Escalating Violence against Christian Churches

The National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL) is perturbed about the violent culture that is emerging against the minority Christian population in this country.

On the 6th of July 2008, the Calvary Church in Thalahena was attacked and the priest, Rev.Roshan Andriezen was brutally beaten up along with his father, brother and three other lay leaders of the Church.

The mob led by Buddhist monks, completely destroyed everything within the Church including furniture, musical instruments and other valuable equipment. They also caused extensive damage to the Church roof leaving only the outer walls of the Church standing.

The Police who gave protection was over powered by the mob.

The NCEASL notes that this is not an isolated incident but an emerging trend in the last few years against the Christian minority population.

In the last few months, we have seen a series of blatant acts of persecution against Christian clergymen and the Church.

The gunning down of Rev.Neil Edirisinghe in Ampara in February, the brutal assault of the Methodist Church clergyman in Ampara in June and the arson attack on the Assembly of God Church in Middeniya Hambantota in July are some notable incidents.

In both Rev.Neil’s murder and the assault on the Methodist clergyman, we appreciate that the suspects were taken in by the law. However, it was sad to note that amongst the suspects were members of the civil defence force.

In the circumstances, prompt action must be taken to arrest the worsening situation and ensure that individual religious freedom is not only nominally assured in the Constitution but also actually enjoyed by all citizens of the country, irrespective of their religious beliefs.

Therefore, we strongly appeal to the authorities to safe guard religious freedom and human rights of the minority groups. We also strongly condemn the actions of certain groups who are seeking to create religious discord and a rift between religious groups who have co-existed peacefully in the past. Therefore, we appeal to the government to protect religious rights of the minority faith.