Buddhist Monks praying

Campbell: In Mongolia's ancient capital, Karakorum, an old faith has been reborn.

This was the country's largest Buddhist monastery until the communists closed it down.

Now there's religious freedom, it's been reopened and restored.

Christian ceremony

Singing: “Halelujah! Halelujah!”

Campbell: But in the modern capital, Ulan Baatar, a new faith is spreading even faster.

Religious freedom also brought in Christian missionaries from the West. Tens of thousands are now converting on the promise of salvation and the hope of prosperity.

Paul

Paul : The Bible teaches you how to create wealth.

I mean, have you ever met a poor Jew? They're hard to find.

Dalai Lama

Campbell: Now Buddhist leaders are crying foul in this race for hearts and souls.

Dalai Lama: …but then, some cases, they use money for missionary work. That is not nice. That is not proper.

Map of Mongolia

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Mongolian countryside

Campbell: It's no surprise that Buddhists are feeling a little sensitive. Since the 13th century, Buddhism was as much a part of Mongolia as horsemanship and nomadic wandering.

But for most of the past century, Buddhists risked their lives to keep the faith alive.

Archival: Mongolian farmers

In 1920, the Soviet Union swallowed up Mongolia -- the communists allowed only one religion -- the worship of Marx sand Lenin. The soon began their brutal pursuit of the workers' paradise.

Campbell

And when the Mongolian puppet Government failed to stamp out Buddhism, the Soviet dictator Stalin decided to exterminate it. On a fateful day in 1937, secret police swooped on this monastery. It was the start of a purge that would kill 17,000 monks.

When the KGB came to Karakorum, Dashdondog was just 17. His youth saved his life.

Dashdondog

Dashdondog: The younger ones were left and the older ones were taken away. The were destroyed. This is the only one that was left.

Karakorum monastery

Dashdondog was sent into the army -- the adults were shot or sent to Siberian gulags. Almost none returned. The military took over. Hundreds of others were razed to the ground. For the next 50 years, Buddhists risked death or imprisonment to practise their religion.

Namkhaizhantsan

Namkhaizhantsan became a Buddhist monk by stealth, enrolling as a religious scholar.

Namkhaizhantsan: I was a university student then, I wasn’t studying Buddhism at a monastery. It was convenient for me to study Buddhism that way.

Campbell: But in 1990, as the Soviet Union collapsed, Mongolia finally won independence. Its new, democratic constitution guaranteed freedom of religion.

Enkhbayar

Enkhbayar: It's up to a person whether to believe or not believe in the existence of God, or any religion. But culturally and mentally, of course Buddhism is very much a part of Mongolian identity.

Campbell: But no sooner had the Soviets left, than the Americans arrived, offering a very different way to paradise.

Paul Swartzendruber

Paul: Christianity never destroys a culture. It will remove things from a culture that are holding it back, that are destroying it, essentially that are killing its people, that are making life miserable but it will give a Mongolian spin, as it were, on the Gospels.

Paul: Yeah, let's go down the hall here and have a look at our newsroom.

Eagle Television studio

Campbell: Paul Swartzendruber has spent seven years in Mongolia running Eagle Television, named after the American Eagle. It’s funded by American Christians, and it promotes American-style democracy and religion.

Paul

Campbell: So are you a Christian station or are you a business-oriented station?

Paul: We're a joint venture. So we're both. The American side has Christian interests at heart but is very, very interest in objective, unbiased news.

Campbell: And you have a religious program as well?

Paul: We have a religious talk show that discusses current events in view of religion. It's hosted by Christians.

Music

TV broadcast

Campbell: Its news broadcasts are interspersed with biblical messages and evangelical appeals.

Paul

Paul: Every so often you'll see a Scripture pop up on the screen. It can happen anytime, anywhere. Maybe not in our news block because that's sold out with lots of advertising.

Buddhists

Campbell: Buddhists complain this sort of foreign funding has given Christians an unfair advantage.

Abbot

Abbot: Other religions have money. We have been under oppression for seventy years. We are starting a race from behind them.

Eagle TV promo

Campbell: And Buddhists face some flashy competition. One of Eagle TV’s most popular shows is a Christian music program aimed directly at Mongolian youth.

