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'Let the evangelists allow us to follow the religion of our ancestors'
By Sumana Saparamudu
 


"Mob attack on Christian Worship Centre" was the headline news in the Daily News of Tuesday Feb. 20. The report stated that the President had directed the IGP to deploy a special police team to probe the incident immediately and give her a full report. The incident, as reported without a by-line, was as follows: A mob armed with clubs and machetes had allegedly broken into ‘Sanasuma Sevana’ the Christian Worship Centre at Nuwarawatta, Hingurakgoda while prayers were being held on Sunday morning and assaulted the congregation, resulting in the hospitalisation of some members of the church. They had also allegedly smashed up the window panes and furniture.

The following day the same paper carried a statement by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Harendra Corea, thanking the President for the prompt action in calling for an immediate inquiry. The Christian Consultation of Sri Lanka (an arm of the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka) was quick to follow, to thank the President for her order to IGP to conduct an inquiry and ensure justice.

Equally important is an immediate inquiry into the origin and history of the centre of worship, the antecedents of Pastor Frazer, and what prompted the locals to re-act in this manner.

When incidents such as this are reported Buddhists are accused of "anti-Christian crimes", "heinous hate-crimes," and "violations of fundamental human rights, rights of conscience and religion."

No one asks why the locals have reacted in this manner. Invariably the finger is pointed at "extremist political parties," or "organized movements engaged in sowing seeds of conflict to reap short term political gains."

Neither President nor minister calls for a probe into the spread of these Centres of Worship, Houses of Prayer, or whatever.

No one even asks whether these intruders themselves have not violated the villagers’ rights of conscience and religion, their right to follow and practice the religion of their forefathers, whether the right to their cultural identity has not been abused by these intruders who have disturbed the even tenor of village lives, leading to conflicts.

The Prime Minister who is also the Minister for Buddha Sasana and Religious Affairs, should immediately inquire and let the public know what leads to these "hate-crimes".

In the case of Nuwarawatta it is important to find out:

1.Why a Christian Worship Centre was set up in a village as remote as Nuwarawatta, Hingurakgoda. How many Christians were there in Nuwarawatta in the beginning to warrant a worship centre.

2.How did Pastar Frazer enter the village and get a foothold there. Did he go as a ‘Good Samaritan’ distributing largesse or as a healer of the ills of mind and body.

3.Did the centre start as a House of Prayer with the Pastor and one or two persons who had come along with him praying together, and the numbers increasing as locals were lured to join them by various means tested and honed by evangelists.

When such centres were set up there haven’t been even half a dozen worshippers in the village. As the months go by the number of worshippers also grows, some local converts, others new residents who have been helped to settle in or around that village. Soon the House of Prayer becomes a Centre of Worship and before the old residents of the village can comprehend what is happening a church has come up. This is the modus perandi. Many examples can be given, but this one example should suffice to open the eyes of the Buddhists of this country.

In the shadow of Mihintale there is now a small church. What denomination it belongs to I do not know. About 20 years ago there was an attempt to build a church in Mihintale and it was stopped by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs which looked after religious affairs then subsequently the green light had been given, supposedly with the approval of the then MP of the area, and a church was built. To serve how many worshippers? That is worth probing.

Visiting Mihintale in 1999 I didn’t expect to see a church in the shadow of the holy mountain. But their it was. When the British built their church next to the Dalada Maligawa, Buddhists could do nothing to prevent its construction. They were powerless against the rulers. It is different now. A government committed to protect the Buddha Sasana could not prevent a church coming up in the sacred precints of Mihintale.

Here is another example of their modus operandi. The Dinamina of Feb. 21 reported that Parakaduwa, a village on the Avissawella - Ratnapura road, has only about five Catholic families, but the annual feast of Sadasarana Deva Matha (Our Lady of Perpetual Succor) attracts devotees from Wattala, Hendela, Pamunugama, Mahabage - all towns between Colombo and Negombo. Father Malcolm Ranjith, Bishop of Ratnapura, was reported saying that before long Parakaduwa will become a separate mission and he would see that a mission house and a pilgrims’ rest for those coming for the annual feast were built.

3. Is anyone and everyone who comes in the guise of a social worker or to start an industry and given employment to villagers, allowed to plant themselves in Buddhist/Hindu villages. There is the notorious case of the Koreans who got BOI approval to start a factory near Gampola, to produce agricultural implements but soon set about evangelising strangers are free to intrude into a village and set up a workshop or a worship centre. If the residents protest or obstruct, it is a violation of a fundamental right. The Govt. of the Maldives prohibits taking a Buddha image into the country.

If evangelists continue to be given free rein we should expect more incidents like that Nuwarawatta or worse — repeats of what happened in 1989 at Tissamaharama on March 25 and at Uduvil Jaffna on September 4. On both occasions pastors lay leaders of the Assemblies of God were killed.

The obvious way to put an end to the so-called hate-crimes is to ban the setting up of prayer houses and worship centres anywhere and everywhere and cry halt to healing sessions. (Evangelists will not attempt setting up worship centres in Muslim villages).

These do-gooders come with worldly things that money can buy, not to alleviate poverty and or create employment, but to save our souls by whatever means. This has been stated directly and bluntly by the then director of world vision in his report of 1983 "we can’t let them go to hell". (quoted in ‘Lords of Poverty’).

The Christian Consultation of Sri Lanka says, "the public should be encouraged to resolve conflicts through dialogue and available legal measures. No conflicts will arise and no violence committed if evangelists would leave us alone, to follow the religion of our forefathers and allow us to go to hell."

It is possible as the American writer Frances Parkinson Keyes who visited Sri Lanka in 1926 and was greatly impressed by the manner in which worshippers at the Temple of the Tooth conducted themselves, has said, "There are more roads than one to heaven, perhaps more heavens than one."