Abstract: "The term, ?post-secular society? would be almost inexplicable to citizens of Thailand (Siam) and Myanmar (Burma) because the concept of a ?secular? society itself would be inconsistent with socio-cultural norms, despite the rampant consumerism which pervades the one and the endemic poverty the other. Far from being ?secular? societies, defined as those in which religion has a subordinate or minimal role in public life and is divorced from the policy-making centres of power, the contemporary states of Thailand and Myanmar have established their national identities on the cornerstone of Buddhism. In official parlance, to be Thai or Burmese is to be Buddhist. This exclusionary formula is pursued despite each of these two nation states giving official support to the international mantra, ?freedom of religion?, and each of them having substantial minorities who follow the Muslim, Christian, Hindu or other faiths. Religion is so tightly interwoven with political life in these two countries that one might ask whether it is possible that they could be conceived as religio-political societies in the manner of the pre-Reformation Italian city states. This paper explores the integral relationship between religion and public political society in contemporary Thailand and Myanmar in the context of Buddhism?s philosophy of non-violence, its reification of ahimsa (non-violence, non-harm), and commitment to atman (selflessness) and moksha (non-attachment to materiality) as essential values for transforming socio-political relations."