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Presidential election results in Sri Lanka make Christians pray

Sri Lanka is on edge after its presidential election. The nation's incumbent president Mahinda Rajapakse declared victory in his race for a second term Wednesday. However, his main challenger, Sarath Fonseka, is contesting the results, reports MNN.

Once allies, the contest pitted Rajapakse as commander-in-chief, and Fonseka--his now estranged army chief--against each another. Working as a team, they defeated the Tamil Tigers in May last year, ending a separatist conflict that left 80,000-100,000 dead.

Without the war, cracks emerged in the alliance. Personal animosity between them fueled the campaign's vicious nature, and the accusations flew. The verbal attacks fueled concerns over unrest should the results be contested.

Leadership transition is always tricky. Which leader will be better for the purposes of the Gospel? We asked Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs what Christians might expect from a leader whose style they already know. That, too, is an unknown. "He (Rajapakse) has talked a lot about economic development. He has not talked, that I have seen, a lot about religious freedom. So, it will be interesting to see if that does become part of his platform moving forward."

For example, a controversial anti-conversion bill is in the works in Parliament. Nettleton says Parliament deferred the bill's debate last spring. Was that due to the election? Nettleton explains that between the end of the war with the Tamils and the recovery from natural disaster, the government's hands were quite full.

The bill will be up for discussion again, but that will likely occur after changes are made to make it fall under Sri Lanka's constitution. Sri Lanka's constitution guarantees freedom of thought, conscience and religion, although it also calls for Buddhism to hold the "foremost place."

However, the proposed legislation, titled "Bill for Prohibition of Forcible Conversions," calls for penalties including fines up 500,000 Sri Lankan rupees ($4,425) and/or seven years in prison for anyone who tries to convert a Sri Lankan citizen from one religion to another by using force, fraud or allurement. The harshest punishments are reserved for those convicted of converting women or children.

The Jathika Hela Urumaya political party, whose leadership is comprised of Buddhist monks, drafted it. A leader of that party is on record as saying that U.S.- funded Christian missionaries are one of the greatest threats facing Sri Lanka.

Nettleton says the question is, "Will they try to protect the freedom of Christians to witness for Christ and the freedom of other people to choose to become Christians and follow Christ? Will they join in that pressure through an anti-conversion law, or through other ways of pressuring the church not to be reaching out and not to be presenting the Gospel?

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TAGS: Sri Lanka presidential election Mahinda Rajapakse Sarath Fonseka Voice of the Martyrs religious freedom

[01/28/2010]

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