COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, August 17 (CDN) — Attacks on Christians in Sri Lanka have surged noticeably in recent weeks, following the government’s defeat of Tamil separatists in May. Attacks were reported in Puttlam, Gampaha and Kurunegala districts in western Sri Lanka, central ....
August 17 (CDN) — COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, August 17 (Compass Direct News) – Attacks on Christians in Sri Lanka have surged noticeably in recent weeks, following the government’s defeat of Tamil separatists in May. Attacks were reported in Puttlam, Gampaha and Kurunegala ....
April 17 (CDN) — COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, April 16 (Compass Direct News) – Buddhist mobs attacked several churches in Sri Lanka last week, threatening to kill a pastor in the southern province of Hambanthota and ransacking a 150-year-old Methodist church building in the ....
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, April 16 (CDN) — Buddhist mobs attacked several churches in Sri Lanka last week, threatening to kill a pastor in the southern province of Hambanthota and ransacking a 150-year-old Methodist church building in the capital. On April 8, four Buddhist extremists ....
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, January 26 (CDN) — The Sri Lankan Parliament may soon enact laws designed to restrict religious conversions. A standing committee assigned to consider a draft “Bill for the Prohibition of Forcible Conversions” presented its report to Parliament on Jan. 6, suggesting ....
January 26 (CDN) — COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, January 26 (Compass Direct News) – The Sri Lankan Parliament may soon enact laws designed to restrict religious conversions. A standing committee assigned to consider a draft “Bill for the Prohibition of Forcible Conversions” ....
June 18 (CDN) — DUBLIN, June 18 (Compass Direct News) – Buddhist extremists have invited residents of Middeniya, a town in Hambanthota district, southern Sri Lanka, to attend a huge anti-Christian rally this Sunday (June 22), where they have promised to “expose the ....
March 25 (CDN) — COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, March 25 (Compass Direct News) – A Provincial Council member brandishing a gun assaulted a security guard at a Bible college in Lunuwila, Puttlam district two weeks after an attack on 10 of the institution’s students seriously ....
February 21 (CDN) — DUBLIN, February 21 (Compass Direct News) – Late last Sunday (February 17) two men gunned down a Sri Lankan pastor, the Rev. Samson Neil Edirisinghe, 37, killing him instantly. They also shot his wife Shiromi, 31, leaving her in critical condition. ....
June 5 (CDN) — DUBLIN, June 5 (Compass Direct News) – A pastor and two associates from Mt. Carmel Theological College in Kandy, Sri Lanka, were arrested on May 27 and charged with destroying Buddhist statues. Pastor Suresh Ramachandran, principal of the college, ....
March 13 (CDN) — BANGKOK, March 13 (Compass Direct News) – A pastor, his two sons and another young man were reported missing on March 2 after they disappeared en route to a bus stop in Negombo, Sri Lanka. Pastor Victor Emmanuel Yogarajan, 51, from the Gospel ....
February 20 (CDN) — DUBLIN, February 20 (Compass Direct News) – Following a renewed outbreak of civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), churches in the northeast are fast becoming another war casualty. The LTTE has ....
November 21 (CDN) — A Buddhist MonkNovember 21 (Compass Direct News) – Buddhist militants attacked two church services in Sri Lanka on November 12 and hit Christian workers returning from a funeral. On Thursday (November 16), they also doused a female church member ....
November 14 (CDN) — November 14 (Compass Direct News) – In a worsening climate of impunity as Sri Lanka falls into civil war, Buddhist militants have continued their campaign against Christianity, attacking churches and threatening Christian schools. Christians in Sri ....
May 12 (CDN) — May 12 (Compass Direct) – Unruly mobs have attacked three churches over the past fortnight, in one incident setting car tires on fire in front of a Methodist church to prevent people from entering for Sunday worship. On Saturday (May 6), a Buddhist ....
April 26 (CDN) — April 26 (Compass Direct) – Sri Lanka’s Parliament has appointed a 19-member committee to review a bill that would outlaw “forcible” conversion, before it is presented for a final vote. The April 5 move to revive stalled anti-conversion legislation ....
January 26 (CDN) — January 26 (Compass) – Two churches in Sri Lanka were attacked last weekend as threats from Buddhist monks continued amid tensions between the government and Tamil rebels. Last Sunday (January 22), a mob of roughly 500 people, including 20 Buddhist ....
November 18 (CDN) — November 18 (Compass) – Sri Lankans elected a new president yesterday who faces the challenge of dealing with a Buddhist elite seeking greater control over religious minorities. Mahinda Rajapakse, who won by a narrow margin, faces other challenges: ....
September 29 (CDN) — September 29 (Compass) – In a surprise move, Buddhist monks have placed before Parliament a constitutional amendment to make Buddhism the state religion of Sri Lanka. It will be considered on October 4. The 19th amendment was first proposed by the ....
September 23 (CDN) — September 23 (Compass) – More than 1,000 Buddhist monks staged a protest in Sri Lanka on September 20, asking that anti-conversion legislation be put back on the parliamentary agenda before presidential elections scheduled for November 17. Other ....
July 13 (CDN) — July 14 (Compass) -- Anti-conversion laws are once again on the agenda in Sri Lanka after a fall-out in parliament that left President Chandrika Kumaratunga desperately in need of Buddhist support. Two separate anti-conversion bills proposed by the ....
May 4 (CDN) — May 4 (Compass) -- Ms. Asma Jahangir, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Religion or Belief, is presently in Sri Lanka to probe religious freedom issues with government officials and representatives from Buddhist and Christian ....
