A. A. SIMONIA Candidate of Economic Sciences Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Keywords: Myanmar / Burma, religion, Christianity, Catholicism, Protestantism( Baptist), Buddhism, Pope, beatification Myanmar is a Buddhist country, more than 80% of its 51 million people are mainly Burmese (Myanmar, Bama), profess Theravada Buddhism, almost 8% are Muslims, about 7% are Christians, the rest of the population are adherents of Hinduism, Confucianism, Animism and other religions.1 Two-thirds of Burmese Christians are Protestants (almost half of them Baptists), and one-third profess Catholicism. Christianity is spread mainly among ethnic minorities - Karen, Ka-chin, Chin and to a lesser extent-among Burmese. Burma / Myanmar, with its Buddhist majority population, has always been considered a relatively tolerant country. Representatives of different religions coexisted peacefully in it. The Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar provides citizens with the right to freedom of religion. The Ministry of Religious Affairs, which was specially created in 1972, is charged with ensuring this right. The Ministry is obliged to resolve inter-religious conflicts that arise in the country, to provide support and patronage to all religions. Religious holidays of the main confessions are celebrated and broadcast on the radio in the country. The Ministry's leadership regularly attends religious festive events. Traditionally, since colonial times, Christmas is one of everyone's favorite holidays. It is particularly popular among young people, the urban population, the propertied and" advanced " stratum of citizens. In recent decades, it has been celebrated en masse without any religious background, as, indeed, in many other countries. As a demonstration of tolerance in Myanmar, they like to show the famous Sule Pagoda Square in Yangon, where religious buildings of different religions are located next to each other. However, there was no complete f ... Читать далее