(ABP) — The Sri Lankan government appears poised to vote on anti-conversion legislation in April, according to a number of media reports.
If approved, the vote would cap a three-year effort by Buddhist leaders to stem the tide of rural Buddhists turning to evangelical Christianity. If passed, the bill would bring Christian-oriented humanitarian aid groups under additional scrutiny.
Although the Sri Lankan constitution guarantees freedom of thought, conscience and religion, it also assures that Buddhism will hold the “foremost place.”
About 70 percent of Sri Lanka's 18.5 million people are Buddhist, with higher concentrations in the Sinhalese-dominated southern and western parts of the country. About 15 percent are Hindu, which is more predominant in the north and east. Adherents to Islam make up about 7 percent of the population, with Christians accounting for 8 percent. An estimated 90 percent of the Christian population is Roman Catholic, with the remainder divided mainly among several evangelical groups.
In 2002, Buddhist leaders called for a special “Buddha Sasana Commission” to address the decline of Buddhism and the growth of Christian churches in rural areas. Members of the commission devised a “clear strategy to suppress the growth of Christianity and stir up popular opposition to the Christian faith,” according to Compass Direct, a group that tracks religious persecution.
In 2004, a fact-finding team from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty documented more than 160 incidents of violence and intimidation against religious minorities, including dozens of church burnings and desecrations. Similar figures have been reported by the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka and by other watchdog groups.
Parliamentary elections held in April 2004 resulted in strong gains for the Jathika Hela Urumaya, a Buddhist political party. The JHU quickly proposed a “Bill for the Prohibition of Forcible Conversion,” interpreting any kind of “allurement” toward Christianity as a forcible conversion. In August, the Sri Lankan Supreme Court ruled two sections of the bill to be in violation of the constitution's religious freedom guarantees, but the bill could be amended and remains under discussion.
In addition, the nation's minister of Buddhist affairs, Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, has filed a second and more restrictive bill, the “Act for the Protection of Religious Freedom.” Wickremanayake's bill was endorsed by the Sri Lankan Cabinet on June 16, and would forbid anyone to “attempt to convert or aid or abet acts of conversion of a person to a different religion.”
Offenders could be subject to a fine of 100,000 Sri Lankan rupees (about $1,000) and a prison term of up to five years. If the conversion involves a minor, the penalty rises to 500,000 rupees and up to seven years in prison.
Other proposed legislation would establish local “Sanghadikarana” tribunals, where Buddhist monks would preside without the involvement of legal authorities. Though touted as a convenient way to resolve village disputes, advocates for religious freedom fear the local tribunals would provide a legal venue for religious persecution and discrimination against minority groups.
Buddhist activists have routinely accused evangelicals of coercing poor people to convert by promising money or jobs, especially in rural areas. As a result, passage of the act could severely hamper Christian relief work in the wake of the tsunami that ravaged the country Dec. 26, 2004. Religious freedom advocates fear that the bill could be interpreted to view the charitable efforts of Christians as material enticements toward conversion. Thus, even those Christian organizations whose primary focus is humanitarian aid could still run afoul of the new law.
Critics of the act note that, if passed, it would put the country in violation of international human-rights agreements to which Sri Lanka is a signatory, leading to a possible economic backlash.
Godfrey Yogarajah, general secretary of the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka, recently charged that “the proposed law is in breach of Sri Lanka's international obligations towards the protection of human rights under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The tarnishing of our nation's image as a human-rights violator will cause irreparable damage to our economy — a luxury that we can ill afford at this time of national crisis.”
Noting that the devastating tsunami struck indiscriminately across ethnic and religious lines, Yogarajah praised consequent relief efforts that also transcended traditional lines of division. He lamented, however, that “instead of seizing this opportunity to build unity among the communities … our lawmakers are attempting to introduce short-sighted legislation that will divide society by promoting religious strife.”