KOTTE, Sri Lanka — An anti-conversion bill that would have criminalized humanitarian assistance provided by religious groups has been tabled in Sri Lanka’s Parliament.
The Buddhist political party proposing the bill claimed it would only restrict “fundamentalist” groups from using monetary rewards or coercive methods to convert people. The human rights organization International Christian Concern, however, argued the language of the bill was so broad that relief efforts of non-Buddhist religious groups could have been subjected to criminal penalties.
A pastor in Sri Lanka reported the bill has been tabled by lawmakers, meaning it neither passed nor failed. If lawmakers want to reintroduce the bill, it will have to go through channels that were bypassed when it was proposed this time. This was the third time in four years the anti-conversion bill had been advanced, and tabling the proposal may mean it will not be considered again for some time.
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