Weekly Confession

The Sri Lankan government has relaxed its guard over the souls of its citizens and is giving gifts from the public purse to uphold religious belief instead.

The Sri Lankan government has relaxed its guard over the souls of its citizens and is giving gifts from the public purse to uphold religious belief instead. On Thursday, the government generously dipped into the Treasury’s sparse resources and donated Rs.





4.8 mn towards upholding the Christian faith in Sri Lanka.

"We have given Rs. 4.8 mn to the Christian Affairs Ministry to rebuild churches in Jaffna and Mannar," Minister Mangala Samaraweera told a post Cabinet news conference on Thursday.

The local Muslims were also beneficiaries of government goodwill to minority religions.

Last month, the government made a special mention of 'free' cloth for head coverings for Muslim schoolgirls – on top of 'free' fabric for school uniforms for all religious groups.

The head coverings, said Minister Samaraweera "will not be made compulsory."

Meanwhile, the much publicised government crusade to protect citizens from being forced or tricked into changing their religion is "undecided."

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