PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA, November 18, 2002: Cambodian teachers are demanding the word God be removed from school textbooks amid an increasing encroachment of outside religions on a mainly Buddhist society. The rankling references appear in 12th-grade social science textbooks. According to the Cambodian Independent Teachers’ Association (CITA), mentioning God is a direct contradiction of the Constitution. CITA chief Rong Chhun said Article 43 of the Constitution states that Buddhism is the state religion and referring to God in any textbook risks confusing Buddhism with Christianity in class. Buddhists do not believe in the existence of “God,” a point the Dalai Lama himself has raised at various interfaith meetings. The offending words appear in second chapter of The 12th Grade Social Science Book which lectures students on moral behavior and urges them to “put the interests of God above all others.” Some 85 per cent of Cambodians are Buddhist, about four percent are Christian and the rest are Muslim.
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