Bill Could Affect LDS Mission in Sri Lanka

There are three LDS branches in Sri Lanka (a country with a population of 19 million). Sri Lanka is part of the Singapore mission, and missionaries there deal with a Buddhist majority and a large Hindu minority. Formal missionary work is not practiced; instead Sri Lanka is home to a few service missionaries, and has been a recipient of LDS tsunami aid. Missionary work of all types in Sri Lanka is in danger with the passage of a new bill that would "silence religious expression and criminalize religious conversions in the country", according to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. “This law would jeopardize faith-based aid exactly when it’s needed most,” declared Becket Fund attorney Roger Severino. "Unfortunately, the campaign of threats and attacks against religious minorities has survived the tsunami and the proposed anti-conversion law would only encourage the religious persecution we’ve already seen in Sri Lanka.” The Sri Lankan Supreme Court has held that “the constitution does not recognize a fundamental right to propagate a religion” and that “the propagation and spreading of Christianity…would impair the very existence of Buddhism.” The LDS Church has provided disaster relief in the wake of December's tsunami. Church spokesman Dale Bills has stressed that LDS humanitarian work is separate from missionary work. However, the proposed law targets all relief workers linked to any religion. The bills in question are pending before the Parliament of Sri Lanka. Violence against Christians has soared in Sri Lanka in recent years: A church firebombing in Hokandara