Wall Street Journal Runs Becket Fund Op-Ed on Sri Lankan Religious LibertyToday, WSJ.com and the Wall Street Journal (Asian Print Edition) printed an opinion piece by Becket Fund attorney Roger Severino on the state of religious liberty in Sri Lanka: Many Sri Lankans celebrate Christmas with shuttered windows and barricaded doors out of fear for their lives. Those brave enough to celebrate Christmas in defiance of local Buddhist authorities risk discrimination, exile, fire bombings, or worse.
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Buddhist extremists see Sri Lanka's small Christian minority as a menace that threatens the island's majority religious and ethnic identity. In their view, the schools, churches, and social-service organizations run by Christians are doing nothing more than competing with them for converts. And while most countries recognize the ability to start religious schools and share one's faith with willing listeners as a fundamental human right, Sri Lanka does not. Indeed it continues to flout the international covenants it has signed on this point.
Radical Buddhists thunder that Christianity must be contained, either by force or by force of law -- preferably both.
For more on religious persecution in Sri Lanka please visit the Becket Fund's companion website, www.lankaliberty.org The WSJ article is still available for free on WSJ.com here. Resources & Documents
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