{"id":52144,"date":"2016-02-17T10:28:09","date_gmt":"2016-02-17T17:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=52144"},"modified":"2016-02-17T10:28:09","modified_gmt":"2016-02-17T17:28:09","slug":"reconciliation-must-rectify-the-historical-injustices-meted-out-to-sinhala-buddhists-during-450-years-of-colonial-rule-under-three-global-christian-powers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/02\/17\/reconciliation-must-rectify-the-historical-injustices-meted-out-to-sinhala-buddhists-during-450-years-of-colonial-rule-under-three-global-christian-powers\/","title":{"rendered":"Reconciliation must rectify the historical injustices meted out to Sinhala Buddhists during 450 years of colonial rule under three global Christian Powers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Shenali D. Waduge<\/span><\/b><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/b>The time has come to raise the bar on accountability. Reconciliation cannot occur to knee-jerks nor can it close the eyes to over 450 years of persecution and discrimination meted out mostly to the Sinhala Buddhists of Sri Lanka. Crimes against humanity and destruction of deep seated Buddhist civilizations cannot be subject to a Statute of Limitations nor can it release the Christian Churches e.g. Catholic Church, Dutch Reformed Church and Church of England, from acknowledging, apologizing, compensating and returning to its rightful owners all that was unlawfully taken from the Sinhala Buddhists with the help of the oppressive colonial Governments. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The entire western colonial project in Sri Lanka from 1505 \u2013 1948 was anti \u2013 Buddhist.\u00a0 It was targeted mainly against Buddhism and Sinhala Buddhists. This is a historical fact. It is substantiated not only by what is found in our folk lore and local historical chronicles but also by the writings of foreign historians drawn from western Christian backgrounds. They have expressed shame and remorse over the crimes committed in Sinhale (original name of Ceylon) by their co \u2013 religionists<\/span><\/span>
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While every ethnic group has a global voice to speak on behalf of them, it is unfortunate that apart from a handful of local voices not a single well established global entity is coming forward to even give an ear to the grievances of the Sinhala Buddhists.<\/span><\/span><\/b> The silence of the International Buddhist Organisations e.g. World Fellowship of Buddhists (WFB), on the discrimination and intolerance faced by Buddhist minorities in Asian Countries e.g. Bangladesh, Indonesia, South Korea and the prospect of survival of Buddhists as majority groups in traditional Buddhist countries Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand etc. is deafening.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

All that the Sinhala Buddhists in Sri Lanka had built over millennia is being taken away, demolished or in its place other religions are erecting their structures openly and with contempt towards Buddhists.<\/span><\/span><\/b> Opposition to these are immediately responded by name calling because the mainstream media in Sri Lanka and rest of Buddhist Asia now lies more or less in the hands of Christian extremists with agendas and heavily funded by governments that support their expansionism. Journalism based on sinister agendas against Eastern Dharmic religious traditions e.g. Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism is basically untrustworthy journalism. Unfortunately this is the media reality in both South Asia and South East Asia. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Sinhala Buddhists have watched in silence and horror their ancient temples razed to the ground, proclamations issued denying them their lands, and even Buddhist monks have been decimated during western colonial rule. Policies to exterminate Sinhala Buddhists have meant men, women, children and even babies been butchered. Always the forked-tongue of Christian West decides who is victim and who is not. <\/span>If leaders of Western nations can openly declare that they are proud of their Christian heritage why cannot the same be applied to Sri Lanka. When the West tells immigrants that they have to conform to the western values and cultures why is it wrong to declare that the Buddhist identity of Sri Lanka cannot be diluted and Buddhist heritage sites, lands and historical artifacts must be preserved? <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Vatican rejects pluralism and secularism \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Vatican does not cede its place of worship to declare it belongs to all religions neither does Mecca. They all reject religious pluralism in toto in their lands. The Vatican is dead against Catholic countries e.g. Portugal, Spain, becoming secular or plural. The idea of secularism is n<\/span><\/span>on \u2013 sequitur in Islamic countries. So why Sri Lanka?<\/span><\/p>\n

Only two nations in Europe Russia and Austria have given official recognition to Buddhism. <\/span>The rest of the Christian West refuses to grant official recognition to Buddhism, despite Buddhism being declared a global religion by the UN<\/span><\/b>, largely at the behest of local European Christian Churches and the Vatican.\u00a0 Islamic countries in the Middle East do not accept Buddhism as a religion because Buddhism does not accept the existence of a creator God. Therefore Buddhists do not have freedom of worship in these countries including our neighbouring country Maldives. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In contrast Muslims enjoy full freedom to practice their religion in Sri Lanka. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When it comes to religion people of Abrahamic faiths generally speaking do not believe or subscribe to the principle of reciprocity. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But in Sri Lanka the traditional Buddhist sites e.g. Sri Pada, Kataragama, Dambulla are now being regarded as common places of worship and multi – religious. Denial of the Buddhist heritage is costing the entire nation its defense because no sooner the social-political influence shifts from a dharmic tone to a Church-capitalist one as in South Korea people would lose all sense of moral and ethical values, and respect for Buddhist history and heritage.
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The crimes committed in Sri Lanka by the Portuguese were based on the Royal Edicts issued by the Roman Catholic King of Portugal, His Viceroy in Goa, Portuguese Captain \u2013 General in Ceylon, & the Roman Catholic Church. Together these are the chief crimes they committed:<\/span><\/p>\n

Portuguese Inquisition in Portuguese held territory in Ceylon (1505 \u2013 1658)<\/span><\/span><\/u><\/b><\/p>\n