Day 15

AUGUST | 2023

Sri Lanka

PRAYER FOR THIS COUNTRY

James warns us that with the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Heavenly Father, we lift up to You the Christian Believers in Sri Lanka. We ask that You guard their hearts and their tongues. In a nation that is divided along ethnic and religious lines, and the current financial crisis makes life very hard, we pray that Christian Believers will not turn against or speak evil of people of other faiths. Instead, may their patience and grace be evident, and may the words of their mouths be pleasing to God and to man. May they be peacemakers and bridge builders (The Bible, James 3:9).

MORE ABOUT THIS COUNTRY

Twenty-six years of civil war pitted Sri Lanka’s government forces, representing the Buddhist Sinhala majority, against Hindu Tamil separatists. The conflict resulted in upwards of 100,000 deaths. Although the conflict ended in 2009, tensions and accusations remain, and promised truth and reconciliation commissions have never been forthcoming. Sri Lanka has the longest continuous history of Buddhism of any predominately Buddhist nation. This, combined with nationalism, results in the ongoing violent persecution of all who are not Buddhist. This year the nation was plunged into bankruptcy, with major food and fuel shortages bringing people onto the street in widespread protests that forced the president to resign and flee.

CHIEF OF STATE
President Ranil Wickremesinghe
HEAD OF GOV.
PM Dinesh Gunawardena
POPULATION
22,053,000
CHRISTIANS
2%
EVANGLICAL CHRISTIANS
Unknown
DOMINANT RELIGION
Buddhism
PERSECUTION RANKING
Not Ranked
REFUGEES
33,170
LIFE EXPECTANCY
76.56 yrs
LITERACY RATE
98.1%
POPULATION BELOW POVERTY LINE
8.9%