Sri Lankan churches violently attacked, closed

It was just a normal Sunday. Around 75 people gathered in the house rented as their church building for worship. Praise music wafted out the door. Prayers lifted to heaven. Pastor Saman Perera* stood behind the pulpit and asked the congregation to open their Bibles.

That's when "normal" came to a crashing end.

Local Sri Lankan authorities stormed in from every exit, demanding the church service stop. Church members sat in shock until a bald man in saffron robes appeared. With the entrance of the village's head monk, people hid in back rooms, jumped out open windows or knocked chairs over to get out the door only to meet up with an angry mob of nearly 1,000 yielding sticks and stones.

"Leave or be killed," the mob chanted.

That was nearly four months ago, yet Perera recounts the story as if it happened yesterday. In a way, it did -- he relives it with each visit to the courtroom where he must face those who violently closed his church.  Read more

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