Release International

Planned law poses direct threat to Christian gospel. Release International calls on UK Christians to stand with church in Sri Lanka

Release International has launched a major petition calling on Sri Lanka to drop plans for an anti-conversion law that would pose a direct threat to the Christian gospel.

If the law is passed it could lead to severe restrictions on outreach and other church activities and a spate of legal actions against Christians. The Bill for the Prohibition of Forcible Conversion, proposed by the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) party of Buddhist monks, seeks to prevent so-called 'unethical conversion' involving force, 'allurement' or fraud.

That sounds reasonable - but could rule out teaching about heaven or hell, salvation and judgement, or even social action such as relief work.

The churches and the Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (EASL) are publicly opposed to any kind of forced or unethical evangelism. But they argue the proposed bill is badly worded and would lead to severe restrictions on church activities.

'There are several dangers,' says Roshini Wickremesinhe, EASL's Legal Officer. 'Firstly churches, pastoral workers and even ordinary Christians could be hauled before the courts, maybe even sentenced to jail terms, with fines of up to 500,000 rupees. Secondly, these laws can be abused for personal reasons, political reasons - for anything. Because the wording is so vague and so broad, it could be misused.

'The fear is these laws could be misinterpreted to penalise and persecute Christians who are living their normal everyday Christian life,' she adds.

A campaign by Release International (RI) and other religious liberty organisations has highlighted the problems of the proposed legislation. But the bill is currently being considered by the government and could still go through.

So Release International has drawn up a petition which will be presented to the Embassy of Sri Lanka in London. 'We are calling on Christians everywhere to stand with our brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka, and to stand up for the freedom to spread the gospel,' says Eddie Lyle, the Chief Executive of RI.

'Please ask every believer in your church to add their name to this petition and their prayers to ours that the government of Sri Lanka will reject this anti-conversion and anti-Christian legislation.'

The petition and posters are available for downloading from Release International's web site (click here). Please encourage everyone in your church to sign the petition, and return it to RI by October 31, for presentation to the Sri Lankan embassy in London.

Whatever the outcome, the Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka is confident the church will survive. 'Throughout history we have seen the church constantly being challenged with violence and with legal means to control the spread of the gospel,' says Roshini Wickremesinhe. 'In the time of the Roman Empire we saw it. But today the Roman Empire is no more, while the gospel of Jesus Christ is still alive - and I believe no attempt can stop the spread of the gospel.'

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