This Week's NATIONAL ETIQUETTE AWARD goes to... Sri Lanka!

Sri Lanka- Wikipedia

Lonely Planet: Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka Web Server

Sri Lanka- The Pearl of the Indian Ocean

I hereby grant the National Etiquette Award to Sri Lanka, as it is customary in that country to remove shoes when entering homes.

Formerly knonw as Ceylon, from where we get the name of a popular variety of tea.

Sri Lanka was badly hit by the Boxing Day Tsunami. Relief efforts have been serioulsy hampered by the long standing conflict between government forces and the rebel Tamil Tigers. This conflict has been going on for years. There were some hopes of peace recently, but these seem to have been dashed.

The conflict stems from the ethnic division between the Sinahalese majority who are dominant in government and the Hindu Tamil minority in the north.

Many people think that Buddhism is a peaceful and tolerant religion, however, Buddhist persecution in Sri Lanka of both Hindus and Christians demonstrates this to be a quite false notion.

In my first year of university, I met a couple of theology students from Sri Lanka. I had long hair at the time, and the first time we met, they were surpised by my name, thinking I was a girl. One of them was Anglican, the other Methodist. They were 'Liberal' in theology and believed that people could be saved through false religions. Some western Evangelicals have a funny idea that all Christians in the Third World are really conservative. Sadly, that is not the case in many denominations.

The Sri Lankan government has tried hard to restrict evangelism and it is very difficult to enter the country as a missionary. Much prayer is needed for an end to such restrictions.

For information on the persecution of Christians worldwide visit:

Barnabas Fund

Open Doors International