Tactics and Strategies of Unethical Conversion
Posted on August 7th, 2015
The aim of the Christians is to Christianize Sri Lanka.
The work of the Church is not done until 90% of those who are not Christians are Christians”. Statement made by Rev. Lakdasa de Mel, Vice Bishop of the Anglican Church.
Source: Revolt in the Temple, 1956, p. 485
The methods used in conversion are the same as those used in advertising and war fare. They attack the mind from several directions, breaking down ‘enemy’ resistance.
Targets are
- The Poor
- The Unemployed
- The Sick
- The Bereaved
- Children
- Young Adults
Methods for converting are tailored to the targets. The entry points are carefully studied in the areas selected and are determined by local need.
- Material Inducements – houses, clothes, food, money etc. are offered to the poor, and also to others.
Miracle boxes are put in local churches. The poor villager writes his/her wish on a paper or gets another to write – a loan for a house, fee for child’s schooling, equipment to start a small business… And lo and behold, a few weeks later, the miracle happens! And, of course, the whole family converts, making others in the village follow suit!
- Job Offers
- Threaten with dismissal from job
The boss invites the employees to attend church if they like, but in reality it is compulsory attendance.
Child Evangelism – Catch Them Young
- Pre-schools are opened all over the island in the guise of offering a good English education, with a promise of entry into good schools-the objective is child proselysation”;
- The children are initiated to Christian ideas using hymns, prayers and songs. By doing this they gradually alienate the children from the cultural and religious beliefs that Buddhist children are taught in their homes.
- Teach Buddhist children of 4-5 years, that they must not kneel in front of anyone other than God” thereby destroying the age old cultural practices of paying reverence to the Buddhist clergy, teachers, parents and elders.
- Teach children that Prince Siddhartha was a bad father because he left his baby and renounced the world to seek The Truth.
- Teach innocent pre-school children not to offer flowers at the temple, because the bees and butterflies will have no food.
- Tainting young minds of these pre-school children for instance by showing two boxes one with only the Buddha and the other with Jesus and chocolates, toys, and tinsel and saying that if they follow the former they get nothing!
- Giving out dry rations to the families of children attending their pre-schools and providing uniform material to the children free of charge, conducting medical clinics and prayer sessions to heal the sick.
- Children’s Homes are opened to help destitute children, they say. Children in these homes often have visitors” who come to check their welfare and while talking to them say how wonderful God is.
- Child sponsorship by overseas benefactors. They are influenced to become Christians.
Older Children
- Conducting tuition classes for students, especially from low income families free or for a nominal fee. The classes begin by praying to God so that they may retain what they study. Later they are lured into designated places for prayer meetings to teach them the ‘word of God’.
- Opening private English schools. The children come from different religions (from the homes and from the area). This project allows us to tell about the gospel to all these children”.
- Students are taken on organized trips to visit churches in various cities. The parents are not informed of the itinerary.
Coercing Parents
- Obtain signed consent of parents and children to say they embrace the Christian faith, before further help and education are given.
General Tactics
- Insulting Buddha – by smashing Buddha statues and getting the new entrants” to their faith to spit and urinate on the smithereens
- Ridiculing Buddha by giving Muscat (Buddha’s flesh) to eat and syrup (Buddha’s blood) to drink. Buddha statues are smashed and laughing…”Buddha is destructible He cannot save himself”.
- Employing young men to shave their heads, don robes and misbehave in public place and partake food after 12 noon and frequent hotels in the night.
- Use young couples to go into village temples in the night requesting shelter from the temple monk (on the excuse that they were traveling from far) and in a short while the male would leave the female alone in the temple, and go out. Within minutes, the girl would ring the temple bell and inform the villagers that the monk had tried to molest her.
- Employing women to enter temples and lure young monks into abandoning the temple and disrobing.
- Visiting houses where death or disaster have struck the family and appearing to offer solace to the grief stricken families initially, and getting such families to embrace Christianity. Many such instances have been recorded after the Asian tsunami of 2004.
