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MANIPULATIVE CHRISTIAN EVANGELISM

While every one focusing their minds at the LTTE problem, we Sinhalese Buddhists are pitted against another force as dangerous as the LTTE but only a few realize the dangers that the Sinhalese Buddhist way of life will have to face in the near future. Perhaps it would be correct if I said that we are in the first phase of manipulative Christian evangelism. If we do not counter these moves there will be mass conversions of Sinhalese Buddhist to Christians within a decade or two once the foundations are prepared for this purpose during the first phase that has now begun. What happened in South Korea will be repeated here where the 80% Buddhist population was reduced to 18% in five decades. Here is this country they have only to reduce 69% Buddhist by another 20% and we will no longer be living in a Sinhalese Buddhist country. Just as much as a tree would die if its bark were destroyed, the Sinhalese race will surely die if Buddhism is destroyed. Have you ever thought of this reality?

After George Bush Jnr. became the President of the United States he made a speech in which he said that he would no longer support the developing third world countries through their respective governments but would channel American aid through the American Christian Relief Organizations in these countries. World Vision is one such organization. Based on the evidence led at the Presidential Commission of inquiry on Non Governmental Organizations it was proved beyond reasonable doubt that World Vision was an American funded manipulative Christian evangelical organization, which was surreptitiously trying to convert Sinhalese Buddhists into Christianity through a program of work that was identified as "The Mustard Seed Project". After they were thus exposed they wound up the project and remained dormant for several years but have now recommenced their activities with renewed vigor. They have more funds at their disposal than what is allocated to Divisional Secretariats for poverty alleviation from the central government. Their new projects are fifteen-year programmes of work that they commence right from the pre-schools age.

They first visit the pre-schools at village level, give attractive gifts to the children, take photographs of the children on the pretext of finding sponsors for them. On their second visit they meet the parents of the children and inform them that sponsors have been found from America for all the children and that these sponsors will not only pay the preschool teachers but will also help the families of these children. They next form World Vision Societies for the parents of children in every village and a coordinator from World Vision commences regular visits to every village to discuss with these societies what poverty alleviation projects they should implement at village level.

I have done a comprehensive study of their activities in the Divisional Secretariat areas of Kebitigollewa and Horowupotana. They are trying to make use of the innocent pre-school teachers for their surreptitious and manipulative Christian evangelical activity. World Vision has already conducted training courses for these preschool teachers where they have been told that World Vision respects all religions and as such would prefer for classes to commence with two minutes silence respecting all religions without giving pride of place to one religion only. This is a surreptitious method of not only preventing the teachers but also the children from respecting the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha. That World Vision is a Christian relief organization they have hidden from the innocent pre-school teachers in those areas.

Through the World Vision societies at village level they are at present implementing numerous poverty alleviation programs that include the restoration of tanks and irrigation canals, repair of roads, construction of community centers drinking water wells and toilets, etc., running into millions of rupees. Their intentions are obvious. This is a hearts and minds operation to win the confidence of all the village communities and to bring them to a point that they would sincerely believe that World Vision could do no wrong. It is at this stage that the "Cross" will be introduced. This is similar to their Mustard Seed project where the "Cross" was introduced in the ninth year after much poverty alleviation work in villages of the Ratnapura district. The long-term intention is to convert the community as a whole so that any objection from the village temple could be overridden without opposition.

In one village the parents have been requested to find suitable land for the construction a community center for which World Vision is willing to invest Rs. One Million. The parents have been told that once the building is completed World Vision intends to appoint the preschool teacher to whom they are paying a monthly salary as the caretaker of the community center. Since it would be more convenient for the caretaker of the community center who is also the preschool teacher to conduct preschool sessions at the community center the parents have been requested to SHIFT the preschool from the temple to the proposed community center once it is constructed. This is a surreptitious method of weaning the children from the village temple. Once the community center is completed the preschool teacher has also been requested to form a youth society in the village. World Vision has promised to organize English education classes for the benefit of the village youth free of charge on Sundays. This is a surreptitious method of weaning the youth from the Dhaham Pasala.

We have therefore to organize ourselves to counter their moves. We do not have the financial resources available to World Vision but we are self- motivated and have the will power to fight their surreptitious methods. All we have to do is to educate, firstly, the preschool teachers and secondly, the villagers on what the ultimate aim of World Vision is. There is still a tremendous will among the people in Sinhalese Buddhist villages to protect and preserve their Sinhalese Buddhist way of life. We must exploit this spirit of the Sinhalese Buddhist villager to establish a strong defensive mechanism at village level against foreign funded manipulative Christian evangelical organizations.

We must never tell the Sinhalese villagers NOT to accept the poverty alleviation assistance given by World Vision, but RATHER we must teach them ways and means of getting more from World Vision without falling prey to the W.V. bait. We must educate the Sinhalese villager on how to exploit the white man who exploited our ancestors mercilessly, during the colonial period. Without doing this, if we allow their program to continue for fifteen years, the preschool children whom they intend to commence influencing now will be nineteen years when the project reaches completion. They will then be of an age that could influence the decision making process in the village.

As a first step in this direction of exposing the true intentions of World Vision we conducted a successful seminar at the Kebitigollewa Divisional Secretariat conference hall on Saturday the 3rd of November 2001 for preschool teachers. 122 of the 150 preschool teachers invited from Horowupotana and Kebitigollewa Divisional Secretariat areas attended this seminar. They were educated on how to deal with World Vision and how W.V. is making use of them for their own proselytizing purposes. We advised them to eat the bait but, without swallowing the hook. They established a pre-school teacher association at the end of the seminar, the main objective of which was to preserve the Sinhalese Buddhist way of life in their villages for posterity. We hope to make this preschool teacher association one of our arms to beat World Vision at their own game. We have now to make this preschool teacher association financially strong with adequate welfare facilities. This must be done to negate the influence World Vision is bringing to bear on them by paying their salaries. We intend also to provide every preschool with an attractive Buddha statue to encourage the children to perform their traditional Buddhist practices before commencing classes each morning.

At the seminar for Buddhist Monks of Horowupotana and Kebitigollewa held the same day, after the preschool teacher seminar, they were informed of the type of evangelical activity that has commenced in their respective areas in the name of poverty alleviation and of the threat such activity would pose to Buddhism. We intend to mobilize the Buddhist Monks in the village temples to educate the Sinhalese Buddhist villagers on the true intentions of manipulative Christian evangelical organizations such as World Vision. Some of the poorer village temples need to be assisted as they lack the necessary resources to participate in our efforts. We have discussed their plight with the Ministry of Buddha Sasana. Though this Ministry does not receive much funds from the government annually, giving heed to our request the Secretary of this Ministry has agrees to financially assist at least three temples.

We therefore need financial support from all our friends to continue this important program of work to protect and preserve the Sinhalese Buddhist way of life in these Sinhalese villages where World Vision has commenced their activities. We are happy to receive even small contributions from our friends bearing in mind the fact that small drops of water make the mighty ocean. In the famous legendary story David was able to beat Goliath. We can do the same.

Yours sincerely,

Lt Col A.S.Amarasekera.

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