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partner is doing resilience training
with his congregation. Members are
more confident and less fearful as
they are aware of their rights.
LOVE FOR A BOMBER
Pastor Hasitha Nuwan, who oversees
seven churches in a Buddhist area
and whose vision is to reach all 520
unchurched villages in a 30km radius,
was recently harassed by monks who
tried to provoke him into an angry
response.
He values prayer for all the issues
relating to persecution, but especially
for grace not to retaliate, and for
deliverance from his enemies. He
struggles particularly when young
people are targeted by his opponents.
One recently needed stitches to a
wound.
Pastor Suganthraj, who comes from
a Hindu family, has faced ongoing
persecution.
After his father-in-law was dragged
into a Buddhist temple and beaten
up, his house was pelted with stones
and motor bikes were revved up
outside his home. When he is away,
thugs open the gates into the family’s
land and let animals in to eat their
vegetables.
In March their small shop was
set alight with the loss of their
motorcycle.
‘The pastor would ask us to pray that
his ministry will grow, that the family’s
financial needs will be met and that
they will be able to live in peace not in
fear,’ our partner said.
Another pastor had a narrow escape
when a small bomb that was about
to be thrown at him blew up in the
hand of his attacker, who required 52
stitches. Despite the attack the pastor
went to visit him and told him that
Jesus loved him!
CHANGING TRENDS
There is evidence of recent changing
trends, said our partners, as
discrimination increases against
Christians in Sri Lanka. In 2020 there
was mostly local state-led opposition
to Christian activity but, by 2022,
specific individuals or groups not
acting on behalf of the state were
blamed for these attacks.
One of the factors in the hostility is
the fact that Sinhalese Buddhism
exists only in Sri Lanka so when it is
threatened its adherents spring to its
defence sometimes violently.
Although there is currently no legal
requirement to register churches and
no official procedures, the situation
is likely to change for the worse,
says our partner. There may be the
introduction of anti-conversion
legislation arising from the view
that conversions to Christianity are
causing ‘disharmony’.
While Roman Catholic and
Assemblies of God churches are
recognised as traditional (at
least in principle), evangelical
churches are not. Recently there
has been renewed hostility against
evangelicals because they have been
branded as ‘born again’ –
term that has been deliberately used
to imply Christian ‘extremism’.
To counter the threats, our
partners run workshops on the
law and religious freedom and
have established a network of 150
lawyers across the country to defend
churches and pastors when needed.
(Source: Release International partners)
Pastor
Suganthraj’s
family shop
was set alight
A DIVERSE NATION
Sri Lanka is both religiously and
ethnically diverse
•
 Buddhists account for about 70 per
cent of the population, followed by
Hindus at 12.6 per cent, Muslims
(mostly Sunni) at 9.7 per cent,
Roman Catholics at 6.1 per cent and
Protestant Christians at 1.3 per cent
•
 Most Sri Lankans are Sinhalese, a
majority of whom are Buddhist
•
 The second largest ethnic group, Sri
Lankan Tamils, are mostly Hindu
with a significant Christian minority
•
 Muslims are recognised as a
separate ethnoreligious group
•
 Indian Tamils and a small number
of other ethnicities round out the
population
EASTER BOMBINGS
Justice still evades victims
of the Easter Sunday attacks
in 2019 that left 260 dead
despite sustained public
outcry led by the country’s
powerful Catholic church, a
presidential commission of
inquiry and prosecution of
senior government and law
enforcement officials including
the then President of the
republic.