Mob Attacks Church in Sri Lanka

February 23, 2001

    Witnesses said about 35 people were severely beaten, and three people were in serious condition after a mob attacked a Sri Lankan Christian evangelical group during Sunday worship services recently. "They came with machetes and clubs, and assaulted almost everyone in the church, and the building was almost completely] destroyed," said H.M.A. Laksiri, a member of the village church located 125 miles northeast of Colombo, the capital.
    Christians account for about 10 percent of Sri Lanka's overwhelmingly Buddhist population of 20 million. Proselytizing by Christian groups often angers members of the Buddhist community. However, the attackers' religion was not identified.
    Laksiri said some people had smashed some of the building's windows on Saturday night and warned the people not to go to church the next day. "They were very angry that we were preaching the gospel and threatened to kill us and rape our women if we did not leave the area," he said. "They were angry about the noise caused by the church service." Rumors were spread that there were "lepers attending church meetings."

--Used by permission of Religion Today

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