Coexistence of Religions
The Bhutanese refugees are often portrayed as a seemingly homogenous group, sharing the same heritage, culture and language. However, within that perceived homogeneity, there is considerable religious diversity. Though religious tension existed in Bhutan and the early development of the camps, a peaceful religious coexistence has evolved over the course of twenty years. The four main religions practiced in the camps are Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Kirat. Lesser-known religious affiliations, such as Lovism of the Heavenly Path or Manav Dharma are also practiced.

On a Sunday morning, the Beldangi quiet is broken by the sound of an electric guitar. It comes from a small church attached to a pastor’s hut. The thin bamboo walls rustle as the congregation of one hundred refugees stands to dance as they pray. Family huts surround the church. Further down the dirt path, a Kirat temple hosts a group of Hindu followers for worship. The Hindu and Kirat used to share the same temple, and many still visit each other’s to worship together. The neighbors surrounding the temple follow various religions. One bamboo door is colored with crushed flowers, a Hindu practice. Other huts have charcoal remains from the daily puja (worship) of burnt banana leaves on the ground outside the door. Not far away are huts with words of Christian faith painted on them.

One reason for the Bhutanese refugees’ expulsion from Bhutan was the “One Nation, One People” law instated by the king of Bhutan in January of 1985. The law aimed to create a homogenous society sharing a single set of cultural practices. One mandate demanded that all Bhutanese must practice Buddhism. Acts of brutal violence during this time in response to underground Christian and Hindu worship were reported by refugees. In the camps, open and free religious practice allows community members to learn about each other’s religions and break down stereotypes about religion that had previously divided the community. The religious tolerance that has developed over the course of twenty years is striking given the intolerance and suspicion that refugees remember from Bhutan and the earlier days of their arrival to Nepal.

Early Intolerance
Driving over the Ratwa Bridge and river in eastern Nepal today, a traveler sees women hand-washing clothes as naked children run and splash water behind them along the vast sandy terrain. This is where trucks first dropped off the refugees fleeing Bhutan in 1991 and 1992. They survived by the river for six months before the Nepali government carried out a registration of the refugees and designated space for the UNHCR to establish camps for them. Pranita, a thirty-two-year old woman from Beldangi remembers, “There were trees everywhere and no houses.” Families were confused about where to go and relied on each other for security and help in building each other’s huts. People who followed one religion didn’t trust those who followed a different set of religious traditions. Sabi, a Buddhist living in Sanischare says, “You did not visit others’ houses that did not share your religion, and if you did, you stood outside and carried out your business from the door. People would especially not share food.” A young Protestant pastor, Rajendra, remembers, “Buddhists and Hindus feared that by allowing a Christian into their home, their God would become angry.” A young woman, Kamala, says, “Those from a lower caste were Christian, so they were avoided. When the upper class began to follow Christianity, people started to accept it.”  Khem, a twenty-eight-year-old man from Beldangi, converted at the age of eleven to Christianity. His family had practiced Hinduism for many generations. When his brother found out, he found Khem and beat him up, insisting that it was wrong to leave the religion of “their fathers.”

How did the peaceful pluralism that exists today unfold? The Bhutanese say that there was little community interaction in the south of Bhutan. The Lhotshampas (“Southerners”) lived far apart from each other; some describe more than a day’s journey to the big markets. Families worked together on their farms; children as young as five would help carry wood or graze the land. Many were not able to attend school because of their responsibilities in helping farm the land. When they fled to Nepal, the Bhutanese were forced to settle in close quarters in the camps. “When I arrived,” Sabi recalls, “there were thousands and nobody knew each other.” Programs such as the UNHCR and the World Food Programme worked directly with the refugees to improve life in the camps. To this day, community members work hand in hand to run the camps. They plant the reclamation gardens, distribute rations to fellow refugees, represent their sectors through election on board committees, and volunteer in a number of other programs. From such participation, a strong sense of community has evolved throughout the camp. Spaces such as the Older Person Recreation Center or the Bhutanese Refugee Women Forum allow community members to engage with each other in a way they did not in Bhutan. Sabi remembers secluding herself with her close family when they first settled in the camps. To pass time, she began volunteering at the health clinic and would share with her neighbors what she learned each day. These small interactions broke down the initial barriers of religious distrust. In 2012, Sabi was elected as head of her residential sector, and she came to know the 800 residents she oversaw. Her community work has affected her reservations about differing religions. “Humans are humans,” she says, “all Gods are the same, only the name is different.”

For others who are less involved in community work, their children have a great influence in shifting away from animosity towards other religions. The UNHCR provides schools with classes taught in English from elementary school through high school. Children in the camp are required to attend school. Many are the first in their family to receive an education. Children attend schools according to their sector district, allowing for diverse religious representation. “Students who are in school and practice different religions come home each day and tease their parents about religious discrimination,” Rajendra says, “it helps break down stereotypes and stigma.” Meena, a 40-year-old woman from Sanischare, says, “I was not able to go to school. For my children though, my priority is that they learn there.” Families continually emphasize the importance of their children’s education. Drawing on their school experiences, the young people have set a tone of tolerance towards differing religious practices for the rest of their family.

