A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Saturday, May 13, 2017
PETITION TO REMOVE CIRCULAR INTIMIDATING SRI LANKAN CHURCHES
Sri Lanka (MNN) — A persecution trend has been quietly taking place in
Sri Lanka. People hostile to Christianity have been approaching churches
– often in more rural areas – and saying that because of a 2008
circular, if the church is not registered, they have to shut down.
The circular in question was issued nearly a decade ago in Sri Lanka by
the Ministry of Buddha Sasana and Religious Affairs. It states that
churches should be required to register with the state; however, the
directive has no teeth to it legally, and a church registry hasn’t even
been set-up.
So what exactly is a circular? In a Western context, the word ‘circular’ sounds like it’s just a periodical or a newspaper.
Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Marytrs USA explains, “My understanding
is a circular like this is kind of a proposed law and it circulates
through the different departments of the government and through the
different parts of the parliament, but it wasn’t actually voted on and
approved to become an official law.”
However, churches don’t always know that this circular can’t force them
to stop meeting because they didn’t register. And the people harassing
them know how to manipulate it.
“For maybe an uneducated pastor in a rural area, you get a bunch of
people [who] come in, they look official, they have a document that
looks official, and you feel frightened by that. So it’s really used as
an intimidation factor more than carrying the force of law and being
upheld by the courts or upheld by judges there. It’s really just a tool
for intimidation.”
VOM Korea is petitioning to dismantle the 2008 circular so it can’t be
used to manipulate minority Christians in Sri Lanka anymore.
Since the circular was issued, a new government in Sri Lanka was set up
in 2015. There may be hope to successfully repeal the circular and its
misuse with the most recent administration. Most of Sri Lanka is
Buddhist accounting for 70 percent of the population, but the country
still promotes freedom of religion.
“[With] the new government, so far, my understanding is the Christians
there expected improvements in religious freedom, improvements in
respect for the Evangelical Church, which makes up just a very small
percentage of the population of Sri Lanka.”
Nettleton says there’s a few things you can do. “I think one of the
things obviously is just to be aware of what’s going on. That helps us
to pray effectively for Christians in Sri Lanka, being able to
understand some of the challenges they face.”
BY LYNDSEY KOH