BANGKOK, Thailand -- American evangelist Billy Graham's controversial
son Franklin, who said Buddhists cannot "get to heaven" and Islam "is
very evil and wicked," began a three-night Christian festival on
Friday (November 22) in Buddhist-majority Thailand's second biggest
city, Chiang Mai.
Vietnam, meanwhile, is hosting the first United Nations World Tourism
Organization (UNWTO) International Conference on Spiritual Tourism for
Sustainable Development, including an Australian tourism investor and
others discussing how Aboriginals, traditional religions and New Age
spiritualism enhance destinations.
Many people in the international travel industry are looking for ways
to protect crumbling monuments and indigenous spiritual arts, while
educating tourists and governments about the value of belief systems
dating back before recorded history.
In Southeast Asia, foreign evangelicals and modern visionaries also
frequently arrive, attracted by the region's ancient religious sites
or trying to push atheist Buddhists into imagining a god to worship.
"The Abundant Life Festival is an evangelistic partnership between the
churches of Chiang Mai and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association
(BGEA) that begins and ends in the local church," the U.S.-based
festival's organizers said, introducing their gathering in Thailand.
"Thousands will experience a genuine revival as they become involved
in evangelism and discipleship training, prayer fellowship, and other
facets of the Festival," BGEA said.
"The Festival provides incredible opportunities for Christians to be
trained in how to share their faith with their friends."
The festival runs from November 22-24 in a stadium in the northern
city, and also features music and entertainment by Thai pop groups and
others.
Alan Dawson, an American editor and columnist at the English-language
Bangkok Post, warned readers that Franklin Graham "is a hard-line
version of his father, seeking converts in large part by reviling
other religions.
"He has gained notoriety mostly by derogating Islam, but his comments
on Hindus and -- by extension -- Buddhists are hardly models of the
compassion of Christ, let alone tolerance," Dawson wrote while
reporting Graham's schedule in the newspaper's weekly events box.
In 2010, Franklin Graham told Newsweek, "I don't believe that you can
get to heaven through being a Buddhist or Hindu.
"I think Muhammad only leads to the grave. Now, that's what I believe,
and I don't apologize for my faith. And if it's divisive, I'm sorry."
Graham also said in 2010 during an ABC TV talk show, "I believe the
mosques in America, the majority of the mosques in this country, have
been hijacked by the radicals and Islamists who want to destroy this
country."
Islam "is a very evil and wicked religion," he said in 2001 according
to Associated Press.
Thailand's population is 95 percent Buddhist and five percent Muslim,
while Christians comprise less than one percent.
Today, Franklin Graham is president and CEO of BGEA and also
Samaritan's Purse, an "international relief organization"
headquartered in the U.S. state of North Carolina.
Three weeks ago, during the first three days of November, Franklin
Graham's son, Will, held a similar "evangelistic celebration" in Udon
Thani, also in northern Thailand.
The Udon Thani event attracted 12,310 people, including 808
"registering a commitment to Jesus Christ," BGEA said.
"In 2012, Will was named vice president of the BGEA, overseeing
Children and Youth Evangelism Training. He also serves as executive
director of the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove in Asheville,
N.C.," the association said.
By contrast, Vietnam's two-day conference began on Thursday (November
21) in Ninh Binh City, about 56 miles from the capital Hanoi,
organized by their Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the UNWTO.
Delegates came from Australia, Canada, Spain, Thailand, India,
Indonesia, Turkey and elsewhere.
They hoped to educate "policy makers, the tourism industry, community
representatives, NGOs (non-governmental organizations)" and also
"civil society, spiritual leaders and academic institutions," the
UNWTO said.
"With a landmark one billion tourists crossing international borders
in 2012 alone, never before have so many traveled so widely, nor come
into contact with such diverse expressions of spirituality, faith and
culture," it said.
Protecting the world's "spiritual, religious and cultural values and
assets in the context of tourism," and the "empowerment of local
communities" including "vulnerable groups" was also discussed.
"Spiritual tourism" includes "religious tourism," "secular and New Age
spiritualism" and other beliefs, it said.
Examples of successful "spiritual tourism" include India's endangered
Patachitra artists whose traditional Hindu painting and singing
techniques were recently rescued from oblivion, the organizers said.
Indonesia's Balinese artisans and Australia's Aborigines have also
been able to revive their spiritual values through tourism-related
events, said the UNWTO which includes 156 nations.
"At Australia's Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, the Anangu Aboriginal
community invites tourists to learn about their customs and spiritual
values through walking tracks and a specially designed tourist
center," the UNWTO said.
"Taking travelers into the world of traditional Tjukurpa law, which
guides the Anangu's protection and management of the land, and seeking
to communicate its meaning, has helped to create greater visitor
sensitivity to local traditions and beliefs.
"So too has this helped tourists understand why their responsible
behavior is so critical to the survival of the National Park and the
values of the Anangu people," the UNWTO said.
At the conference, Steve Noakes, an Australian, shared his 35 years of
experience in tourism across the Asia-Pacific region.
Noakes reportedly has "eco-lodge and eco-safari investments in
Indonesia and Australia, cultural tourism operations in the Pacific
islands and international sustainable tourism projects funded by a
range of donor agencies, national governments and industry bodies,"
according to a conference document.
"He has been an adjunct professor at the University of Queensland and
Griffith University in Australia, and a visiting professor at the
University of Lapland in Finland. He has served as a member of the
UNWTO World Committee on Tourism Ethics, the Boards of the Global
Sustainable Tourism Council, Sustainable Travel International, Pacific
Asia Travel Association (PATA), and a number of NGOs," it said.
"Over two and a half thousand years ago, the Lord Buddha probably
contributed to the early days of spiritual tourism destinations,
urging his followers to visit locations important to his life," Noakes
told the conference.
"Spiritual tourism can add value for environments, communities,
entrepreneurs and tourists within the ethical objectives outlined by
the UNWTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism," Noakes said.
Canada's delegate, Dr. Daniel H. Olsen, an associate professor in
Brandon University's geography department, focused on "how scholars
have attempted to define religious tourism and spiritual tourism, and
differentiate spiritual tourism from New Age tourism."
Jose Paz Gestoso, a tourism director from Spain, traced religious
tourism in Europe since medieval times, including Christian
pilgrimages to saints' tombs and other holy sites.
Dr. Duong Bich Hanh, a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) delegate from Vietnam, said she was
concerned how "some cultural assets are over-exploited, and there are
weak mechanisms in place for protecting and conserving them" in
Vietnam.
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Richard S. Ehrlich is a Bangkok-based journalist from San Francisco,
California, reporting news from Asia since 1978, and recipient of
Columbia University's Foreign Correspondent's Award. He is a co-author
of three non-fiction books about Thailand, including "Hello My Big Big
Honey!" Love Letters to Bangkok Bar Girls and Their Revealing
Interviews; 60 Stories of Royal Lineage; and Chronicle of Thailand:
Headline News Since 1946. Mr. Ehrlich also contributed to the final
chapter, Ceremonies and Regalia, in a new book titled King Bhumibol
Adulyadej, A Life's Work: Thailand's Monarchy in Perspective.
His websites are:
Asia Correspondent
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(Copyright 2013 Richard S Ehrlich)
