Catholics worry over anti-conversion bill

Catholics in Anuradhapura, a city sacred to Buddhists, are concerned that a religious-conversion bill will sour relations between Christians and Buddhists.

Anuradhapura diocese´s Laity Commission organized a consultation on the bill at its catechetical center in Anuradhapura on Feb. 12. Parish representatives met with local Bishop Norbert Andradi and priests.

The Prohibition of Forcible Conversion Bill will be debated and voted on in parliament sometime in February. Local media reported that according to the bill, the offer of a gift, cash or any other incentive to convert or attempt to convert a person from one religion to another is punishable with up to seven years imprisonment and a maximum fine of 500,000 rupees (about US$4,400).

D.A. Kumarasiri, a farmer, feared relations between Buddhist and Christians may sour because of the bill. At the meeting, he pointed out that the area has many mixed marriages between Buddhists and Christians and that the Church´s social work benefits mostly Buddhists.

Catholic farmers such as Susil Fernando also fear that the bill will interfere with their livelihood as they deal daily with Buddhist farmers on crops, irrigation and other agricultural requirements. “We will be most affected as we are weak in legal matters,” he told UCA News, adding that because they are unsure of the bill, it has generated fear among the villagers.

“Time is running out. The public does not know of the consequences if the bill is passed in parliament,” Fernando continued. If passed, “giving a piece of sugarcane to a Buddhist child may be regarded a criminal offence,” Fernando said at the meeting.

Bishop Andradi also feared that some words in the bill such as “allurement,” “convert,” “fraudulent,” might be subject to wrong interpretation.

Anuradhapura is considered the cradle of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Close to 70 percent of Sri Lankans today are Buddhists, but the figure in Anuradhapura and the surrounding farming areas is 90 percent. About 10,000 Catholics live among the 1.1 million people of Anuradhapura diocese, which is made up mostly of agricultural land and thousands of remote villages.

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