- Encourage mixed marriages between Christian and Buddhists, with the objective of converting the Buddhist spouse and making the children Christian. Groups have been set up to identify such couples to find out the religion of the children.
Healing
- Conduct ‘faith healing’ programmes in open parks or at road intersections and blaring Christian songs and hymns through public address systems. These programmes are conducted near temples on a Poya Day when there are religious observances. The much publicized ‘sick who have been healed through prayer’ are paid money to come and make a revelation.
- Going to hospitals, medical centres and going behind patients offering God’s help to cure them.
Church Planting
The aim is to plant a church in each and every village. A community centre is set up in residential areas in homes towns and villages, which eventually becomes a church.
Planting a dedicated Christian family into a predominantly Buddhist village. They are advised to get completely involved in the life of the village and earn their respect and the right to be heard in the village. They first identify themselves with the villagers to exert the maximum possible influence. Over a period of time this method has been successful in converting rural Buddhists into Christianity.
Door to Door Campaigns
- Send paid workers from house to house, boarding houses, to board trains, to street corners to distribute pamphlets, books, and other literature and engage in discussion.
Change of Terminology
Attempts to dilute Buddhist cultural practices by resorting to the following
- Use of indigenous terms, practices
- The term Aramaya, a Buddhist temple is used for a church.
- Mahanayake’, ‘Anunayake’, used by the Buddhist monks is used for Christian clergy.
- Using titles and terminology thereby attempting to make it appear that both religions are the same. (A similar tactic is used by Christians in Malaysia to refer to the Christian God as Allah).
- Bhavana, Buddhist word for meditation, is used for prayer sessions in the church.
- Daham Pasala of the Buddhists for Sunday school.
- Devameheya has become Pooja (of Buddhists and Hindus).
- Tie a thread similar to the thread tied after chanting Pirith by Buddhist monks.
- Interpolating Christian words into popular Buddhist songs.
- In Nepal for instance, where literacy and medical attention is low, schools and hospitals are established.
- In Sri Lanka where literacy and poverty are both high, Bible translations, published literature and financial aid are provided.
Physical Violence
- Chase monks out of their temples.
- Threaten monks with bodily harm.
Destruction of Buddhist Heritage
- Send paid workers to destroy Buddhist archeological sites and rob temples.
Entry into Development Work
- Every project, every programme funded and implemented by Christian based organisations is analysed to ensure that within that programme, evangelism is a significant component.
- Provide credit/loans to start income generating projects provided they become Christians.
http://unethicalconversionwatch.org/unethical-conversions-4/tactics-strategies/
Ranil wickremasinghe preaching with Kirby de Lannerolle at the inaugeration of the Apostolic Diocese of Syelon and Rosy Senanayake
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August 7th, 2015 at 8:53 am
Some 500 yrs of Colonisation have nearly finished off the Sinhala/Buddhist culture. Conversions happen for reasons.
Some of the reasons are :
* Acquiring a western education and learning English well enough for job opportunities, local & abroad, and
* Easy acceptance into the church communities, local and abroad
* For some people safety & a sense of protection through church groups
* Access to Church run amenities for the poor, aged and sick, and childcare etc.
* Possibly faster upward mobility in society with better access to funds from abroad (same as for Muslims)
August 7th, 2015 at 11:46 am
more ….
As you can see, the reliigion itself has little to do this all this.
Perhaps ‘forgiveness of sins’ for the Believer, for any guilt felt, is also a plus for the converted.
Earlier Buddhist priest Somarama converted to Christianity before he faced death for the assassination of then PM SWRD Bandaranaike. We are told that Buddharakitha who was also involved in the crime, did the same before he later died of natural causes.
So this begs the question : what is Conversion all about ????
August 7th, 2015 at 3:37 pm
Christianity targets the weak, the meek the hungry, the thirsty and the disaffected – in general those who are poor in “spirit” and in a weak state of mind. This is why these scum target those in hospitals, refugee centres, war affected areas, poor villages and similar other places. Their main aim is to increase their flock and the main target is their progeny – the children. The children of converted families become virulent Anti Buddhists.
