Sri Lanka (MNN)–In Sri Lanka, religion mixed with politics and nationalism results in a brew of hatred and fear. Sadly, Christians have experienced heavy persecution, especially during the Advent Season.
Voice of the Martyrs’ Todd Nettleton. “Christians in Sri Lanka are facing being targeted. We’ve seen several attacks just in the last 60 days against churches, against Christian meetings. The interesting thing about this is that in several cases, these attacks have been led by Buddhist monks.”
The oppression believers feel comes from many fronts–political, social and spiritual. Nettleton agrees. He believes the monks feel threatened by how many people respond to the Gospel. “Buddhism is protected in Sri Lanka as the national religion. There have been periodic calls for an anti-conversion law. But, only 72-percent of the people are Buddhists. So there are 28-percent of the people who are not Buddhist, who need the protection of the law as well.”
However, evangelicals say the government has turned a blind eye over trouble from the Sinhala Buddhists for a long time. News sources say militant Buddhists are continuing their campaign against Christianity, attacking churches and threatening Christian schools.
