[Vision2020] Religious Violence in Sri Lanka

[nickgier at adelphia.net]

Greetings:

This is my radio commentary for KRFP 92.5 FM (about 8 AM; rebroadcast 9:30 AM) for tomorrow morning.

BUDDHIST NATIONALISM AND RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE IN SRI LANKA

Scholarly version at www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/slrv.htm

A Norwegian brokered cease fire in Sri Lanka has collapsed and violence is once again raging on this beautiful island, once described as the pearl earring of India. An estimated 80,000 people have lost their lives in this long 23-year-old conflict.

In addition to military battles between the Tamil Tigers and government forces, there have been other ethnic and religious clashes. Contrary to the traditional image of their religion, militant Buddhists have also attacked Muslims and Christians.  

One monk has called for a holy war against the Tamils and has written songs for soldiers going into battle.  One urges them not to return home until their weapons are "smeared with blood," and it also promises that they will attain Nirvana by defending their Buddhist homeland.

During 2003-04, 165 Sri Lankan Christian churches were attacked, resulting in the complete destruction of some, the stoning of parsonages, the smashing of statues, and the burning the Bibles and hymnals.  

This year Buddhist nationalists are urging Christians to cancel Christmas celebrations, and militants regularly attempt to close down Christians services.  On September 14, a church in the town of Mannar was torched and burned to the ground.

Taking a cue from Hindu fundamentalists, who have passed anti-conversion law in six Indian states, Buddhist legislators have drafted a similar bill that would outlaw the conversion of people from their birth religion. 

Nationalist claims to ethnic and religious purity have no foundation in fact.  Sri Lanka’s founding myth involves the intermingling of native peoples with Hindu immigrants from India.  Buddhism did not arrive in Sri Lanka until the 3rd Century B.C.
 
Most Buddhist kings welcomed South Indian Hindus with open arms, giving them lands and titles. The supreme irony is that the Tamil kings of Sri Lanka (1739-1815) did the most to restore the Buddhist priesthood and promote Buddhist art and architecture.  

When the British took over in 1815 and favored Christian missionaries, Buddhism went into an 80 year decline.  Both Hindu and Buddhist fundamentalism arose as a response to the exclusive claims of Christian missionaries.

The Sri Lankan flag contains two stripes, green embracing the Muslims and orange integrating the Hindus, thus validating their inclusion as citizens of the "Country of the Lion." 

Buddhist nationalists have removed these colored strips from their flag, so the sword in the lion’s hand must now appear much more menacing to Hindus, Muslims, and Christians, the Hindus comprising 12 percent of the population with Muslims and Christians claiming 8 percent each. 

The Tamil Tigers are just as much to blame for their many atrocities, committing over half the world's suicide bombings. I believe, however, that terrorists, whatever their nationality or religion, are made not born. For decades Tamil moderates proposed a reasonable federal solution as they pleaded for social, economic, and linguistic inclusion with some autonomy. 

Until the 1970s a great majority of Tamils would not have supported a separate state, just as most Indian Muslims did not support Partition.  Tragically, Muslim and Hindu extremists won out in 1948, but let us hope that the Sri Lankans can avoid the catastrophic dislocation that ravaged India.  

Fortunately, the Tamils do not embrace the Hindu fundamentalism that many Indians do. (In fact, they are 25 percent Christian.) Their grievances are primarily economic and linguistic, not religious. 

The first step to peace for Sri Lankans is for them to acknowledge the fact that for over 2,200 years their beautiful island has been, is now, and must always be a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society.