A recent report by the Myanmar Witness project, affiliated with the UK-based Centre for Information Resilience, sheds light on the profound repercussions of Myanmar's ongoing conflict on Christian communities in the predominantly Christian Chin State. The military junta's clash with resistance forces following the coup in February 2021 has taken a severe toll on Christians and their places of worship in the sole Christian-majority state in the country.

The Centre for Information Resilience's Myanmar Witness project examined 10 incidents of church damage, primarily resulting from airstrikes, between March and August 2023. Their findings underscore the sustained and enduring impact of the conflict on the Christian population of Chin State, constituting 85% of the local residents. The state has been a stronghold of resistance against the military regime and maintains close ties with ultra-nationalist Buddhist monks.

Five case studies in the report illustrate the extent of church damage in Thantlang, Falam, and Hakha townships, revealing structural harm, including collapsed roofs, captured in online photographs. Instances of civilian casualties and destruction of nearby homes were also documented, particularly in rebel strongholds and townships under martial law, which are more vulnerable to attacks by the Myanmar Air Force.

Matt Lawrence, the project director of Myanmar Witness, emphasized the symbolic and physical significance of the destruction of churches in Chin State. He noted that these places of worship, protected under international law during conflicts, hold sacred importance for their communities. Lawrence stated, "These places of worship are not only protected under international law during times of conflict, but they’re of sacred importance to those who use them."

According to the Chin Human Rights Organization, at least 100 religious sites, including 55 Christian institutions, have been deliberately destroyed since the military coup in February 2021. Salai Za Uk Ling, deputy executive director of the Chin Human Rights Organization, described the destruction as a deliberate tactic to inflict psychological trauma on a specific religious and cultural community, emphasizing that these are not collateral damages.

Christian leaders have consistently appealed for the safeguarding of places of worship, invoking the Hague Convention on Warfare, which also calls for the protection of hospitals and educational institutions. In Myanmar, where Christians constitute only 6% of the 54 million population, primarily Buddhist, the conflict's impact on the Christian-majority Chin State continues to draw attention to the urgent need for international intervention and protection of religious sites.