13 dead in fire at Muslim school in Myanmar

A wave of sectarian violence...

Wrong. It's a wave of religious violence. Islam and Buddhism are not sects, they are religions.

It seems that whenever a repressive regime/dictatorship falls or eases up and tries to be more "democratic", this type of religious or sectarian or ethnic viiolence flares up.

Jefflee:

" It's a wave of religious violence. Islam and Buddhism are not sects, they are religions. "

And how do you define the difference?

Sectarian would be Sunni Muslims vs Shiite Muslims, but in this case we have 2 major and completely different religions!! Muslims and Buddhists are as related as apples and oranges, but anyway, any human loss is horrible!!

JeffLee

Islam and Buddhism are not sects, they are religions

Religions are sects which succeeded.

And how do you define the difference?

Sects are branches of religions, usually ones that deviate from the orthodoxy. The common conflict between Sunnis and Shias, for example, are sectarian, because both groups belong to the same religion (Islam).

Jefflee:

" Sects are branches of religions, usually ones that deviate from the orthodoxy. "

That is an artificial distinction. For example, Christianity can be seen as a branch of Judaism, deviating from the Orthodoy. Ahmediyya muslims think that they are part of islam, but muslim scholars declare they are vile infidels. Continue at will.

I think Tokyobakayaro pretty much nails it with this definition. Fact is, when religious nuts go at each other and the rest of us, there really is no point labelling them as sectarians or believers.

It is an entirely made-up distinction.

there really is no point labelling them

Sorry to disappoint you, but in the real world they are labeled, officially by governments and the major religious organizations. Numbers of Roman Catholics are duly recorded from Baptism documents. Muslims are officially born Muslims in many Islamic countries and this status is officially recorded, such as in birth certificates and family registries, including their sects.

Ethnic Malays, for instance, lose their constitutional status if they convert. Sorry, there's nothing "artificial" about losing one's constitutional status. And Malaysia is relatively liberal for a Muslim society.

Christianity can be seen as a branch of Judaism,

Can be, but never is. How many devout Christians say, "Hi, I'm a Jew in the sect of "Christianity"? LOL.

Jefflee:

" Sorry to disappoint you, but in the real world they are labeled, "

I was referring to your labelling of different sets of beliefs as "religions" or "sects". As Tokyobakayaro pointed out, there is no difference between religions and sects. A religion is simply a big sect.