ON THE PARTICULARITIES OF THE SPREAD OF CHISTIANITY IN CAMBODIA IN THE XIX–XXI CENTURY

Abstract

Introduction. This paper analyses the spread of Christianity in Cambodia – a rarely studied issue in Russian and Western oriental studies. Cambodia is a country where Buddhism is the state religion and has traditionally been adopted by the vast majority of its population. An analysis of the activity of Christian missions in Cambodia through a long historical period (XIX–XXIs centuries) allows for a deeper appreciation of the core issues for South East Asian countries in the XXI century, namely religious conversion and religious tolerance. The purpose of the article is to consider the reasons behind the lack of any significant enthusiasm towards Christianity among Cambodia’s population through the XIX–XX centuries as well as the impetus behind the growing conversion to Christianity in the XXIs century. Materials and Methods. The article is based on an analysis of the memoirs of French travelers and Christian missionaries of the XIX century as well as documents of the Ministry of Cults and Religion of Cambodia and the Cambodian press. The author uses both general scientific and special-historical methods: dialectical, comparative-historical and chronological. Results. The author shows that during the colonial period French Christian missionaries accepted the extreme unwillingness of the native population to convert to Christianity. At the time this could be explained by the prevalence of deeply held Buddhist ideas and traditions. By the end of the XX century Christianity began to attract a segment of the Khmer population, due to a whole host of pragmatic and ideological reasons. Given growing activities of various Christian organizations in Cambodia their influence is highly likely to increase over time. Conclusions. The analysis of the situation in Cambodia demonstrates that overall, the process of conversion to Christianity is unlikely to trigger a considerable change in the field of religion, especially considering that Buddhism still enjoys widespread state support. The vast majority of the Cambodian population shows a high degree of tolerance towards other religious confessions. Thus, the growth of Christian organizations has not so far led to a rise in negative attitudes. Keywords: Cambodia, Buddhism, Christianity, religious conversion, propaganda of Christianity, Christian missions, religious tolerance.