by Melani Manel Perera

Churches must become main actors of change after the country’s long ethnic conflict. An Anglican bishop, a Methodist pastor and a Jesuit priest call on the country’s Christians to go beyond mere charity.

Colombo (AsiaNews) – The current situation in Sri Lanka, where people are still on their knees after a 30-year war that ended in 2009, is invitation to the Church to promote real social reforms, because the country’s reconstruction cannot be done by works of charity alone, this according to a panel discussion on the ‘Role and responsibility of the Christians in Social Reform’, organised by the Christian Alliance for Social Action (CASA), held on Monday at the CARITAS Sri Lanka (SEDEC) head office Auditorium.

“The Church should take others by the hand,” said Anglican Bishop Emeritus Kumara Illangasinghe. “If we really want to change the situation, we must become main actors in much-awaited change,” he added. “Are the Church and Christians ready to sacrifice their identity when they think about social reforms?”

For Methodist Rev Muthiah Selvarajah, the Church must act as a mediator to protect people’s rights more than promote charity. “Before the war, people were asked with the utmost respect and in a sense of brotherhood: ‘Where do you come from?’ Today, we ask that to see whether someone is dangerous or not [. . .] Thus, we cannot believe those who claim there is no ethnic problem in Sri Lanka”.

The government’s agenda at present does not include any political solution, he added. “For this reason, all Christian confessions must act as one family.”

According to Jesuit Fr Lasantha de Abrew, the Church must actively cooperate with the people and be on the side of the victims. “We are all Christians, and people should not feel Tamil or Sinhalese,” he said.

Shantha Fernando, executive secretary of the Commission for Justice and Peace of the National Christian Council (NCC), said that the Bible could provide advice on how to achieve true social reform.

“Jesus told us ‘to love thy neighbour like thyself’. What does the Church need more to prepare itself to face certain difficulties if it follows in the footsteps of Christ?”

• sri
• lanka
• church
• anglican
• methodist
• catholic
• civil
• war
• ethnic
• charity
• social
• reforms