Christians in Sri Lanka are being pressured to close churches and stop church-related activities in a Buddhist-led campaign, according to Release International.
The organisation – which serves the persecuted church in 30 countries around the globe – says there have been 450 documented acts of violence against Christians in recent years, including murder and arson. It says the burning and demolition of churches, personal attacks on Christians, death threats and forced displacement have all shown a “marked increase” since 2012.
“Release is seeing a growing climate of hostility and religious hatred towards the Christian minority in Sri Lanka,” says Paul Robinson, chief executive of the UK-based organisation.
He says there have been successive attacks and threats against churches in the first few months of this year – including more than 10 attempts to close places of worship in February alone – and adds that, sadly, “it is often Buddhist monks and Buddhist organisations that are trying to force the churches to close”.
In one incident, a mob of 250 people led by Buddhist monks is alleged to have stormed the premises of a pastor living in Asgiriya and demanded worship services stop immediately before assaulting the pastor and his wife and warning villagers they would be treated the same way if they encouraged Christian worship.
Mr Robinson describes the incident as the “tip of the iceberg”.
~ www.releaseinternational.org
