Sri Lanka (MNN) – In Sri Lanka, Easter is a day mixed with both joy and sorrow ever since the 2019 Easter bombings that killed nearly 300 people and injured hundreds more.
The coordinated attacks targeted churches and luxury hotels, carried out by Islamist extremists during Easter services. The bombings deeply traumatized the nation and exposed security failures, leaving lasting concerns for the country’s Christian minority.
Kandy, Sri Lanka (Photo courtesy of Antonio Cogo/Unsplash)
Although it was seven years ago, Rajeeve Sathianathan, Sri Lanka director of Christian World Outreach (CWO), says the government is taking steps to help restore Christians’ confidence and protect their freedom to worship this Easter.
“In big cities, they are sending security forces to guard the big churches so that incidents like what happened a few years ago won’t happen again,” says Sathianathan. “But that protection is there only in big cities. In remote villages, that’s a challenge.”
Christians make up a small minority in Sri Lanka, where the majority of people are Buddhist, along with significant Hindu and Muslim populations. This can lead to persecution, especially in rural areas.
A woman in Sri Lanka. (Photo courtesy of Gemmmm/Unsplash)
On top of less security in Sri Lanka’s villages, rural Christians often face opposition from their neighbors.
Sathianathan says, “Most of them are like house churches. So the landlords tell them, ‘Hey, we need to kick them out of this place because we don’t want them to use this property to invite people in.’”
Easter is just around the corner this coming Sunday. Pray for Sri Lankan Christians and CWO partners.
“Pray for them, for strength, because sometimes the fear comes when you experience this kind of restriction,” Sathianathan asks. “That’s what I continue [to pray] for protection and also pray for wisdom.”
Learn more about CWO’s Sri Lanka ministry at cwomissions.org/srilanka/.
Header photo courtesy of Vinnath Satharasinghe/Unsplash.
