St. Michael and All Angels

The Spreading of Christianity in Sri Lanka

Between the 15th and 20th centuries AD, Sri Lanka had a spate of foreign invasions. Once a free and proud nation ruled by kings, it became a conquered country that bowed to its white conquerors. The Portuguese, the Dutch, and the British invaded one after the other, fighting each other for a piece of the lush riches of the tropical island. Sri Lanka, then called Ceylon, remained in the hands of foreigners until the mid 20th century (4th of February 1948 to be exact).

The foreign invaders brought their guns, their ships, but also their religions. As they spread their language, their architecture, their style of clothing, and their ways of trade; they also spread their religions. They were all Christians but from different sects. To them converting the ‘savages’ was a mission given to them by God. The Portuguese were strictly Roman Catholic and forced the locals to convert once they captured most of Sri Lanka in the 16th century. They used the destruction of the local religious artifacts to establish their power and control.

The Dutch had converted to the Protestant sect by the time they invaded in the mid 17th century and therefore were very anti-Catholic. They destroyed all structures left by the Portuguese as much as possible or built over them. They forced as many Catholics to convert to Protestantism. While the local religions were left untouched, they won no favor with their huge taxes.

After the two invasions the local peoples were left exhausted, despairing and hopeless. Their resistance to the invaders was fading. Kandy was the last stronghold holding out. They too were being weakened from the inside by strife and betrayals. It was in such a situation that the British took over the country. Though Kandy was able to repel them at first, they also swiftly fell. The British didn’t use force to spread their religion. They were diplomatic used coercion and persuasion.

Those who converted to the Anglican sect received a better education, better job opportunities, better facilities, and most importantly the attention of the British. The British initially only paid attention to semi European Burghers and high caste natives, wooing them into converting their religions to Anglican and persuading them to support the British. This caused some jealousy and ill feelings towards the favored and spurred on the average locals. It had them vying to make sure that the British noticed them too. Then realizing that converting would earn them favors, some of the more enterprising and ambitious normal locals started converting on their own. Some more were converted through missionary work by the British pastors who had come to Sri Lanka. This was especially true for communities who were extremely poor, and receiving facilities and help through the missionaries.

And so, Christianity became a religious mainstay of the island.

The Need for a Church – 1844

Those who became Anglicans during the British era received further facilities, faste