Sri Lankan Christians 'have no hate in their hearts,' Ministerial hears

Washington D.C., Jul 17, 2019 / 10:00 am

Survivors of deadly Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka have forgiven their perpetrators, but distrust between religious groups threatens a tenuous peace in the country, one survivor said on Tuesday.

Survivors "are on the path to recovery," Yamini Ravidran told a global religious freedom gathering July 16 in Washington, D.C.  "They have no hate in their hearts," she said.

Tuesday marked the first day of meetings and discussions at the U.S. State Department of the Second Annual Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom. The Ministerial is a gathering of religious and civic leaders from all over the world, as well as leaders of non-governmental organizations and over 100 foreign delegations.

On Tuesday, attendees heard testimonies of survivors of religious persecution and terror attacks targeting churches, mosques, and synagogues.

Ravidran was joined on a panel by Rabbi Hazzan Jeffrey Myers of the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, where 11 were killed in a shooting in October, and Dr. Farid Ahmed, a survivor of a shooting at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The Sri Lanka bombings on Easter Sunday targeted three Christian churches-two Catholic churches and a Protestant church-and three resort hotels in Sri Lanka, as well as a residence and a zoo, killing over 250 people and injuring around 500.

"Easter Sunday is supposed to be a day of celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ," Ravidran said, but in 2019 that day "was going to permanently change the lives of many."

Outside one church targeted in the attacks, children were asked by their Sunday school teacher how many were willing to die for Christ, she said. Most raised their hands, and "only a few minutes later, this became a reality for many of them." Out of the 32 victims of the bombing of that church, 14 were children, she said.

Before the bombings, these children "could be called the first generation" in the country that "did not experience war, division, or brutality," Ravidran said. A decades-long civil war ravaged the country and religious communities are still healing from the division of the conflict-division that could once again be fanned into flames. As a result, emergency restrictions, recently lifted after the decades-long conflict, have returned, Ravidran said.

The attack "has empowered some of the extremist elements" in the country, she said, and has "left us with a fear psychosis like never before."

Catholic and Christian churches were closed for weeks after the attack, with the first public masses at Catholic churches held three weeks after Easter on May 12; attendees had to pass through strict security checks, the Guardian reported.

"There has been an increase in the distrust between communities," Ravidran said, with instances of hate speech targeting Muslim communities.  

However, "the people of Sri Lanka are deeply resilient and compassionate," she said, having survived previous disasters including the deadly 2004 tsunami and the civil war. Survivors of the bombings are forgiving the perpetrators, and "that is what we see in Sri Lanka," she said.