Sri Lanka's Buddhist clergy want to ban conversion to Christianity
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (31.07.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (31.07.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Sri Lanka's influential Buddhist clergy have called for laws to ban Christian conversions spreading in poverty-stricken rural villages and vowed collective action against the practice.
They have adopted an 11-point plan to fight proselytisers, active in several districts of the island and called on the authorities to immediately pass laws to prevent conversions taking place under the cover of helping rural communities to improve their economic standards.
They say a shortage of Buddhist monks in several temples is also allowing Christian priests to make inroads into the Buddhist heartland by converting farming communities.
The monks say about 23,000 Buddhists are being converted to Christianity each year and proselytisers have targeted 5,000 out of the 25,400 villages in the country for their activities.
Buddhist conference tomorrow at BMICH
by Mallika Wanigasundera
The Island (29.07.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (30.07.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - The Bauddha Sanrakshana Sanwidhanaya, which was formed in Kandy in February 2001 held a press conference on July 24 at the Dhamma Wijaya Foundation Hall to announce the holding of a conference on July 30 at the BMICH Main Hall at 3 p.m.
Among the convenors of the conference are the Ven. Medagama Dhammananda, Ven. Kumbuk Kandawala Pannaratna of the Asgiriya Chapter, Ven. Deragama Kusaladhamma of the Sambodhi Vihara, Colombo 7, Prof. Buddhadasa Hewawitarana and Gamini Perera of the Lanka Bauddha Sanrakshana Sanwidhanaya.
It will bring together bhikkus [monks] and laymen of various organisations, groups and individuals who have been doing a certain amount of work against individuals and organisations carrying out anti-Buddhist activities.
One of the main problems faced by the Buddha Sasana is that many people are not aware of certain activities and incidents which are taking place in this country. If they do hear about them they take them lightly. Participants will be able to gather some idea of these activities.
The conference aims at making all Buddhists aware of the seriousness of this problem. The fundamentalist Evangelists who are unethically converting Buddhists to Christianity are one of the main threats to Buddhism. Various speakers will give a history of this issue, its origin, the strategies used, by Evangelists and other parties. The latter include individuals posing as Buddhists propagandising a distorted version of the Buddha's teachings and other imposters who don the yellow robe pose as bhikkhus, commit offensive acts which bring the Sangha to disrepute.
Buddhists will be advised on how they could counter these anti-Buddhist activities and they will be apprised on how they can operate to protect themselves and their religion under the fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution.
These religious freedoms are abused by Evangelists on the assumption that there are no bounds to their activities under the law.
They have been found to be wrong under a landmark judgement in India where the courts have held that religious conversion is not a fundamental right. In India a number of states have passed legislation against unethical conversions and made it a penal offence.
More recently in Sri Lanka, the Supreme Court examined a bill and it was held that the Indian judgement was applicable more strongly to Sri Lanka. Here too it was upheld that conversion was not a fundamental right. Other matters which would be discussed at the conference are: Construction of churches, conversion of residences into churches, action brought by Evangelists in the courts over the issue of visas to religious teachers.
Attack on Christian families and churches
by Godfrey Yogarajah
Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (24.07.2001)/ HRWF International Secretariat (27.07.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - On the 15th of June 2001, 44 Christian families numbering around 77 persons were made homeless in a village called Panichankerny, 54 km north of Batticaloa. This was due to an attack launched by Hindu extremists. They were forced to spend the night in the jungles and were languishing as refugees in a nearby area.
As a month had passed since the incident, the churches decided to resettle the believers in a neighboring area. On Friday the 20th of July a mob attacked these believers with clubs and knives and five are admitted in hospital with serious stab wounds. There are several others who are being treated, having been beaten by clubs and poles. The authorities concerned are showing a blind eye to this problem. These Christian refugees need rgent food supplies, medicine and shelter. This is the second attack on them.
At the middle of the month of May the villagers gathered in the Hindu temple and passed a resolution against the Christians - that they should leave the village. Following this they took three Christian families to the temple and forcibly put "holy ash" on them. They then summoned a number of other illiterate Christian men to come to the temple and sign a document, which the temple authorities read in public. The document stated that these men had agreed to leave the village.
When the women heard about this incident, a group of seven women went to the local office of the Tamil freedom fighters (known as the LTTE) in the neighboring village, as this area is controlled by the Hindu insurgents, and made a complaint to them for remedy. In the meantime the villagers had given these Christians the June 15th deadline to leave. Subsequently The Young men's Hindu Association leader visited this village and aggravated the situation.
On the 12th of June the EASL made a written complaint to the LTTE area leader. On the night 15th of June a mob went to these believer's homes (They were members of two churches, the Foursquare congregation and the Assemblies of God, and assaulted them and chased them from the village. This went going on from 9 PM until 1:00 in the morning; people had no time to pick up their belongings, nor their clothing, and some were forced to run naked. They spent the night in the jungles with their small babies and crossed over to the army border the following day into the government controlled area and arrived at the village of Valaichenai.
The EASL made complaints to the army, police, local authorities, as well as to the higher authorities of the LTTE.
In another incident on the night of June 16th at Arumaugathan Kudiyiruppu a village 6 km away, a church building which was partly built was attacked and ruined by a mob of people.
Sri Lanka protects church that was attacked by mob
AP (23.02.2001) HRWF International Secretariat (23.02.2001) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net -The government sent police to protect a Protestant church attacked by a mob during a service, and President Chandrika Kumaratunga ordered an inquiry into the disturbance.
Carrying clubs and swords, the mob attacked the Christian Center church last Sunday, wounding 30 worshippers and damaging the building, said Godfrey Yogarajah, general-secretary of the National Christian Evangelical Alliance. Three victims were hospitalized.
Several dozen people were attending the service in the church in Nuwarawatte village, about 125 miles northeast of Colombo, the capital.
Police have taken three people into custody, said Kusumsiri Balapatabendi, secretary to the president. She said a special police team has been sent to the church to investigate and make sure there are no new attacks.
Christians make up about 7.6 percent of Sri Lanka's 18.6 million people. Buddhists are 69.3 percent, followed by Hindus at 15.4 percent. Muslims represent 7.6 percent.
Christians belong to both the major ethnic groups - Sinhalese and Tamils. Despite 17 years of fighting between Sri Lankan forces and Tamil rebel separatists in the North and East, serious attacks on churches are fairly unusual.
However, Yogarajah said that Buddhist political groups have been showing displeasure with churches in the countryside, where Christians far outnumber Sinhalese Buddhists.
