SRI LANKA: CHURCH VOWS TO CONTINUE DESPITE ATTACK BY MOB

The leader of a Sri Lankan church destroyed by a mob has vowed that the church will continue to meet.

"No attack can stop us," said Kamal Wasantha, leader of the Kithu Sevana prayer centre. "We shall continue to meet and pray under a tree."

The attack took place on 5 January, when a Buddhist mob attacked the church in Paharaiya, north western Sri Lanka. Reports vary on the size of the mob, but a local source reported that it was up to 200 people.

"First they threatened us verbally," Wasantha explained. "Then they came with wooden sticks, iron bars and knives and destroyed everything." People 'begged the attackers not to damage the place of worship', he said.

Their church was destroyed in the attack, leaving the Christian community of 15 families and 20 other worshippers with nowhere to meet. But they have no desire for revenge. "[We] shall not attack them in retaliation. Judgement belongs to God," Wasantha said.

'SERIOUS PUNISHMENT' THREAT 

 Buddhist monks, who are influential in Sri Lankan villages, are the main source of persecution for Christians.

Ranjan Palitha, a pastor who comes every week from Chilaw (more than 55 miles away) to help Wasantha, said that the centre, built more than 15 years ago, 'was never attacked before, only verbal threats. This is the first incident that has the proportions of a real disaster'.

Palitha and another pastor, Adrian DeVisser, helped lead the church each Friday and Sunday morning.

On 1 January, a Buddhist monk from Gothamiramaya reportedly threatened the church leaders with 'serious punishment' if they continued to lead worship at the church. They filed a complaint with the police and warned others in the Christian community and on 5 January Palitha, DeVisser and the monk were summoned to the police station. It was that night that the attack took place. About 200 witnesses named the monk and 12 other people as the attackers. So far, the accused remain free on bail.

GROWING CHURCH

One of the factors which led to the attack is the fact that the church is growing rapidly. Also, all its members are converts from other faiths.

Wasantha, himself a Buddhist convert, said he 'cannot abandon [his] mission just because of the attacks'. He added that there are people in the village who do not tolerate Buddhists changing their religion to Christianity.

Wasantha wants to stay with the Christian community, despite the attack, said DeVisser: "He's not willing to move out. There is a threat on his life. We have now provided some of the food stuffs they need. Some of our workers reached out to him, but he's determined to ride the wave of persecution.

"Persecution never destroyed a church and never will", DeVisser continued. "Suffering isn't new, and won't be going away anytime soon. We have been through a civil war between two ethnic groups. Now that the war is over, it seems to me that the extremists would want to incite a religious war, and they want to use the Christians as the scapegoat for the problems in the country."