Silent Suppression: Restrictions on Religious Freedoms of Christians 1994-2014

Abstract

This study systematically analyses trends of restrictions faced by Christians over the past twenty years and aims to provide activists, academics, civil society, religious leaders and other relevant stakeholders key insights on the nature of religious discrimination and violence faced by Christians in Sri Lanka. It is based on over 20 years of reports gathered by the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka. The methodology used for the study was created by Verité Research in 2013 as a form of classifying incidents reported by religious freedom groups into discernible categories as a way of understanding emerging trends in religious intolerance and violence. A total of 972 events of religious intolerance, violence and discrimination were identified, classified and analysed for this report. Overall, several key trends emerge from the analysis of these events. First, restrictions on religious freedoms of Christians are overt and often violent. Second, the restrictions that have emerged are not a result of competing religious groups but small minorities facing restrictions by majority (and majoritarian) religious communities. Third, the state and the political climate have played a major role in exacerbating the number and intensity of the restrictions placed on religious minorities.