Music video

Singing

Campbell: There’s a steady mix of American Christian rock.

Singing: Would you be ashamed of Jesus’ name, if loving God was a crime?

Campbell: And it's full of young people testifying how Christianity has given meaning to their lives.

Christian man

Christian: I now live for Jesus. Jesus will help me through the problems in my life. I now commit every moment of my life to Him.

Mongolian marketplace

Campbell: The end of Communism has left an economic and spiritual void.

Teenagers have freedom their parents could scarcely imagine, but none of the security Mongolians once enjoyed and little to believe in either.

Some say Christianity can solve all their problems.

Paul

Paul: The Bible teaches you how to create wealth. And I know there are a lot of Christians who say that's blasphemy. But it's here. I mean, have you ever met a poor Jew? They're hard to find. And the reason some Christians are living in poverty is because they're ignoring the Old Testament. I don't follow all the laws of the Old Testament -- there's good stuff in there on how to create wealth.

Campbell: It’s an attitude that angers the highest levels of Government.

Prime Minister

SUPER:

Nambar Enkhbayar

Prime Minister, Mongolia

Prime Minister: You are poor now because you are a Buddhist. You stop becoming a Buddhist, you will be developed from tomorrow. You want to learn English, English language is based on the Bible. So give up your Buddhist language and become a Christian and then automatically you will learn English language. So this kind of strange manipulation of the mind of people is not very much appreciated.

Singing

Christians singing

But the Prime Minister is speaking for an older generation. Most of the converts to Christianity are under 30. This is the Hope Church in Ulan Baatar, one of more than 200 evangelical churches in Mongolia. Even its prayer meetings attract scores of teenagers.

Compared to the ancient rituals of Buddhism, they see Christianity as new, Western and cutting edge. The atmosphere can be more like a pop concert.

Bolarchimeg

Sixteen-year-old Bolarchimeg became a Christian after her friends told her about an exciting new religion. She says it’s changed her life.

Bolarchimeg: There have been a lot of difficulties in the family and God gave me power to get through them.

Campbell: And there's an element of teenage rebellion.

Bolarchimeg: My mother was against me going to church. She said “You are wasting your time on these useless activities like reading the bible everyday. Wouldn’t it be better to spend that time on your study?”

Christian picnic and strawberry hunt

Campbell: The Church has become their social life as well as their shared mystery. Today it’s a picnic and strawberry hunt just outside Ulan Baatar.

What’s striking is that there are no foreigners in sight. Even the pastors are all Mongolian. Mugi only became a Christian eight years ago, at the age of 19. The foreign missionaries who converted her sent her to Singapore to train as a church leader.

Mugi

Mugi: …that is a real impact, and that is drawing a lot of people, and people are seeing that hey, it's not just a foreign thing. Our locals are talking about this, our locals are really thinking about this and really challenging people to come to Christ.

Campbell: And two or three times a week, they’re out spreading the Word.

Christian girl

Christian girl: Can you accept Christianity? It’s written in this book. First point, Lord of the universe is full of love for you – that’s why he created you. So what prevents you from knowing Him?

Campbell: While some churches -- like the Mormons -- still use foreign missionaries, most have already been taken over by locals. They have little trouble persuading strangers to join them.

Christian girl: Give this book a good read. One tree doesn’t make a forest and one person doesn’t make a family, so please come to our meeting. Take this green covered book. This bracelet is an expression of God. If you have time can you come to our meeting at 2 p.m?

Woman: Okay. Which book do I take?

Christian girl: This one.

Woman: All right. Thank you

Campbell: Buddhism has no such evangelical tradition.

Dalai Lama

But it does have one charismatic figure who can outshine any missionary -- the Dalai Lama. He’s been trying to get to Mongolia for most of the past 18 months. But thanks to pressure from China, Russia has refused to grant him a transit visa to allow him to fly there. From distant India, he’s been watching Mongolia’s Christian awakening with increasing disquiet.

