Religious Freedom Probed in Sri Lanka

(Compass) – Asma Jahangir, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Religion or Belief is presently in Sri Lanka to probe the issue of religious liberty. Jahangir met with members of Buddhist organizations, who feel Western religious rights advocates fail to see the issue of conversion in its “proper Asian context.” The Island newspaper quoted the country’s highest-ranking Buddhist cleric as saying that anti-conversion legislation is an “urgent requirement, since Buddhists are being converted to other religions at an unprecedented rate.” On May 4, Jahangir met with members of the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL) and with several Christians who have suffered persecution. The NCEASL reiterated its commitment to work for a just solution to these problems through “dialogue and mutual understanding.”