Another mode of conversion is marrying into Buddhist families. Whether they marry a Buddhist boy or girl, they are children automatically become Christians as the Buddhist partner is easily browbeaten into submission. This usually happens at the marriage ceremony itself, where the couple is coerced to enter into a contract with the Christian Church. That is to raise the children in the Christian faith. This way the Christian Church not only acquires a family but also all their wealth coming through generations. This modus operandi of conversion has happened to many well known Buddhist families including the former President Mahinda Rajapakse’s I believe. Comely Christians go hunting for Buddhists and those from rich and sometimes well educated Buddhist families fall for this ruse.
The ultimate goal of the Christian Church is about power and accumulation of wealth. The doctrine of Love that is much tooted is only their main marketing tool. Once converted they become easy pawns in the hands of their handlers. This is why countries such as the Philippines and most Latin American countries are among the poorest nations on earth. Once Christian virus is introduced the converted get the “Fear of God” and it is extremely difficult to get them out of that stranglehold.
Around the world the Christian Church is being found for what it is – that they are famous for molesting children, money laundering, people trafficking and while slavery.
The day that this unholy enterprise is a thing of the past is not far away.
August 7th, 2015 at 4:14 pm
A good example is Rosie Senanayake’s family. Rosie nee’ Rosie Ramanayake is a Catholic and a “Born Again Christian” the virulent kind. She is currently the State Minister of Children’s Affairs and also dabbles in pregnant women affairs. All can easily see that she is a vixen – a female fox in charge of the most vulnerable in society – the Children and expecting mothers!
She married former IGP Stanley Senanayake’s son – Sanjiva Senanayake. The former IGP Stanley Senanayake was from a good Buddhist family and married the daughter of P de S Kularatne – another well known Southern Buddhist family. He was a patriot who uncovered the Catholic Coup of 1962.
P de S Kularatnewas an educationist a former Principal of Ananda College and politician of Sri Lanka. He established Nalanda College Colombo, Ananda Balika, Moratuwa Vidyalaya and Dharmapala Vidyalaya. His wife, Hilda, a scholar, was the principal of Ananda Balika and she founded the Sri Sumangala Girls’ School at Panadura and the Maliyadewa Girls’ School at Kurunegala.
What happened to Stanley Seanayake’s family after marrying the Born Again Beauty Queen – Rosie Ramanayake is all before us!
August 7th, 2015 at 4:47 pm
Christianity that is practiced today has little to do with the original teachings of Jesus. Jesus said he “The Kingdom of heaven is within you”, he said “Be still and thou shalt know me”. If Christians acknowledge these two statement they know that they do not need the Church and all the mumbo jumbo associated with it. Then it is very similar to what the Buddha said. He said Nirvana is within you and showed a way to go within by stilling the mind.
When Pope Innocent II was there many of the Popes up to that time were married. They had families and children. It was Pope Innocent II who brought in the rule about celibacy for Catholic Priests so that the money would remain in the Church and not get dissipated to families. This has caused all the deviant behavior we see today in all the Catholic Churches. So many of the Catholic Dioceses in the West have gone bankrupt due to the suing by people for child abuse. The Church after Pope Innocent II slowly transformed it self into a a sort of Corporation set up mainly to make money for the priests and their followers. Today Vatican is one of the richest organizations and is extremely powerful in influencing Governments. All the priests are pensioned and have an income for life. Unlike our Buddhist priests they do not have to depend on alms from laity.
The Church is turning their attention to the poor developing countries where people are uneducated, poor and vulnerable because in the West many people are turning away from Christianity to Buddhism. The Dalai Lama played a major role in bringing Buddhism to the West. Many of the educated Westerners find Christian theology hollow being based on mythology which has no basis on fact. Whereas Buddhism is based on reality and fact. Buddha preached on the true nature of life and showed that there is impermanence or Suffering, Arising of Dhukka, Cessation of Dhukka and the Path that leads to deliverance. He showed that the illusory nature of reality which has been confirmed by Physicists who have studied particle physics. In Buddhism there is no urge to convert anybody. It is not an organized religion and there is no central authority like the Vatican. As a result there were no crusades, no inquisitions, no wars fought in the name of Buddhism. Basis of Buddhism is compassion and that is why Sri Lanka has been so tolerant of all the religions which came to Sri Lanka such as Christianity and Muslim religion. Unfortunately these religions are very aggressive in conversion of others to their faith.