Dalai Lama: Whenever I give some Buddhist explanation in the West I always make clear Westerners, like Europeans or American, better to keep their own tradition in the religious faith, like Christianity, Judaism and to some extent Muslim. It's better to keep their own tradition rather than change into new religion. So similarly, like Tibetan and Mongolian, traditionally Buddhist, so better keep their own tradition. This is my feeling.

Campbell: But sometimes foreign Christians are the only people Mongolians can turn to for help.

Alex Snary

Alex: Because lot of us are small, but certainly the vast majority of groups, aid groups here are Christian-based.

Campbell: Alex Snary is an aid worker from a small Pentecostal church in New Zealand.

He's lived in Mongolia for seven years, much of it in a poor village in conditions as bleak as any of his neighbours.

His group, Asian Outreach, runs programs to help Mongolians become self-sufficient. Today he’s visiting a crippled herdsman, Gulbaatar, who sank into desperate poverty after independence. Asian Outreach lent him enough livestock to build up his own herd and look after himself.

Alex: Our job here is not to preach to people. We're here I suppose to show a practical side to Christianity. We take love they neighbour seriously. And what we want to do, we want to be an example to people here. So if people are interested in Christianity they can approach us, we can talk about it, but we're not here to push a certain religious point of view.

Abbot

Campbell: But some Buddhists find that hard to accept.

Abbot: There are a lot of poor people, and some of them are turning to Christianity to see if it could help them. That is only superficial. Although Christianity has come to Mongolia, no matter how wide it spreads Buddhism will retain its position in the hearts of the Mongolian people. So there is no need to worry about it.

Alex Snary

Campbell: But Christianity has already jumped from the cities to the grasslands.

(language)

Campbell: Alex took me to meet a remote nomad couple. His group has been helping them to rebuild their flock after two bad winters.

Erdenesuren and her husband Khashkuu are both Christians -- but not because of Alex.

They converted after friends told them of Christianity’s power. They believe God has protected them from losing their entire flock.

Alex: I’m just asking about the last winter and he said they had 38 horses before winter, now they have 15 left. They had 41 cows… and 11 cows are left. So they're just praying about what to do with their future.

Campbell: Losing half their flock would try the faith in any religion, wouldn't it?

Alex: Yeah. But I mean her attitude is praise God, we've still got half a flock. There are many, many people around here have got nothing. And so they count themselves blessed even having gone through such a difficult time.

Erdenesuren

Campbell: Erdenesuren sees Buddhism as superstitious religion. But God, she says, is a hard fact.

Erdenesuren: There is no power in religion, no matter how many times you pray. There is no mercy in religion. But God is different. If you ask for God’s help God will change you life right away. God will do everything in his power.

Mongolian Christians praying

Music

Campbell: A decade ago, there were thought to be just 20 Christians in the entire country. But Christianity is spreading so fast it no longer needs foreign missionaries or even churches.

Erdenesuren: You sent mankind your only son, Christ. God, you let the Virgin Mary give birth to Christ with mighty power and mighty magic.

Campbell: The Buddhist faith that survived Stalin is falling victim to freedom. And a new culture is taking hold of a desperate people in an ancient land.

Music

Credits:

Mongolian Missionaries

Reporter: Eric Campbell

Camera: Sebastian Phua

Editor: Stuart Miller

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Grandfather Frost

If you're still trying to shed those unwanted kilos stacked on during the festive season, spare a thought for the Russians -- who are still celebrating. Their Christmas festivities go on until mid-March and centre on an old- timer in a red suit and long white beard. No it's not Father Christmas but Grandfather Frost and he's no mythical figure --he really exists. We know because we've met him. He's been officially installed in a small town in north-west Russia, where Jill Colgan paid him a visit for this week's Postcard.

Russian train station

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Colgan: We're 700 kilometres north of Moscow, just another 300 kilometres till we reach our destination -- the home town of one particularly famous Russian.

Music

Colgan: A town that has avoided the fate of many of the villages we pass along the way. Their townsfolk long gone in the search for work and survival.

Town of Veliky Ustyug

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Colgan: This is the ancient town of Veliky Ustyug, which turns 855 years old this year.

Music

Colgan: The face of its most famous resident is everywhere. In Russian he's called Ded Moroz. He's the best loved of all the characters in Russian folklore. After all, it's Grandfather Frost who delivers Russian children their presents -- not Santa Claus or Father Christmas.

