Demonstrators work toward peace in Sri Lanka (photo by Tina Edwards)
Sri Lanka (MNN) ― Sri Lanka has come under fire over its human rights "nightmare." International criticism has been scathing over the government's half-hearted efforts to investigate a string of high-profile cases including the massacre of aid workers.
The government also broke a truce with Tamil Tiger rebels in January and is in an escalating battle with the rebels across the North.
Trouble doesn't stop there. Violence against Christians in Sri Lanka has also spiked in recent weeks. The reports of assaults and beatings are troubling for those supporting the indigenous church.
According to a report from the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka, in mid-February a mob attacked members of The King's Revival Church who had just left a Sunday worship service in Mathugama, Kaluthara.
Four believers were assaulted, including a child. The assailants also threatened the believers who belonged to the Tamil ethnic community that they would be imprisoned if they returned to the church. A week later, another crowd gathered on the road near the church building. They threatened the believers with violence and prevented them from attending the scheduled worship service.
On March 2, ten students were beaten by a group of masked men on motorcycles while they were walking from the Lunuwila Railway to their school, the Believers' Church Bible College in Putlam District. That attack was followed by a kidnapping and beating of one of the students. When one of the students ran to the college for help, he was followed by a motorcyclist who attacked the college security guard and fled.
Glenn Penner with Voice of the Martyrs Canada says of this unusual number of attacks: "I think it's partly attributed to the increased civil war. One of the difficult things to realize is that religion and ethnicity is very much tied together. Christians are the only group that bridge both of the major ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, which are presently in a rather brutal civil war with each other."
Mobs frequently threaten more violence unless all Christian work stops in their area. Penner says the attacks on believers have interrupted some evangelistic work, particularly where security issues are in question. "Let us pray for peace in Sri Lanka. Certainly, the civil war has hindered some evangelistic activities as Christians are concerned about traveling from one place to the other. Let's pray also for those who have been assaulted, particularly for children, that they would know the comfort and the healing that the Lord can bring into their lives. Pray for church leaders."
Pray that persecutors throughout Sri Lanka will be challenged by the consistent testimony of Christ's followers and be drawn to Him. Pray, too, that the Gospel message will continue to grow and that many will come to Christ, despite the opposition.