Rosy Senanayake is supposed to have said “සිංහල බෞද්ධ පදනම ඉවත්කරන තුරු ශ්රී ලංකාව දියුනුක්රන්න්ට බැ”. If this is true it is a terrible thing for a Sri Lankan MP to say since it is against the constitution it self which has protection of Buddhism in it. It is also a country that provided everything for the Christians to practice Christianity. Even though the Portuguese who came as traders destroyed all vestiges of Buddhism they came across, yet the people tolerated them. It is the same for the Muslims. When they were being killed and chased by the Portuguese it was the Sinhala King who provided them with land in the East coast and provided protection for them. Yet today they are turning against Buddhism.
In all the countries where there was Buddhism originally it can be seen that the more aggressive religions such as Christianity and Muslim religion has destroyed Buddhism and taken over the land. Good examples are Indonesia, South Korea, Afghanistan, etc. However over time people do realize their folly and do turn back to the eternal truth as espoused by the Buddha. You can read about the cruelties of the Church over the ages in the attached link below.
What can Sri Lanka do to protect Sinhalese and the Buddhists.
Sri Lanka must pass laws to prohibit unethical conversions.
We must provide english education to village children so that they are not attracted to the Christian schools to learn English.
The Buddhist priests must learn english and become well educated so that the people respect them.
They must be a help to the people in the village and in return they can expect help from the villagers.
Buddhism is enshrined as the National religion in Sri Lanka.
The Government must take steps to protect the religion and the Buddhist priests from the predatory practices of Christianity and Muslim religions.
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/vatican/esp_vatican29.htm
August 7th, 2015 at 6:04 pm
Ratnapala. Why the heck are you Residing in Canada ? Put your money where your mouth is an come back to Sri Lanka
– the HOME OF BHUDDISM?
August 7th, 2015 at 8:01 pm
If a person wants to embrace another religion that is their personal choice, but many of the things mentioned in the above-article are over-the-top and should not be allowed.
The basic problem with Christianity, and even Islam to a lesser extant, is that they are evangelical by nature, in that they both try to build their numbers as part of their religion. You can only build your numbers if some other religion loses their numbers, and this is why it is a threat to Buddhism in Sri Lanka.
We need to distinguish, however, between evangelism and sincere conversions. Evangelism is PUSHING your religion on other people, whereas sincere conversions are usually based on someone SEEKING your religion as a spiritual answer for their life. Pushing religion on other people who did not ask for it should be outlawed, but those who are voluntarily seeking out another religion for spiritual health should be permitted to do so.
The materialism aspect needs to be dealt with as well, as Jesus of all people was NOT a materialist. This is a gross corruption of Christianity, as there is a reason why Jesus taught that it is harder for a rich man to get into heaven than it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. Therefore conversions to get material benefits or money should be banned as well.
August 7th, 2015 at 8:16 pm
Ratnapala said “Another mode of conversion is marrying into Buddhist families. Whether they marry a Buddhist boy or girl, they are children automatically become Christians as the Buddhist partner is easily browbeaten into submission. This usually happens at the marriage ceremony itself, where the couple is coerced to enter into a contract with the Christian Church. That is to raise the children in the Christian faith. This way the Christian Church not only acquires a family but also all their wealth coming through generations.”
What you have written is the ABSOLUTE TRUTH!
My own younger brother’s son, educated in one of the best Colombo schools by us, was a weak minded unstable fool without an ounce of honor or pride in his own ancient heritage. As one of two siblings, he was an heir to a considerable fortune from his father. He was recognized for what he was accurately, and entrapped into a marriage with a Catholic girl. They wanted NOTHING of his Buddhist heritage, but EVERYTHING of the ASSETS he would INHERIT!