Integration of Lesser-known Religions
A group of little girls laughs and claps to the beat of a drum as they take part in Shivaratri, a procession dedicated to the Hindu God Shiva. They follow a parade of women in flowing red saris down the main road that passes through Sanischare camp. The women sing in Nepali as they make their way towards the Hindu temple. Most of the women follow Hinduism, but others follow Buddhism and Kirat. They emphasize it is not uncommon to take part in each other’s major celebrations. The Hindu and Buddhist temples share the same land, tucked away next to a field. A bamboo gate separates the colorfully painted temples from the road. Inside, high Buddhist prayer flags line the entrance. The temples share space well, particularly since the Hindus worship in the morning and evening, while Buddhists worship on Mondays. “It shows that we all get along easily,” Sabi says.

In Khudunabari, the Buddhist, Hindu and Kirat temple grounds were also built alongside each other. Khudunabari is a camp that was closed in 2012, as the large number of refugees having left for resettlement allowed for consolidation from the original seven camps into two. The temple grounds continue to be well maintained by the surrounding Nepali community despite the rest of the camp being deserted; piles of raked leaves sit in the corners of the square plot. Buddhist flags, each representing a different prayer, flutter between bamboo poles. A garden flourishes beside the Kirat temple, reflecting the painted colors of the temple itself: blue, sea foam green, and burnt red. Though the people are gone, the continued maintenance of the three temples serves as a testament to the religious respect that the refugees inspired and the local community upholds.

The temple grounds in one section of Beldangi camp have three temples, a Hindu temple, a Buddhist temple, and a third with a faded red spiral painted on the wall. The spiral is the symbol of Lovism, a sect of the Heavenly Path. Devi, a 66-year-old woman who practices Lovism, explains that you follow the religion according to your own philosophy, choosing which rituals and culture to practice. The red spiral of Lovism represents blood and is drawn as a question mark to challenge our expression of Love towards God, one another, and nature. Lovism has gained more adherents in the camp since the establishment of the camps. Devi and her family converted from Kirat when the Heavenly Path Masters (considered to be angels of God) visited Beldangi and spoke to the community. Though she is dedicated to Lovism, she takes pride in her work as caretaker of all three temples. We meet her in the Lovism temple, a simple bamboo building with a smooth, chalky grey floor swept clean. Strands of tissue paper flowers hang from the ceiling and rustle as the breeze moves through the cracks of the bamboo, creating a tranquil place of worship. Devi sweeps and cleans the temple grounds every day at 4am. As she sits on a woven mat, her khaki skirt shows the dust she has swept all morning. She began this work five years ago when the other caretakers resettled. She says that people come to the Lovism temple to worship on Saturdays, but more often they come to use the space and pass time together. There are no religious texts in Lovism; Devi keeps only a tattered cloth-bound book called a Nishuee guide that tells the story of Lovism traditions. She believes that those who do good work will go to heaven, no matter which religion they follow. She looks for spiritual guidance in the holy texts and practices of other religions practiced in the camps. “Many of the prayers,” she says, “are similar to Christian prayers”. Devi describes her friends as Buddhists, Hindus and Christians, and notes that their religion does not affect their relationship. “They follow their own religion, and we follow ours.” As the wind rustles through, she describes a universal power collected through meditation. The body, heart and soul become united through a healing process called ah ma sha. She shows a picture of a pyramid and tells us, “At the very top, there is only one step because there is only one God.” This God, she explains, is the supreme truth. Though different religions in the camp have distinct ways of recognizing it, the flexibility of worship built into Lovism encourages the acceptance of these different forms of religious expression.

Manav Dharma is a sect of Hinduism that inspires a similar acceptance of multiple religious traditions in the camp. Kamala is a nineteen-year-old girl who was born in Beldangi and practices Manav Dharma. At 5 a.m. each morning, she wakes up to boil water for her parents. Together, they worship for fifteen minutes and sing a holy song dedicated to Lord Krishna. They repeat their worship together in the evening after they’ve eaten. Their temple is set up in their bamboo hut. A framed photo sits upon a small shrine. It is a picture of six Gods from several religious affiliations—Ganesh, Parvati, Saibaba, Jesus and the man God, Gurumahara. Though Manav Dharma followers give primacy to Gurumahara, Kamala says she often visits the Hindu, Buddhist and Kirat temples. She feels a strong sense of community among them. Among the few times Kamala has left the camp are visits with her family to Pathivara, a Hindu temple four hours away in Ilam. To get to the temple, her family will awaken before dawn and travel to the bus station in Birtamode, where a bus departs daily at 11 a.m. direct to the temple. Followers of various religions gather around the Hindu temple and worship for two to three hours. Kamala beams as she talks about the different religious festivals they attend: Saraswati, Puja, Shivaratri… The only religious space that Kamala does not frequent regularly is the Christian church. She once visited out of curiosity with her friends. “I never learned how to worship in church,” she notes. “It is not something shared among Hindus and Buddhists.” Her association with both Hindus and Buddhists is significant. It reveals a distinction between the Christian community and the rest of the religious affiliations. This distinction is one recognized by the Christians themselves.

