Publication details
Rice and Martyrs - Roman Catholicism in Cambodia
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| Year of publication | 2017 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | When thinking of Cambodia, people mostly get on their mind Angkor Wat, Khmer Rouge or sexual tourism. Thinking of Cambodia and religion, then Buddhism; Theravada Buddhism to be precise… definitely not Christianity. Nevertheless, Cambodia is ninth-fastest growing Christian community per capita in the world. Philip J. Coggan, an Australian author based in Cambodia, wrote. ”Ninety-seven per cent of Cambodians are Buddhists, but Christianity is growing at almost six per cent each year and will overtake Islam as the second largest religion in less than a decade.” And still Christians represent only est. 0.4% of Cambodian population. Biggest group among all Christian denominations in Cambodia is by far the Roman Catholic Church. There are around 20,000 Catholics in Cambodia which represents 0.15% of the total population. There are no dioceses, but there are three territorial jurisdictions - one Apostolic Vicariate and two Apostolic Prefecture. Theravada Buddhism is since the 13th century AC the state religion, although remainders of Brahmaistic practices, Hinduism, animism, beliefs in ghosts and other supernatural beings or “dark powers”, mixed all in one, are very common and widely spread . And with traces of Christianity is not different : “This expectation of the Christian God is indistinguishable from the way Cambodians approach the spirits, who are also regarded as the source of material blessings — the Christian God is assimilated to the Khmer universe as the most powerful inhabitant of the spirit world.” [Philip J. Coggan] |
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