They first did EVERYTHING POSSIBLE to alienate him from his parents PREVENTING him from all interactions with his larger Buddhist family. When my brother died suddenly, they egged him onto suing and blackmailing his mother (something UNHEARD OF in my Buddhist family) for a larger equal share than was willed to him by his father; which we foiled legally. If he could have, he would have entirely dispossessed his mother. As a condition of marriage, they forced him to RENOUNCE Buddhism and to CONVERT to Roman Catholicism, and EXTRACTED a promise that the children would be Roman Catholics. He is now, completely cut off from his own Buddhist family, and is totally dependent on his wife’s Roman Catholic community for social and emotional security, and long term financial security. I was AMAZED at how MERCENARY and MANIPULATIVE these people were, and how much of a puppet my nephew became.
Therefore, I have FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE of what you have RELATED above, and offer this SAD TALE as a WORD of WARNING of about the DESTRUCTION these PREDATORS cause to UNWARY Buddhist families!
August 7th, 2015 at 8:19 pm
I would like to offer the story of the ONCE SOVEREIGN Kingdom of Hawaii as an ADDITIONAL example of CONQUEST by STEALTH and SUBTERFUGE by these Evangelizing Christians, in World History, that abounds with such tales.
The Native Hawaiians today have a saying: When the White people came to Hawaii they had the BIBLE and we had ALL the LAND; now they have ALL the LAND and we have ONLY the BIBLE!
The CONQUEST of Hawaii, a Sovereign Nation until July 4, 1894, was done GRADUALLY by STEALTH by Christian Missionaries who gradually conned the Hawaiian Royalty into marrying them and accepting their guidance. Later they engineered a coup-de-etat in collaboration with US military forces, and appealed to the US to incorporate Hawaii as an American territory.
The whole story of Hawaii is a STORY of TREACHERY by the Christian Missionaries and their descendants, perhaps without PARALLEL in world history.
I encourage those interested to read the book written by Queen Liliʻuokalani, the last Monarch of Independent Hawaii, of her last ditch attempt to preserve the independence of her once Sovereign people. I have travelled the length and breadth of the Islands of Hawaii, delving deep into the history of their native people, visiting the places of historical significance, including the Liliʻuokalani Hawaiian National Museum on Oahu, where I wept unabashedly for the Hawaiian people.
My own fears of Sri Lanka’s fate if the Miissionary assault on Sri Lanka is not stopped in its tracks, are driven in part by the abject fate I have personaly seen of the Native People Hawaii.
REFERENCE: Liliʻuokalani (Queen of Hawaii) (July 25, 2007) [1898]. Hawaii’s story by Hawaii’s queen, Liliuokalani. Lee and Shepard, reprinted by Kessinger Publishing, LLC. p. 233. ISBN 978-0-548-22265-2.
Today, the native Hawaiians languish in veritable hovels hidden in out of the way backwood areas of Hawaii, to be trotted out to do Hula dances to greet tourists at Majestic Resorts uniformly owned by foreigners, and the multimillionaire descendants of those Missionaries who married their Royalty, and then ditched them as soon as the dirty deed of ROBBING them of their land was done. Today, they are RENTERS on the LAND they ONCE OWNED; a captive force of poorly paid workers unable to recover the land of their ancestors.
Because the STORY of Hawaii is so COMPELLING a WARNING to Sovereign Nations in the third world of the danger posed by MISSIONARY CONVERSIONS by advanced Western nations, I am giving below an EXTENSIVE EXCERPT from Wikipedia.org.
READ then, dear LankaWeb readers, and SHED A TEAR for the hapless Native People of Hawaii!
1. Formation of the Hawaiian Kingdom
Kamehameha I united the islands into a single kingdom for the first time in 1810 with the help of foreign weapons and advisors. The monarchy adopted a flag similar to the one used as the present flag of the State of Hawaii, with the Union Flag in the canton (top quarter next to the flagpole) and eight horizontal stripes (alternating white, red, blue, from the top), representing the eight major islands.
