Religious leaders stoked fears of mass conversion to justify anti-Christian violence

Evidence

The recent attacks on Christians began in 2000. Such anti-Christian incidents are common in India and Pakistan, but not in Sri Lanka, and the violence consequently caught many by surprise. Buddhist priests and influential organizations like the Center for Buddhism International, the Buddhist Dharmavijaya Foundation, and the Center for Buddhist Action have claimed that various evangelical groups from the United States and South Korea, such as Campus Crusade for Christ and Christian Literary Crusade, are abusing the Companies Act of 1982 (which missionary groups have used to register as corporations) to convert Buddhists and Hindus. The Buddhist organizations fan the public’s fears by claiming that just as South Korea was made a majority Christian country following World War II, Sri Lanka too will soon become a majority Christian island if the Christian organizations are allowed free reign in the country. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 243

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s ongoing question about manufactured external threats sustaining solidarity — the Korea analogy is a manufactured demographic menace used to rally Buddhist in-group. — connects to: Christian contemporaries already perceived mass conversion to Islam as a threat; Seventh-century Christians perceived mass conversion to Islam as a threat — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1507; Evangelical leaders’ fear of Islam was manufactured to sell militant faith — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne: How White…, 493 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Evangelical leaders’ fear of Islam was manufactured to sell militant faith #expands (0.85) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 493
• Religious Right leaders cultivated fear to sustain their own political success #expands (0.85) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 568
• Seventh-century Christians perceived mass conversion to Islam as a threat #corroborates (0.78) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1507
• Syriac Christians perceived mass conversion to Islam as a real threat #corroborates (0.78) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1507
• Christian contemporaries already perceived mass conversion to Islam as a threat #corroborates (0.75)