Religious Persecution At Issue After Sri Lanka Easter Attacks

Sri Lankans pray during a three minute nationwide silence observed to pay homage to the victims of Easter Sunday’s blasts outside St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, April 23, 2019. A state of emergency has taken effect giving the Sri Lankan military war-time powers not used since civil war ended in 2009. Police arrested 40 suspects, including the driver of a van allegedly used by suicide bombers involved in deadly Easter bombings.
Sri Lankans pray during a three minute nationwide silence observed to pay homage to the victims of Easter Sunday's blasts outside St. Anthony's Shrine in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, April 23, 2019. A state of emergency has taken effect giving the Sri Lankan military war-time powers not used since civil war ended in 2009. Police arrested 40 suspects, including the driver of a van allegedly used by suicide bombers involved in deadly Easter bombings. Eranga Jayawardena / AP Photo
Sri Lankans pray during a three minute nationwide silence observed to pay homage to the victims of Easter Sunday’s blasts outside St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, April 23, 2019. A state of emergency has taken effect giving the Sri Lankan military war-time powers not used since civil war ended in 2009. Police arrested 40 suspects, including the driver of a van allegedly used by suicide bombers involved in deadly Easter bombings.
Sri Lankans pray during a three minute nationwide silence observed to pay homage to the victims of Easter Sunday's blasts outside St. Anthony's Shrine in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, April 23, 2019. A state of emergency has taken effect giving the Sri Lankan military war-time powers not used since civil war ended in 2009. Police arrested 40 suspects, including the driver of a van allegedly used by suicide bombers involved in deadly Easter bombings. Eranga Jayawardena / AP Photo

Religious Persecution At Issue After Sri Lanka Easter Attacks

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Bombings at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday left 321 people dead. On Tuesday, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks after increasingly calling for assaults on churches following the New Zealand mosque attacks. Sri Lankan officials have suggested that the bombers in Sri Lanka may have sought to avenge the deaths of Muslims in New Zealand, though they provided little evidence. They have also tentatively stated that two local Islamist radical groups were involved in the Sunday bombings: National Thowheeth Jama’ath and Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim. Both Christians and Muslims are minorities in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka, which spent decades in civil war until 2009. Joining Worldview to help us understand the recent tragedy in Sri Lanka is Shanta Premawardhana. Premawardhana is a pastor and interfaith leader originally from Sri Lanka. He is currently the president of the Omnia Institute for Contextual Leadership.