Page "Sinhalese people" Paragraph 21

Prominent Sri Lankan anthropologists Gananath Obeyesekere and Kitsiri Malalgoda used the term " Protestant Buddhism " to describe a type of Buddhism that appeared among the Sinhalese in Sri Lanka as a response to Protestant Christian missionaries and their evangelical activities during the British colonial period.

This kind of Buddhism involved emulating the Protestant strategies of organizing religious practices.

They saw the need to establish Buddhist schools for educating Buddhist youth and organizing Buddhists with new organizations such as the Young Men's Buddhist Association, as well as printing pamphlets to encourage people to participate in debates and religious controversies to defend Buddhism.