During Sri Lanka’s long civil war (1983-2009), religion was
an important part of the collective identity and social narrative of many participants. Though the war was not strictly a
religious conflict, the identity cleavage, Tamil (Hindu) versus
Sinhalese (Buddhist), was central to understanding the war.
The close link between religion and ethnic identity made religious targets particularly appealing for symbolic violence,
not against faith per se, but against symbols representing the
opposing side: worshippers, clerics, and houses of worship.
Seeds of the conflict were sown following independence
from the United Kingdom in 1948, soon after which the
new government of the Sinhalese-dominated United National Party disenfranchised Tamil plantation workers; the
Sinhalese majority stoked more antagonism when it made
Sinhala, rather than ethnic-neutral English, the national language in 1956, and promoted policies that further disenfranchised the Tamil minority. Over time, some militant Buddhist monks were in the vanguard of Sinhalese nationalism,
including winning seats in parliament. In short, the promotion of Sinhalese identity—religion, culture, and language—
was a driving force for Tamil grievances, and the nationalist
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) responded with
terrorism and insurgency. After a quarter century of violence,
Colombo decisively beat the LTTE on the battlefield in May
2009, killing its senior leaders. However, at this writing it
remains unclear whether the Sri Lankan government is on
a course that will ameliorate, rather than exacerbate, longstanding tensions.