Police continually call for an approved place and condemns meeting in homes for worship. The freedom of practicing your faith and assembly is not restricted by the constitution of the land. However grass root level application of this freedom leaves much to be desired. Roman Catholic Church attacked According to the local papers a new building of the Roman Catholic church in Hulandawa has been torched. Reliable sources indicate that this attack was carried out assuming that the building belonged to a non traditional church.
New buildings are vehemently opposed irrespective of the denomination.
This is also with the belief that the Christian presence could be destroyed with the building. While many suggest that we should do away with buildings, it is also a practical difficulty for groups when they have larger gatherings. Most of the traditional homes in Sri Lanka cannot accommodate more than 10-15 people. Some are even smaller and due to limited access to public halls a need arises for a meeting place. In some places it is more like a temporary shed while some are more solidly structured.