In May 1819, Prince Liholiho became King Kamehameha II. Under pressure from his co-regent and stepmother, Kaʻahumanu, he abolished the kapu system that had ruled life in the islands. He signaled this revolutionary change by sitting down to eat with Kaʻahumanu and other women of chiefly rank, an act forbidden under the old system—see ʻAi Noa. Kekuaokalani, a cousin who thought he was to share power with Liholiho, organized supporters of the kapu system, but his forces were defeated by Kaʻahumanu and Liholiho in December 1819 at the battle of Kuamoʻo.[3]
2. France Intervenes on behalf of Catholics
In the early kingdom, Protestant ministers convinced Kamehameha I to make Catholicism illegal, deport French priests and imprison Native Hawaiian Catholic converts.
In 1839 Captain Laplace of the French frigate Artémise sailed to Hawaii. Under the threat of war, King Kamehameha III signed the Edict of Toleration on July 17, 1839 and paid $20,000 in compensation for the deportation of the priests and the incarceration and torture of converts, agreeing to Laplace’s demands. The kingdom proclaimed:
That the Catholic worship be declared free, throughout all the dominions subject to the king of the Sandwich Islands; the members of this religious faith shall enjoy in them the privileges granted to Protestants.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu returned and Kamehameha III donated land for them to build a church as reparation.
In August 1849, French admiral Louis Tromelin arrived in Honolulu Harbor with his ships La Poursuivante and Gassendi. De Tromelin made ten demands to King Kamehameha III on August 22, mainly that full religious rights be given to Catholics (Catholics still enjoyed only partial religious rights). On August 25 the demands had not been met. After a second warning, French troops overwhelmed the skeleton force and captured Honolulu Fort, spiked the coastal guns and destroyed all other weapons they found (mainly muskets and ammunition). They raided government and other property in Honolulu, causing $100,000 in damages. After the raids the invasion force withdrew to the fort. De Tromelin eventually recalled his men and left Hawaii on September 5.
3. British Intervenes on behalf of Protestants
On February 10, 1843, Lord George Paulet on the Royal Navy warship HMS Carysfort entered Honolulu Harbor and demanded that King Kamehameha III cede the Hawaiian Islands to the British Crown. Under the guns of the frigate, Kamehameha stepped down under protest.[4] Kamehameha III surrendered to Paulet on February 25,
Where are you, chiefs, people, and commons from my ancestors, and people from foreign lands?’
Hear ye! I make known to you that I am in perplexity by reason of difficulties into which I have been brought without cause, therefore I have given away the life of our land. Hear ye! but my rule over you, my people, and your privileges will continue, for I have hope that the life of the land will be restored when my conduct is justified.
Done at Honolulu, Oahu, this 25th day of February, 1843.
Kamehameha III.
Kekauluohi.[5]
Gerrit P. Judd, a missionary who had become the Minister of Finance, secretly sent envoys to the United States, France and Britain, to protest Paulet’s actions.[6]
The protest was forwarded to Rear Admiral Richard Darton Thomas, Paulet’s commanding officer, who arrived at Honolulu harbor on July 26, 1843 on HMS Dublin. Thomas repudiated Paulet’s actions, and on July 31, 1843, restored the Hawaiian government. In his restoration speech, Kamehameha declared “Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono”, the motto of the future State of Hawaii translated as “The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.”
Honolulu Fort, 1853
Dynastic rule by the Kamehameha family ended in 1873 after the death of Kamehameha V and a short reign of Lunalilo. The House of Kalākaua came to the throne next. These transitions were by election of candidates of noble birth.
