Author: AFP/AP
Publication: Daily Times
Date: December 28, 2003
URL: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_28-12-2003_pg4_11
Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka will
introduce a law restricting conversions due to alleged proselytising by
Christian groups, including groups rebuilding the war-torn island, a minister
said on Saturday.
The move comes amid an outpouring
of sympathy in Sri Lanka this month after the death of a Buddhist monk
known for his campaign against conversions to Christianity.
T Maheswaran, the minister for religious
affairs of Sri Lanka's minority Hindus, said the government would back
a law punishing people who use "inducements" for conversions.
"Over 7,000 Hindu families have
been converted to Christianity in the northeast and the central provinces
of Sri Lanka in the last 10 years," Maheswaran told reporters on a visit
to the southern Indian city Madras.
"The pace of conversions has stepped
up in recent months as international relief agencies involved in reconstruction
work in the war- ravaged Tamil areas have been putting up churches as well
to lure the people impoverished by the strife into Christianity," he alleged.
In Sri Lanka, 15 people were injured
Wednesday when monks clashed with police at the funeral of Gangodavila
Soma, a monk and television preacher who campaigned against conversions.
The trouble prompted Sri Lankan
authorities to step up security for Christmas celebrations.
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court in August
held that while the constitution upheld a citizen's right to worship the
faith of his or her choice, it does not recognise a fundamental right to
propagate a religion
The Sri Lanka constitution grants
the foremost place to Buddhism which is practised by nearly 70 percent
of the 18.66 million population. Hindus make up about 15 percent while
Christians and Muslims are about 7.5 percent each.
A number of states in Hindu-majority
India have imposed restrictions on conversions including the neighbouring
state of Tamil Nadu.
Maheswaran said the country's influential
Buddhist clergy also supported the proposed law on banning conversions.
Religious conversions by Christian missionaries are an extremely sensitive
issue in South Asia. Most Christian groups deny allegation that they lures
or coerces people into their faith.
