Sri Lanka -- The Catholic Church is trying to distance itself from some fundamentalist Christian sects that have been accused of using "undue pressures" and bribing poor people in the Buddhist-majority nation to convert, according to Zenit.org.
Such conversions have fueled an anti-Christian backlash, leading to attacks on Catholic churches and demands for laws against what some Buddhist monks call "unethical conversions."
In response to this, a conference of the bishops of the Catholic Church of Sri Lanka issued a statement that the Catholic Church is in no way associated with the radical sects.
While they expressed "unequivocal disapproval on the use of material enticements to gain converts," the bishops also said they do not support bans on the controversial conversions. Not only would such legislation polarize the society and make the interreligious tensions worse, the statement said, it would also be impossible to define what constituted an unacceptable reason for conversion, since every individual has his or her own motivations for converting.
The bishops believe that instead of enacting legislation, the people of Sri Lanka should call upon the leaders of other religions to set up an interreligious body that would help promote religious harmony.