4. The United States Intervenes on behalf of its own Manifest Destiny!
American Protestant missionaries settled in Hawaiʻi at the beginning of the 19th century and quickly gained influence and wealth. They prohibited local traditions they disliked, like hula or surfboarding. Reverend Amos Starr Cooke, who arrived in 1837, set up a school to educate the future monarchs. When one of his pupils rose to the throne, Cooke was appointed unofficial adviser to the king in 1843 and from this position devised a land reform that allowed foreigners to purchase land from locals in order to plant sugarcane. Cooke and other missionaries became big landowners and sugar producers, and got control of the economy.[2]
The Reciprocity Treaty of 1875 between the Kingdom of Hawaii (explicitly acknowledged as a sovereign nation) and the United States allowed for duty-free importation of Hawaiian sugar into the United States beginning in 1876. This further promoted plantation agriculture, which was in the hands of foreign Whites. Hawai’i ceded Pearl Harbor, including Ford Island (Hawaiian: Mokuʻumeʻume), together with its shoreline and four to five miles of land adjacent to the shore, free of cost to the U.S.[7] The U. S. demanded this area based on an 1873 report commissioned by the U. S. Secretary of War. Native Hawaiians protested the treaty on the streets until the revolt was suffocated by U.S. marines.[2]
The treaty also included duty-free importation of rice, which was by this time becoming a major crop in the abandoned taro patches in the wetter parts of the islands. This led to an influx of immigrants from Asia (first Chinese, and later Japanese) needed to support the escalating sugar industry and provided the impetus for expansion of rice cultivation. Water needed for growing sugarcane resulted in extensive water works to divert streams from the wet windward slopes to the dry lowlands.
4.1 Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom
In the late 19th century the dominant White minority overthrew the Hawaiian Kingdom and founded a brief Republic that was finally annexed by the United States.
4.2 Bayonet Constitution and Wilcox Rebellions
In 1887 members of the American white minority, which held most of the important government positions by that time, founded the Reform Party (also known as the Missionary Party) and an armed militia, the Honolulu Rifles.[2] That same year, the Honolulu Rifles and a group of cabinet officials and advisors to King David Kalākaua seized the royal palace and forced the king to promulgate what is known as the Bayonet Constitution. The impetus was the frustration of the Reform Party with growing debts, the King’s spending habits and general governance. It was specifically triggered by a failed attempt by Kalākaua to create a Polynesian Federation and accusations of an opium bribery scandal.[note 1][9] The 1887 constitution stripped the monarchy of much of its authority, imposed significant income and property requirements for voting, and completely disenfranchised all Asians.[8]:20 Three fourths of the votes were assigned to whites, which included all American residents thanks to a special rule from the U.S. State Department.[2]
Native Hawaiians felt the 1887 constitution was imposed by the foreign population because of the king’s refusal to renew the Reciprocity Treaty. The treaty now included an amendment to permit the US Navy to establish a permanent naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oʻahu. According to bills submitted by the King, foreign policy would include an alliance with Japan and supported other countries suffering from colonialism. Many Native Hawaiians opposed a US military presence in their country.
A plot by Princess Liliʻuokalani was exposed to overthrow King David Kalākaua in a military coup in 1888. In 1889, a rebellion of Native Hawaiians led by Colonel Robert Wilcox attempted to replace the unpopular Bayonet Constitution and stormed ʻIolani Palace. The rebellion, known as the Wilcox rebellions, was crushed by the Honolulu Rifles.
When Kalākaua died in 1891 during a visit to San Francisco, his sister Liliʻuokalani ascended the throne. Queen Liliʻuokalani called her brother’s reign “a golden age materially for Hawaii”.[10]
1893
4.3 Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii
According to Queen Liliʻuokalani, immediately upon ascending the throne, she received petitions from two-thirds of her subjects and the major Native Hawaiian political party in parliament, Hui Kalaiʻaina, asking her to proclaim a new constitution. Liliʻuokalani drafted a new constitution that would restore the monarchy’s authority and the suffrage requirements of the 1887 constitution.
In response to Liliʻuokalani’s suspected actions, a group of European and American residents formed a Committee of Safety on January 14, 1893. After a meeting of supporters, the Committee committed itself to removing the Queen and annexation to the United States.[11]
United States Government Minister John L. Stevens summoned a company of uniformed US Marines from the USS Boston and two companies of US sailors to land and take up positions at the US Legation, Consulate and Arion Hall on the afternoon of January 16, 1893. The Committee of Safety had claimed an “imminent threat to American lives and property”.[note 2]
The Provisional Government of Hawaii was established, led by Sanford Dole, to manage the Hawaiian islands between the overthrow and expected annexation, supported by the Honolulu Rifles White militia group.
