This from the China Morning Post:

2 May (Phnom Penh, Cambodia) Some 300 Buddhist villagers, apparently angered by a rival faith within their community, have razed a partially built Christian church to the ground near the Cambodian capital, an official said Tuesday.

In a rare act of religious intolerance, the mob chanted “Destroy the church!” and “Long live Buddhism!” as it descended upon the unfinished Protestant church Friday in Boeng Krum Leu, 30 kilometers (18 miles) east of Phnom Penh, said Ros Sithoeun, a representative of the area’s Christian community.

Che Saren, the chief of Lvea Em district, said the Buddhists felt threatened by the visible presence of another faith. The church would have been the area’s second, but there is only one Buddhist pagoda to serve the spiritual needs of the overwhelmingly Buddhist community.

“The villagers were angry with the Christians in the village who they felt mocked their Buddhist beliefs,” said Che Saren.

The building was nearing completion when the villagers attacked it with hammers and sticks. The structure _ situated only 700 meters (yards) from the Buddhist pagoda _ was torn down and the rubble torched by the mob.

…

The Christians have not complained to the police, neither to recoup the lost investment in the now defunct church, nor to demand the arrest of the mob. The two sides came to a peaceful compromise after authorities gave them a lecture on the law of religious freedom, said Che Saren.

Cambodian Buddhists, which make up more than 90 percent of the population, are generally tolerant of other religions and all faiths have been allowed to freely practice in Cambodia, except during the Khmer Rouge era when adherents to all religions were persecuted.

This would be really funny if it weren’t true.  How un-Buddhist is that?

The first thing that sprung to mind was a line from the song “Stop Me If You Think That You’ve Heard That One Before” by The Smiths (from the album “Strangeways, Here We Come”:

“And the pain was enough to make

A shy, bald Buddhist reflect

And plan a mass murder.”