Religious freedom in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has a history of religious tolerance and multiculturalism. The practice of Hinduism was allowed under Sinhala kings since the Anuradhapura era. Buddhist Sinhala kings gave protection to Muslims fleeing from Portuguese persecution and to Catholics fleeing from persecution by the Dutch after having defeated by the Portuguese.

This coexistence has been recently marred by isolated incidents and attacks on religious places by Buddhist mobs and by terrorists.

Several Hindu Kovils were attacked in the riots of 1983 in Colombo and South of Sri Lanka.

Two of the holiest sites for Buddhists in Sri Lanka, the Sri Maha Bodhi Tree and the Temple of Tooth, have been attacked and bombed by LTTE terrorists. In recent times, LTTE terrorists have also attacked several Muslim mosques in the North-Eastern parts of the country.

Recently there has been a backlash against various evangelical Christian organizations that the Buddhists and Hindus claims use ‘unethical’ ways and means to spread religion. Such groups have mainly targeted poor, rural and displaced populations, offering monetary or economic incentives to convert to their sect of Christianity. Such claims are justified as there have also been similar activities by these churches in other third world countries.

Unfortunately some of these attacks have wrongly targeted the Roman Catholic Christian majority, who for the most part do not engage in ‘unethical’ conversions, and have happily coexisted with the other religions of the island.

It is also noted recently that Majority Sinhalese Buddhist have organized vigilante groups who threaten religious activities of Hindus, Christians and Muslims by forceful intimidation and threats to stop construction of places of worship.

In May 2004, a bill against ‘unethical conversion’ was set before parliament, encouraged by the Buddhist political party, Jathika Hela Urumaya. It is based on a similar bill in the Indian state of Tamilnadu. Due to pressure from the United States the bill was abandoned.