and villages of Phang Nga is likely to be insistent and profound.
Whether one comes under the umbrella of ''Christian'' or ''Buddhist'' or ''Muslim,'' there's one word that local wise heads in all three religions embrace: tolerance.
Even if there are some misunderstandings in the future, hopefully people of all faiths will continue to respect and uphold that essential common bond.
ONE PUZZLE
It is apparently morally reprehensible for a Christian group to ask that someone convert for, say, a house.
What would happen, though, if someone undertook to convert, moved in and lived in the house, then opted to no longer be a Christian?
Register above at Phuketwan and see your comments published
