Problem of conversions

Good governance means something more than riding one crisis to another while clinging on to seats of power. Elementary civics teaches us that within a society, particularly one with different races and diverse beliefs, there are self-generating destructive forces, which if unchecked could gather momentum and lead to social calamities. Good governance among many other matters involves political stability and, more importantly, social stability.

In this country, since Independence, social stability was never a consideration. Everything was sacrificed on the altar for political victory and we are now reaping the results. For 18 years we have been attempting to solve what is called the ‘ethnic problem’ through the magic formula called ‘devolution’ devised in the west and readily accepted by our politicians and academics. While these futile efforts were going on for long, there were other invisible forces—surfacing occasionally—which have a devastating potential.

It now appears that one such force has come out into the open as witnessed by the attack on a Christian worship centre at Hingurakgoda. This is a reprehensible act that has to be condemned severely. In this country fundamental rights are enshrined in the constitution. Besides the majority of people in this country who are Buddhists have always been accommodative of other religious faiths. Even when they faced the conquering Portuguese, Dutch and British, who came with the Bible in one hand and the sword in the other, they tolerated converts to other faiths. The government should act fast to prevent this trend, that has been visible for sometime, from spreading.

But mere cosmetic bureaucratic decisions would not do. President Kumaratunga and other leaders of the PA should tackle the root of the problem, which they are well aware of.

When the Cold War ended and with it the clash of ideology of Judeo-Christianity and atheistic communism, new forces came into play. Human rights became a major issue, backed by the western powers themselves and in their wake came missionaries of the evangelical churches. These missionaries and their organisations were not permitted to operate in most Third World countries till the Eighties. Today they are still kept out in a few countries like China but are widespread in most regions of Asia. We see clashes between members of these new Christian churches with those who believe in religions of their ancestors. Buddhists in Korea have complained bitterly about the activities of such missionaries since 1982. In India attacks by Hindus on Christian evangelists have reached very serious proportions, while in Indonesia, too, Muslims and Christians have been clashing.

The traditional Christian churches such as the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Church have declared that they are not involved in conversions. These churches having existed for a near 500 years in Asian countries are well aware of the sensitivities of the indigenous people and even some cultural practices have been assimilated.

It is alleged that new style evangelists are disrespectful of Buddhist practices and induce the poorest of the poor to convert themselves for material inducements. Some evangelists deny such unethical conversions, but this charge has been repeated for well over a decade.

Certainly, in this country, a person has the right to propagate his faith and others to accept it or not. Buddhism itself was not indigenous to Sri Lanka but came from India. Today, there are Buddhist organisations like Dharmadutha Societies teaching Buddhism to westerners. What the Buddhists object to are the material inducements offered to extremely poor people to change their beliefs. It is claimed that the preachers operate in extremely poverty-stricken areas.

The Buddhists who are objecting to these conversions are themselves to blame for this situation. If they looked after their poor, the destitute who are looking out for any person who can give them a meal, this situation could have been avoided. The close bonds that ties the people to the temple are now loose and fast breaking down. Unlike former days, Buddhist youths have ceased to be advised by monks in the temple of their neighbourhood. Undoubtedly Buddhists do not wield fat purses and foreign-backed missionaries and are not capable of organising themselves.

Any government cannot afford to let this problem simmer on. They must intervene and hold talks with all parties concerned and try to find a solution. The government should reconsider its poverty alleviation programmes which came for a lot of stick at last Paris Development Forum. It is alleged in many quarters that the Samurdhi funds that are meant for the poorest of the poor are winding up with supporters of the PA.

Poverty alleviation is the name of the game of international institutions like the IMF and ADB that spread out the largesse in the name of development We wonder how much of these funds go for free air tickets, accommodation in star class hotels and seminars on poverty alleviation in star spangled splendour.

We have witnessed this problem escalating in India. Unless speedy preventive action is taken, along with strategies to eliminate the root cause of the problem, Sri Lanka may end up in another explosion.

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