Sri Lanka: a people on its knees urges the Church to promote real social reforms

From Spero-

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”.

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http://www.speroforum.com/a/52170/Sri-Lanka---Sri-Lanka-a-people-on-its-knees-urges-the-Church-to-promote-real-social-reforms