“May all beings become painless, healthy, cured” this phrase
Siyalu sathwaoy Niduk wethwa Nirogi Wethwa Suwapath wethwa is a Buddhist phrase
that is wished by millions of Buddhist in
the world every morning. It’s a strong human rights saying, that even mentioned
about animals in it. But unfortunately many religious fanatics today create
suffering for other religions in countries where the Buddhism is primary
religion. On the Blog active day (#BAD13) I would like to Share the Sri Lankan experience
of freedom of religion.
Sri Lanka is not a Buddhist country by its constitution. But
in the constitution
Chapter (II) article 9 say’s
The
Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly
it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana
But does that mean only religion in
Sri Lanka must be Buddhism, No this article says that Buddhism will be given
the foremost place. Above I have only quoted a part of what is in constitution. let’s read the latter part.
while assuring to all
religions the rights granted by Articles 10 and 14(1)(e).
Yes, Buddhism will be given
foremost place while assuring the rights of other religions granted by the
Articles 10 and 14 (1) e. To get a deeper understanding of these rights let’s
consider what is granted in articles 10 and 14.
Every
person is entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including
the freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.
Every person has the right
of adopting his own belief. The word adopt has an interesting meaning. Adopt means
according to web dictionary “take up or start to use or follow”. That means I can adopt a new religion. I can
follow one religion and if I feel that those practices are not agreeable, I can
star following another religion. So as Sri Lankan citizens we have every right
of following whatever the religion we like. We have granted this right as a
fundamental right. So in sri lanak conversion is possible. But do we have the right
to convert people? Or can we preach a religion? Lets consider Article 14 (1) e.
Article 14 (1) e.
Every
citizen is entitled to -(e) the freedom, either by himself or in
association with others, and either in public or in private, to manifest his
religion or belief in worship, observance, practice or teaching;
Consider this article
say’s every citizen is entitled to manifest his religion in private or in public.
And article goes further and say every citizen is entitle to practice or teach
the religion in private or public. If we have the freedom of teaching a
religion in public that means we can preach our religion to people around us in
public. It’s a fundamental right. That means we don’t have to get the permission
from any other authority to do it. Fundamental rights are birth rights and it’s
like the right to vote.
But unfortunately this
right has been violated by many religious fanatics in the country. Relevant authorities
have been closing there eyes and put some innocent religious people behind
bars. Recently few religious fanatics have torchered 3 preaches of Jehovah’s
Witness in Athurugiriya. Although media reported this incident, media did not condemn
the situation. We heard that Police have imprisoned them for a Night and taken
them to courts. But if we have a fundamental right of preaching religion,
police should protect the Preaches and police must imprison those religious fanatics.
This is Just one incident but thousand happen every year in Sri Lanka and authorities
ignore them. USA embassy report on freedom of religion about Sri Lanka say’s
There were reports of
societal abuses and discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or
practice. Sporadic violent attacks on Christian churches by Buddhists and some
societal tension due to ongoing allegations of forced or “unethical”
conversions (i.e., the use of bribes to persuade people to convert) continued,
although the number and scale of attacks were reportedly fewer than in recent
years. Intolerance of, and discrimination against, Muslims by some Buddhists
increased during the year.(http://srilanka.usembassy.gov/news-events/key-reports.html)
Why this Happens?
Although our constitution
is strong and the highest authority of the country many do not have the understanding
of its laws. Many police persons arrest other non Buddhist religious persons because
they fear these Buddhist fanatic monks. Although Political leaders understand
the law they also are fearful of these monks who can change the vote of the
people.
Solution
Educate the common police
personals handle these situations,about the law . We must also educate the
public about the fundamental rights. We must discuss about religious freedom in
Sri lanka. Media should take the lead in discussing this. We say we live in a "Daharam Dipa", Island of Righteousness, so we should protect the rights of other people.
