Religious rumblings
The all pervading religious rumblings have now been heard in the capital of Colombo, and its immediate environs ever since the death of a popular Buddhist monk in far away Russia. The fact that there have been long-standing rumours that a hidden-hand was out to get the venerable monk, and that he fell seriously ill, and eventually passed away while being conferred a doctorate from a foreign based University did not help the cause either.

The fear and suspicion, whether ill-founded, or not, stems from an on-going debate in the country on the subject of un-ethical conversions, mainly of the country's Buddhists and Hindus. The outpouring of public grief at the demise of the respected Ven. Madihe Pannaseeha Maha Nayaka Thera of the Amarapurua Sect three months ago was a statement - a statement of resentment, that was made by the country's majority in the face of this.

The untimely death of Ven. Gangodawila Soma Thera, a disciple of Ven. Madihe Maha Nayaka Thera so shortly thereafter has therefore posed a threat to the fragile peaceful co-existence that has prevailed over the centuries between the religion of the majority and others, as conspiracy theories had a field day. Ven Soma Thera indeed had his own critics as he called a spade a spade in his many sermons that spanned nearly a decade in Sri Lanka. He did not spare even the Buddhists whom he felt were drifting away from the basic tenets of Buddha's teachings, and were just Buddhists by name following non-Buddhist practices.

His advocacy on issues relating to population and politics, for instance, had his own detractors from among even his own faithful followers, but clearly, he had won the admiration of thousands upon thousands. Ignorance and Intolerance were exactly opposite to what he preached. And those who are his true followers will not subscribe to these two impostors.

There will be elements, some of them could even be politically-motivated, who will grab a given situation to trigger trouble. And one must be quite watchful for these elements. The bigger picture will still be the nagging question of un-ethical conversions. The Catholic Bishops Conference has seen the need to issue a press release on this very subject. The significance of the timing cannot be lost.

While we know the civil war and cohabitation politics have taken the cynosure of our domestic affairs for quite some time now, there is a great urgency in arresting this declining trend in the perilously placed inter-religious relations in this country.
The dollars - and even the yen that is pumped into this country challenging the traditionalists cannot be left alone without monitoring its side-effects.

The Buddhists are faced with not only threats from non-Buddhists, but also from Mahayana Buddhist sects funding mobile-phone carrying, jet-setting monks in yellow robes. The Catholic Church is threatened by the fundamental Christian sects flushed with green notes.

The public reaction to all this must be delicately but decisively handled. Much of the resentment is a result of the inaction of successive Governments, which seem to close their eyes in the belief that what they do not want to see, is not happening.
The time may have come for a Ceasefire if you like, on the goings-on by the modernist sects. An unofficial moratorium of sorts on the building of new places of religious worship while the roofs in the older ones are falling down might be considered. A religious conflagration, surely, is the one last thing needed for this tortured land.

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