April 20 (CDN) — April 20 (Compass) -- The Sri Lankan parliament may vote next week on the Act for the Protection of Religious Freedom, an anti-conversion bill proposed by Minister of Buddhist Affairs Ratnasiri Wickremanayake. However in a surprise move, the ....
March 24 (CDN) — March 24 (Compass) -- The Sri Lankan government will cast a deciding vote on anti-conversion legislation in April, despite sharp criticism of the “Act for the Protection of Religious Freedom.”Section 2 of the legislation’s draft, approved in ....
December 20 (CDN) — December 20 (Compass) — Unknown assailants set fire to St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Katuwana, Homogama, Sri Lanka, in the early hours of December 19.“An unarmed watcher was chased away by the attackers who set fire to everything that was inside ....
December 20 (CDN) — December 20 (Compass) -- Unknown assailants set fire to St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Katuwana, Homogama, Sri Lanka, in the early hours of December 19. Created using gas cylinders and rubber tires, the fire damaged pews, an organ, the altar and ....
December 9 (CDN) — DUBLIN, December 9 (Compass) -- Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka have declared a “fast unto death” beginning December 12 if the government fails to accede to three demands. The monks have asked for a presidential inquiry into the death of a senior monk ....
September 13 (CDN) — September 13 (Compass) — Buddhist monks from the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) party have launched an international campaign to win support for a proposed anti-conversion bill in Sri Lanka, and they seem to have some support. Following a meeting with ....
August 18 (CDN) — August 10 (Compass) — Religious tensions are running high in Sri Lanka as their Supreme Court considers a number of petitions for and against a new law that will ban or restrict conversions. The “Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religion Act” ....
August 10 (CDN) — August 10 (Compass) — Religious tensions are running high in Sri Lanka as their Supreme Court considers a number of petitions for and against a new law that will ban or restrict conversions. The “Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religion Act” ....
July 6 (CDN) — July 6 (Compass) — Unidentified vandals broke into the office of the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL) over the weekend and ransacked filing cabinets and desks. Intruders apparently forced open the back door of the ....
June 24 (CDN) — June 24 (Compass) — On June 18, the Sri Lankan Cabinet gave initial approval for a draft bill designed to prevent religious conversions. The “Act for the Protection of Religious Freedom” is now being revised by legal draftsmen before being sent back ....
June 8 (CDN) — June 8 (Compass) -- Members of the Buddhist Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) party will present a “Bill on the Prohibition of Forcible Conversion” to the Sri Lankan Parliament within the next two weeks. The JHU or National Heritage Party, formed to ....
April 16 (CDN) — April 16 (Compass) — A Christian Fellowship Church (CFC) in the Kalutara district of Sri Lanka was attacked on April 11, Easter Sunday. About 10 people, including women and children, were injured in the attack. The church had been closed for three ....
January 30 (CDN) — January 30 (Compass) -- A group of approximately 20 men stormed into a Catholic church in Mattegoda, Sri Lanka, smashing statues and setting fire to Bibles. The attack was the latest in a series of violent incidents against evangelical and Catholic ....
January 22 (CDN) — January 22 (Compass) — Christians suffered further violence in the Buddhist-majority country of Sri Lanka on January 20, when a Catholic church was attacked near the capital, Colombo. Attackers set fire to the door of St. Anthony’s church and ....
December 15 (CDN) — (Compass) — Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka carried out further attacks against Christians in November, acting with impunity as the government failed to prosecute several cases of arson and physical assault that occurred the previous month. The Assembly ....
November 14 (CDN) — (Compass) — Attacks on Christians in Sri Lanka intensified during the month of October, prompting the National Peace Council to call for a government investigation. On October 19, members of the New Covenant Life Center of Athurugiriya were meeting ....
October 10 (CDN) — (Compass) — Violent attacks against churches have shaken the small Christian community in Sri Lanka. According to the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (EASL), four female Christian workers were assaulted on September 17. A week ....
September 12 (CDN) — (Compass) — A new government ministry in Sri Lanka has compiled a list of officially recognized churches. However, only the Roman Catholic Church and mainline Protestant denominations were included on the list, while independent and evangelical ....
August 15 (CDN) — (Compass) — Mobs attacked five churches in southern Sri Lanka on August 2. Initial information from the Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (EASL) suggests the organized attack is part of the government’s plan to introduce anti-conversion legislation. ....
July 14 (CDN) — (Compass) — Attacks on churches and church leaders highlight the ongoing tension between religious groups in Sri Lanka. On May 25, assailants broke into the Heavenly Harvest Church in Kaluvenkerni, beat the pastor mercilessly and ransacked the ....
April 21 (CDN) — (Compass) - In March, Hindu militants joined Buddhist extremists in initiating attacks on Christian worshippers. A mob of about 50 Hindu extremists attacked three Christians walking to church on March 4 in Hanguranketha. Then on March 15, the New ....
February 16 (CDN) — (Compass) - A newly built Roman Catholic church in Hulandawa, in southern Sri Lanka, was damaged by eight explosions on the morning of January 22. Eight charges of dynamite were laid against the four corners of the church. All were detonated, but ....
November 17 (CDN) — (Compass) - An October 25 statement by Catholic leaders called for the newly elected government to refuse to appoint any ministers accused of election rigging and to clean up the entire governmental bureaucracy. Parliamentary elections held October ....
June 23 (CDN) — (Compass) - A total of 220 pastors from Sri Lanka’s embattled evangelical Christian community met together in Marawila from June 5 to 8 for the first-ever conference devoted to preparing for persecution in the country. Organized by the Evangelical ....
