The link between Christianity and the Kachin people is now well established. Mostly the religion is thought to have built its strength in the colonial period, when foreign missionaries were active. Sadan’s argument is, though, that implantation of the faith in those years was sporadic, passing through peaks and troughs and resulting in only limited conversion. The real gains came after independence.

Then, in a context of generalized desire to express opposition to Burmese rule through distinctive religious beliefs, the spread of Christianity was facilitated by several structural factors. One was General Ne Win’s expulsion of foreign missionaries in 1966, which generated an indigenized and powerful Kachin Christian mission. Another was the consequent rise of local theological colleges, which worked vigorously to spread the faith. Yet another was a broad unity of interest between the KIA, not itself a missionary movement, and Christian organizations.

In 1977, jubilee celebrations were held in Myitkyina to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the presentation of the Bible in Jinghpaw by Ola Hanson, as well as the centennial of the Kachin Baptist mission. From those celebrations, Sadan reproduces a terrific photo of a reported 6213 people participating in a mass baptism on the banks of the Irrawaddy River (383).

In Kachin State, it was “during the period of post-colonial conflict rather than before it that Christianity became embedded ideologically” (368).