By Greg Musselman
Courtesy Voice of the Martyrs Canada/CWNews
November 5, 2004
CWNews.org – Located off the coast of India, Sri Lanka is a mostly Buddhist nation.
But in recent years the evangelical church has been growing, as more Buddhists are turning to Christ.
To some Buddhist leaders, however, that’s not good news. So they've taken steps to limit the work of the church.
While government statistics don’t reflect the dramatic growth of Christianity in their country, the reality is the church is expanding in Sri Lanka. It’s not only expanding in numbers, it’s becoming more visible.
Christian businessman Sunil Wijesinghe, who committed his life to Christ in 1990, says evangelical Christians are expressing their faith and commitment to Christ in more tangible ways.
He added, “Most Christians are gathering together much more openly, and churches are opening up. People are being drawn to those who are traditional Christians. They’re spending more time in reading the Bible, they’re sharing their faith with others. They’re giving special testimonies all around. And naturally, therefore, the evidence of the activities of the Christian community are more visible.”
The visibility of the Christian church has some in the Buddhist community very concerned about the surge of Christianity and they are trying to suppress it.
Up until 1991, the evangelical church experienced some sporadic persecution, but now it’s an engineered opposition.
“David” is a pastor; we cannot reveal his real name. He said, “One of the dominant features is a strong feeling of nationalism, and a rise of Buddhism and the importance of Buddhism to the country. As a matter of fact, there is an article in our Constitution which obligates the state to protect Buddhists.”
“Joshua” also not his real name, is a pastor and church planter. He said, “One of the ways being used by the Buddhists of trying to stop the spread of Christianity is to discredit the church, accusing Christians of using bribery to convert Buddhists. “There seems to be a kind of perception that the Christian church is converting them, and mass conversion is taking place. They’re accusing the church of converting the people using unethical means, and by unethical means they’re suggesting that we give them gifts of money.”
Pastor Joshua says extreme nationalistic Buddhist groups have even won representation in Parliament and are trying to inflame the passions of the Buddhist majority by resorting to making outrageous claims against Christians.
“Constantly they are on a rampage, just accusing the church of anything that happens in the country. In fact, there was a very prominent Buddhist monk who died of natural causes in Russia, and they kind of worked up a story that this was a work of the Christian missionaries. Because we wanted to humiliate him. Even though the post-mortem was done by 20 experts and all of them Buddhists, they kept saying and they keep saying now, that this is the work of the missionaries and they are going to ask the president to have a presidential commission to determine whether it was natural causes or if it was foul play.”
Roshini Wickremsesinhe is a lawyer with the Evangelical Alliance in Sri Lanka. She investigates and documents the persecution of Christians and is working on related issues of the anti-conversion law(s).
She is concerned that church leaders will be spending much of their time in court. She said, “Already the factory workers, priests and nuns, and even individuals are taken to court for engaging in religious activities. The churches will have no choice but to fight cases in court, so we might see more of priests and factory workers in the courts rather than in churches.”
Anyone convicted under the proposed unethical conversion law would face stiff fines and jail time of up to 7 years in prison. It would also mean that many ministers would be in court instead of church, whether they are guilty or not.
David said, “Those who belong to these organizations, whether they be directors whether they be officials, whether they be staff members, or whether they be members are all liable if anyone is converted. I can imagine that Sri Lanka will need jails for most of the Christian population.”
Lawyer Wickremsesinhe said, “I don’t know what the future will hold for Sri Lanka, I can see that even if there are laws brought against the church, laws brought to limit conversion, true conversions cannot be stopped by any human endeavor. Because true conversion is something that God does, it is something that is a matter of the heart and there’s nothing that a human being or a law can do to stop conversion.”
Visit the Voice of the Martyrs Canada Web site -- http://www.persecution.net
2007-07-21 19:30:24
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answer #1
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answered by wefmeister 7
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There have been numerous wars between Buddhist states, not in the name of Buddhism, but in spite of the fact that Buddhism says that it should not happen. Burma and Thailand have fought each other many times as have Korea, Japan, China etc.
Buddhists do not fight over holy land but they still fight over land. As an example, Thailand is 97% Buddhist and this is their National Anthem.
"Thailand is the unity of Thai blood and body.
The whole country belongs to the Thai people, maintaining thus far for the Thai.
All Thais intend to unite together.
Thais love peace but do not fear to fight.
They will never let anyone threaten their independence.
They will sacrifice every drop of their blood to contribute to the nation, will serve their country with pride and prestige full of victory.
CHAI YO. [Cheers]."
They do not fight and kill for religion but in spite of it. I am a fat white Buddhist but not a blind one. The Vietnam war included the Buddhists fighting the Catholics and the spread of Islam into India and Pakistan was a violent conflict between Buddhism and Islam.
Yoga is actually an off shoot of the Hindu spiritual systems rather than of Buddhism itself. Some followers of Buddhism practice yoga and in Mahayana Buddhism it is actively encouraged as an aid to meditation, but not as a substitute for purifying mind and spirit. Yoga is not however central to any Buddhist belief system, merely a recognised exercise which may aid meditation.
The aim of Buddhism is not to obtain pure exctasy but to get release from the attachment to exctasy or any other strong emotion.
2007-07-21 19:50:34
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answer #2
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answered by John B 4
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Wicca as a religion is not old enough to have fought another religion. I have also not heard of Satanism starting any crusades, but maybe I'm just out of the loop.
And are you seriously assuming all white people are both fat and Christian?
2007-07-21 19:29:05
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answer #3
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answered by Kharm 6
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So far, Budhism is the most peaceful religion I've known.
Guess it's the great Budha who teaches people to live in peace and harmony.
While the rest.....no comments.
Wouldn't wanna start a new war over a religious comment.
2007-07-21 19:30:55
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answer #4
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answered by acian 2
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non secular fights are used as 'crutches' of a lame guy walking the earth. without non secular fights, the existence of leaders will flow down into oblivion. and actual combat is for powrer , supremacy, rule , and existence and survial. so they 'invent' new motives for 'reliogion to stay to tell the story, yet in certainty those motives are for their own survival. If all of us merely asks this questions themselves , the folk gets the message themselves and thrust back from the followers and so referred to as non secular leaders. and there is be Peace Eternnal
2016-10-19 06:36:43
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answer #5
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answered by branaugh 4
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Quaker and Jehovah's Witness are the only religion that never fought any religion.
2007-07-22 04:56:30
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answer #6
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answered by The Female Gamer 2
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I never heard of the Buddhists turning themsleves into suicide bombers or engaging in religious genocide.
Elerth Morrow is a member here who is a Buddhist and he has taught me a great deal
2007-07-21 19:26:30
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answer #7
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answered by Experto Credo 7
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first of all you are wrong anyways, buddhism is a philosophy not a religion. if you really want to know Christianity is not a religion although there are some that have followed it that way.
2007-07-21 19:30:38
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answer #8
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answered by disciple 4
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Yes, that is absolutely correct and to demonstrate how adamant they are about peace, I'd like to direct your attention to those animals that inhabit and govern China and what they are doing to Tibet - or trying to do.
2007-07-21 19:26:55
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answer #9
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answered by Anonymous
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Tao
Zuni tribal
2007-07-21 19:32:22
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answer #10
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answered by Jack P 7
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