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Veliky Ustyug post office.

Colgan: Children write to him by the box load, care of the Veliky Ustyug post office.

Galina

Galina: There are so many letters coming in. Lat year we had 107 thousand letters, and just from the start of this year we’ve already received 20 thousand letters from children.

Colgan: The town mayor has decreed every letter must be answered, even those from as far away as Australia.

Galina: We get letters from every corner of Russia, but also letters from abroad – countries like Israel, Norway and Germany. We even received one from a boy in Australia addressed to the Russian Grandfather Frost, Veliky Ustyug.

Town of Veliky Ustyug

Colgan: The town has flooded with visitors, all here to see the great man himself. But Veliky Ustyug wasn't always this busy. Like so many other small towns, it's come perilously close to going under.

Music

Colgan: Many of the factories went belly up when the worst of economic times hit in 1998.

Cathedrals

The once magnificent cathedrals, for which it was famous, closed under Soviet times, now sit in awesome disrepair. There is simply no money to fix them.

Music

Sukhona river.

Colgan: Many homes in the towns still have no running water. In winter, the women do their washing in a hole cut in the ice of the frozen river Sukhona.

Tatiana

Tatiana: Three years ago the factories and businesses in this area were in a state of crisis just like the rest of the country’s economy. The unemployment in the town was terrible.

Colgan: In desperation, the town leaders searched for a new industry to keep the town alive. Tatiana Muromtseva became the driving force behind a crazy sounding scheme to be the official home of Grandfather Frost.

Tatiana: People reacted very differently to the idea. Some just laughed – others refused to believe we could turn the fairy tale into reality. But now, three years later both with the local council and the people themselves are extremely positive about it. Everyone is trying to make money by taking part in it and they’re helping in every possible way.

Boot factory

Colgan: He's touching the lives of everyone -- the local boot factory struggled through hard times -- now its souvenir Grandfather Frost boots are a hit.

Factory Manager

Factory Manager: They sold like hotcakes. We’re planning to produce more souvenirs to grab the attention of customers. What’s more, every tourist who comes here spreads the news about our town, so our distribution net will grow wider.

Children on bus

Colgan: There's only one person left to see -- the legendary figure who drew these children from their beds at 5 a.m. to travel from the village of October to see him.

Kid 1: I really want to see what he looks like.

Kid 2: I want to ask him for a big soft toy.

Music

Grandfather Frost’s castle

Colgan: Fifteen kilometres out of town, and we enter the kingdom where wishes come true.

Singing

Man: will make your dreams come true, so close your eyes when the bell rings.

Grandfather Frost

Music

Grandfather Frost: I welcome all our guests with great pleasure – big and small.

Colgan: Well, he's a lot taller, a lot thinner, and a lot smarter it seems, than Santa Clause. Instead of Rudolph, Grandfather Frost always has one of a bevy of pretty young Snow Maidens at his side.

Kid: You won’t find a more beautiful Christmas tree than ours. The lights run all the way up the fluffy branches – right to the star on top.

Singing

Grandfather Frost’s private quarters

Colgan: Where better to get to know him than his private quarters -- an exclusive interview -- up close and personal with Grandfather Frost.

Colgan: Just explain for us your relationship with Santa Claus. Are you in fact one and the same person?

Grandfather Frost: Santa Claus is a friend of mine – he came here as my guest, and we talk on the phone now and then.

Colgan: This year, what did the kids ask for?

Grandfather Frost: The requests are all different. Some ask for computers, others want something else but I try to please them to the best of my ability.

Colgan: Is there any kind of hobby that you have, so that when the lights go out and people go home, you perhaps have some time to yourself?

Grandfather Frost: Now that’s a question. I like to go to the banya every now and again – I do like a banya with real firewood.

Colgan: Ah, the Russian banya -- the steam house. When he's finished making presents and saving towns from economic ruin, when it's quiet and the last child has gone home, that's where you'll find him. Shedding his cares like a coat.

Credits:

Grandfather Frost

Reporter: Jill Colgan

Camera/Editor: Mark Slade