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| Sunday, 4 July 2004 |
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'Unethical conversions' : Christian bodies against proposed legislation The Catholic Bishops' Conference and the National Christian Council disapproving the moves to enact legislation to prohibit or restrict conversions have urged to allow the free exercise of religious freedom and freedom of conscience for all. The statement jointly released by the Catholic Bishops' Conference and the National Christian Council is as follows: "The attention of the Catholic Bishops' Conference and the National Christian Council in Sri Lanka has been drawn to the Bill titled, "Prohibition of forcible conversion of Religion" published in the Gazette on 28th May 2004 and to the fact that the Cabinet has approved another suggested draft to ban conversions. "We do recognize that for some time now, there has been growing anxiety and agitation over "unethical conversions". This could well be part of the rationale behind these Bills. We do not condone any unethical practices or any form of compulsions and do categorically denounce them. We reiterate our call to work together as leaders of all religions in our country to address this situation. We are always ready and willing to participate in any process that would ease religious tensions, identify practices that injure the religious susceptibility of any community and work towards greater religious harmony in our country. However, whilst acknowledging the problem and offering to participate in meaningful ways to redress these issues, we strongly believe that enacting legislation will not solve the problem. On the contrary, it will create problems of its own. Apart from the serious violation of personal freedoms, it will pave the way for the oppression of minority religions in the country. In these circumstances, we have little option but to collaborate in finding other democratic ways to deal with our inter-religious tensions. "Having carefully studied these drafts, we wish to state that if they are enacted into legislation, the freedom of thought, conscience and religion of all Sri Lankans will be seriously eroded. We are also of the opinion that these drafts contravene the fundamental human rights of our people enshrined in our Constitution as well as accepted prevailing international conventions and norms. Consequently, we have grave concerns that such possible legislation, given today's political climate, will destroy the freedom of choice and the character of pluralism, both essential pillars of a modern democratic society. The repercussions of this on our international image will be disastrous. "We are therefore compelled to caution our political leaders and inform all Sri Lankans that this trend could well be the beginning of an invasion of the right to personal choice. Our already oppressed people simply cannot be burdened with more restrictions of this nature. "We also take this opportunity to clarify our position on religious and personal freedom. All the four religions in our country have cherished and exercised that right to propagate their religion throughout the world. The fact that missionaries are being sent out from Sri Lanka to propagate religion in other countries demonstrates our appreciation and our exercise of that fundamental right in other countries. Therefore, we see no reason why a fundamental right enjoyed by us in other countries should be denied in our own. We affirm our commitment to protecting the individual's freedom to have or adopt any religion or belief of his or her free choice. No fetters should be placed in the path of the exercise of that freedom by legislative or other means." |
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