Christians Celebrate Judgment on Anti-Conversion Law

On Tuesday 17th August the Supreme Court in Sri Lanka ruled that the controversial anti-conversion Bill will only be passed as an Act if the document can gain the support of two-thirds of the MP’s in their Parliament, and must also be approved by the public in a referendum.

The ‘Prohibition of Forcible Conversions of Religions Bill’ was highly criticised by Christians who questioned the Bill’s constitutionality. The group of Christians in fact launched a legal challenge to the Bill and on July 20th, documents were filed in the Sri Lankan Parliament.

The Bill planned to instigate a complete ban on religious conversions obtained by force or fraud. However, since the Bill was first proposed in late May there has been endless opposition from the Christian community.

It was suggested by some Christians that the Bill had only come about because the Buddhist Party was trying to suppress the growth of Christianity. In rural areas, Buddhism has experienced a clear decline, but in the same areas, Christian churches experienced increasing growth.

The most recent statistics indicate that of the 19.9 million people in Sri Lanka, 70% are Buddhist, 15% are Hindu, just 8% are Christian and 7% are Muslim.

The Advocacy Director of Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Tina Lambert, had said in July of this year that, “This is not simply a Christian issue. We want to work with people of other faiths, and of none, who may share a concern for religious liberty for all. If passed, these laws will be deeply damaging to Sri Lanka’s reputation.”

Religious leaders and CSW have voiced their objections to the Bill, stating that "'forcible’ and ‘unethical’ conversions, if they take place, are of course wrong. However, impartial prosecutions in the midst of inter-religious tensions would be difficult to guarantee."

CSW have argued that he Bill could potentially be a violation of fundamental rights contained in Sri Lanka’s constitution, and along with Sri Lankan Christians feared that the law would have an adverse effect on the activities of genuine religious groups, including those that hold important roles in providing social and humanitarian services.

International conventions could also be potentially broken if the Bill was made into law. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) guarantees the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. The ICCPR states clearly that no one should be subject to coercion that would impair their freedom to have or adopt a religion of their own choice. CSW argued that the proposed anti-conversion legislation itself could be seen as a form or coercion.

After the submissions from both sides, the court said that it would convey its thoughts on the constitutionality of the Bill to the Indonesian President and the Speaker on 12th August. The ruling has been seen as a great victory not only for CSW and Christians, but also for many other Sri Lankan minority religions.