Sri Lanka (MNN)–Sri Lanka’s Christians are facing uncertainty in the wake of the presidential election.
Religious freedom is more of a concern now that the President-elect favors alliance with nationalist parties. Current Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse took the majority of the votes in one of the most complicated elections in recent history.
Voice of the Martyrs Canada’s Glenn Penner. “We know that his allies in the Buddhist Monk Party are going to put a tremendous amount of pressure on him, to pass anti-conversion legislation.”
Religious tensions are likely to increase in the days ahead. Penner says they will maintain their vigil because they need to keep the working church on alert. “We’re going to continue to monitor this. We will continue to stay in close contact with our contacts in Sri Lanka, and continue to find out where will this legislation stand. This type of legislation tends to slide in under the radar and they try to pass it when no one is noticing.”
There have been two attempts to date to get anti-coversion legislation passed. Both times, the bills got bogged down in the politics. Penner attributes prayer, and adds, “Christians in Sri Lanka are praying and asking us to pray that we would not see this type of legislation enforced in Sri Lanka.”
