As Christians, we believe that prayer is effective and that God listens and cares about our needs.  We believe that, beyond anything that we can humanly do, God can work in and through any person and situation. Therefore, we call on Christians in Sri Lanka and around the world to pray:

• Pray for strength and endurance for Christians suffering at the hands of those who oppose them
• Pray that the ministry of God's Spirit will continue to move throughout Sri Lanka, despite opposition
• Pray that God will intervene in the pending legislation

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Sample Letter to Goverment Officials

(Your Excellency/ Hon. Minister),

I wish to express my concern and protest on the proposed legislation regulating individual choice and religious freedom of Sri Lankan citizens. I understand that a Bill titled "Prohibition of Forcible Conversion Bill" was Gazetted on the 28th of May 2004, and a draft Act titled "Act for the Protection of Religious Freedom" which calls for a total ban on religious conversion was presented to the Cabinet for approval in June 2004.
The contents of the said Gazetted Bill and the draft Act infringes upon the rights granted to all persons under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
If enacted, these laws will enforce limitations on the freedom of religion, particularly on minority religious groups. Furthermore, I understand that these laws contain several ambiguous terms and definitions, which will lead to arbitrary and subjective interpretation and enforcement.

Furthermore, I am deeply concerned about continuing acts of violence, intimidation and desecration of Churches in Sri Lanka as reported in the media.

I appeal to you, to urgently address the issue of religious freedom in Sri Lanka and ensure the rights of all Sri Lankan citizens by not enacting the proposed laws and taking enforcing law and order to prevent violence against Christians.

Yours respectfully,

(Your Name)

We encourage all people in Sri Lanka and throughout the world who are concerned about human rights to intervene on behalf of the Sri Lankan Church.  You can respectfully submit your concerns to the following addresses:

His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa
President of Sri Lanka
Presidential Secretariat,
Galle Road, Colombo 1, Sri Lanka

Hon. Ratnasiri Wickremanayake
Prime Minister of Sri Lanka
No. B 12, Stanmore Cresent, Colombo 07.

Other government contact information may be available from the government's website (click here).

We encourage our international friends to also contact the governments and Sri Lankan embassies in their own countries to make known the needs of Sri Lankan Christians.