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Could it be? USA using its diplomatic power to protect Christians in Sri Lanka

Thread ID: 20590 | Posts: 2 | Started: 2005-10-09

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Petr [OP]

2005-10-09 20:31 | User Profile

[I]Most unusual, I don't see how this could be benefiting Israel... (sarcasm)[/I]

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[B][SIZE=4]Lanka to Shelve Anti-Conversion Bill after US Pressure[/SIZE]

Posted October 4, 2005

The Peninsula - Qatar[/B]

The Sri Lankan government has agreed to a request by the United States to shelve the controversial Anti-Conversion Bill, a top US State Department official told a Daily Mirror journalist visiting the US.

The official, who was not named, told the Sri Lankan reporter in Washington, that extensive discussions were held with the Sri Lankan government to express US concerns before receiving a positive reply.

However he said it was up to the Sri Lankan government to make sure the pledge is implemented. Nationalist group, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) is to table the Anti-Conversion Bill in Parliament in coming weeks before the November 17 presidential poll.

The bill which bars any forced religious conversions follows a string of attacks on Christian churches and Christian places of worship by unknown groups in the past three to four years. Some Christian denominations have been accused of converting mostly Buddhists, a charge that has been denied.

The State Department official said in addition to the Sri Lankan Government officials, discussions were held with representatives of various religious groups — including Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims.

[url]http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=NEWS&id=1128459566[/url]

[B][SIZE=4]Sri Lanka Party Slams US for Thwarting Anti-Conversion Law[/SIZE]

Posted October 7, 2005

The Peninsula, Qatar[/B]

The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), Sri Lanka’s main Sinhala nationalist group, on Tuesday accused the United States of blatant interference in Sri Lankan affairs “shamelessly coercing the Sri Lankan government to shelve the Anti-Conversion bill,” the Island newspaper reported. Citing media reports on Monday from Washington that the US after extensive discussions with the government had persuaded them to shelve the bill, JHU policy maker Champika Ranawaka told The Island that religious fundamentalism is strong in the US and people practicing Islam are discriminated against and the Muslim religious leaders have even to submit their scripts now before preaching to their followers. [/FONT] [url]http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=NEWS&id=1128696681[/url]

Here are some statistics: [FONT=Garamond][SIZE=3][COLOR=Blue] "[B]Christians constitute about 8 percent of this prominently Buddhist country's 19.7 million people;[/B] 70 percent are Buddhists, 12 percent Hindus, and 7 percent Muslims. [B] With evangelical Christians growing by more than 11 percent a year,[/B] according to Operation World, Christians have come under increased persecution—over 50 violent attacks were reported in the last six months. Some 146 Christian places of worship were forced to close down between December 2003 and March 2004." [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT] [url]http://www.ctlibrary.com/11906[/url]

Petr

Petr

2005-10-09 20:50 | User Profile

Btw, while checking out CIA Factbook information, I discovered that Sri Lanka has already amazingly low birthrates for a third world country:

[COLOR=Red][B]Total fertility rate: 1.85 children born/woman (2005 est.)[/B][/COLOR]

[url]http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ce.html#People[/url]

Petr