Separation of Christianity
Though Kirat, Hindu and Buddhist practitioners take part in each other’s major religious celebrations, Christians maintain a separate presence within the camps. Christianity is perceived to be fundamentally different both by followers and by those outside of it. Despite this, the non-Christian community maintains an open curiosity towards Christianity and its practices. Gita, a Hindu from Sanischare, is interested in the prayer and rituals of the church and how they differ from Hinduism. “When I was younger, I went to church services in order to understand something about the Christian religion.” She found that the way of worshipping was different, but the ultimate goal of salvation is the same for both Hindus and Christians. “We pray during difficulties,” she says, alluding to the idea of salvation that the Christian religion promotes.

Meena didn’t follow any religion in Bhutan. When she arrived at the camp, there was no church. Hindu, Buddhist and Manav Dharma temples were the first to be built by the community as the camps developed. At the time, Meena felt no pressure to accept a religion. Her son was 13 years old when he convinced her family to convert to Christianity. He saw many of his friends turning to drugs or alcohol and worried that his family would go astray. When asked what makes a good Christian, Meena replied, “one that helps others in need.” Whereas in the Christian community “everyone helps each other,” she believes that Hindu, Buddhist and Manav Dharma communities focus more on individuality. She gives an example of a time when a storm destroyed her hut. Her family asked for help from the community to rebuild it, and even offering to pay, but nobody came. Only the Christians came to help, when she hadn’t even asked them.

The supportive community within the Christian congregations is one reason mentioned by several interviewees for conversion from another religion. Others attributed their conversion to concerns about health or wellbeing. Rajendra’s family converted from Buddhism when they were told that the word of God would save them from their illnesses. His father was mentally ill and his mother was paralyzed. After they converted, their relatives avoided them and forbade them from entering their homes. Rajendra says that prayer helped his family face their problems. He often sits alone and prays, advising, “Don’t love sleep, it makes you poor. Stay awake, prayer will give you life.” Their faith provided Rajendra’s family with a source of hope, and his parents eventually opened the Protestant church that operates out of his hut today. He was not religious until he started “down the wrong path” as a teenager. His group of friends spent most of their time drinking alcohol and drugs. He changed when his uncle convinced him to “listen to the word of God.” The idea of salvation is unique to Christianity among the religions in the camps. Many Christians refer to their religion as the force that helped them overcome an addiction. During one of his Sunday church services, Rajendra ended with, “Never forget to thank God. Stay awake, and be conscious.”

Despite the Christian belief that their religion is the “true way,” Christian followers still respect the practices of other religions. One afternoon in Sanischare, the sound of a conch shell echoes through the huts as we conduct an interview. A procession of at least fifty people rounds the corner. They are mourning the death of a 55-year old man who passed away the night before. The body is wrapped in a white cloth from head to toe and is covered with red and pink hibiscus flowers. Ten men and women carry his body on a bamboo board along the road. The deceased man had been of the Pradhan caste (understood to be Hindu). A Hindu priest reads in Hindi from the holy book while leading the funeral procession. Meena, the Christian woman described earlier, emerges from the crowd as the procession continues towards the river. She says that despite differences in funeral rites, their family was close, and she must respect the observance.

While Christians and non-Christians generally do not involve themselves in one another’s worship and celebrations, , an exception is made with marriages and funerals. These rituals cross otherwise firm religious boundaries. Christians bury their dead in the forest and mark the ground only by a wooden cross. While specific practices vary, the Buddhist, Hindu and Kirat communities cremate their dead, lighting fire to the body on the river and allowing the ashes to be washed away by wind and water. The beliefs in cremation and in burial reflect strong underlying beliefs of what will happen to the body and soul in the afterlife. Despite this, the Christian, Hindu, Buddhist and Kirat communities come together during these observances. Their attendance speaks powerfully to the respect they have for each other.

Conclusion
Though a division exists between the Christian community and the Buddhist, Hindu, and Kirat communities, it does not extend beyond religious practice. Near one entrance to Beldangi, a tree sits by the main road beside the Older Person Recreation Center. The tree’s thick branches extend ten feet over the ground, providing shade and circulation of a cool breeze against the heat of the sun. The elderly men like to sit here to observe the bustling community and widen their circle with passing friends who stop by. “We chat with each other and have shared all types of experience,” says one refugee. The men sometimes share their philosophies of religion and read a variety of holy books together. Though this man is Buddhist, the circle is made up of men who follow all religions.

A number of factors work in concert to produce the tolerance and coexistence among differing religious practices in the camps. Close proximity of living quarters, integrated schools based on residential sectors rather than religion or caste, close bonds and mutual respect between community members and strong common community goals all contribute to this unique environment of open and mutual respect of religious differences.