Under this pressure, Liliʻuokalani abdicated her throne. The Queen’s statement yielding authority, on January 17, 1893, pleaded for justice:
I Liliʻuokalani, by the Grace of God and under the Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Queen, do hereby solemnly protest against any and all acts done against myself and the Constitutional Government of the Hawaiian Kingdom by certain persons claiming to have established a Provisional Government of and for this Kingdom.
That I yield to the superior force of the United States of America whose Minister Plenipotentiary, His Excellency John L. Stevens, has caused United States troops to be landed at Honolulu and declared that he would support the Provisional Government.
Now to avoid any collision of armed forces, and perhaps the loss of life, I do this under protest and impelled by said force yield my authority until such time as the Government of the United States shall, upon facts being presented to it, undo the action of its representatives and reinstate me in the authority which I claim as the Constitutional Sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands.
The Provisional Government sent members of the Missionary Party to Washington to negotiate the annexation treaty, which was signed on February 14, 1893. President Benjamin Harrison, who had just lost the presidential elections, promptly submitted it to the Senate for ratification but then an envoy from the deposed Queen arrived in Washington and made the case that the dethroning and annexation were illegal.[2] Senators opposed the ratification of the treaty and president-elect Grover Cleveland commissioned an investigation into the events of the overthrow that was conducted by former Congressman James Henderson Blount. The Blount Report was completed on July 17, 1893 and concluded that “United States diplomatic and military representatives had abused their authority and were responsible for the change in government.”[12] In the meantime the Leper War on Kauaʻi was suppressed by Provisional Government troops.
Minister Stevens was recalled, and the commander of military forces in Hawaii was forced to resign. Cleveland stated “Substantial wrong has thus been done which a due regard for our national character as well as the rights of the injured people requires we should endeavor to repair the monarchy.” Cleveland further stated in his 1893 State of the Union Address[13] and that, “Upon the facts developed it seemed to me the only honorable course for our Government to pursue was to undo the wrong that had been done by those representing us and to restore as far as practicable the status existing at the time of our forcible intervention.” Submitting the matter to Congress on December 18, 1893, after provisional President Sanford Dole refused to reinstate the Queen on Cleveland’s command, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee under chairman John Morgan continued investigation into the matter.
On February 26, 1894, the Morgan Report was submitted, contradicting the Blount Report and finding Stevens and the US troops “not guilty” of any involvement in the overthrow. The report asserted that, “The complaint by Liliʻuokalani in the protest that she sent to the President of the United States and dated the 18th day of January, is not, in the opinion of the committee, well founded in fact or in justice.”[14] After submission of the Morgan Report, Cleveland ended any efforts to reinstate the monarchy, and commenced diplomatic relations with the new government. He rebuffed further entreaties from the Queen to intervene.
4.4 Republic of Hawaii
Fears grew among the Hawaiian Whites of a US intervention to restore the legitimate kingdom. A Constitutional Convention began on May 30, 1894 and the Republic of Hawaii was declared on July 4, 1894, American Independence Day, under the presidency of Sanford Dole.
In the 1895 Counter-Revolution, a group led by Colonel Robert Nowlein, Minister Joseph Nawahi, members of the Royal Household Guards and later Robert Wilcox, attempted to overthrow the Republic. The leaders including Liliʻuokalani were captured, convicted, and imprisoned.
August 8th, 2015 at 2:53 am
Ananda, I can write many stories of Buddhist families whose life have been ‘broken’ and destroyed by the “Christians” and their Church. They really are a shameful lot without any conscience. They break up happy families through the weakest link – sometimes it is the wife and other times through their children.
Some of the rich Colombo families will have many similar horror stories but will not divulge for shame what happened. There are others who think it is a ‘step up’ in their social set up. The way of the upwardly mobile Sinhala Buddhist families are fraught with dangers to their culture and religion from the vultures of the Christian Church. The wealth comes as a free bonanza!