CHAPTER III - FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
Freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
10. Every person is entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including the freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.
Most countries attempt to guarantee freedom of religion (and freedom from religion) by taking the secularist approach: clear separation of church and state and the government's non-interference in religious matters (and the church's non-interference in matters of governance). Sri Lanka, as always, has a different way of dealing with things: by giving all of the "recognized" religions a very powerful lobby in the government.
According to the "Ministries" page of the Sri Lankan government's official web portal, the following Ministries and Departments are concerned with religion:
- Ministry of Buddha Sasana and Religious Affairs
- Department of Christian Religious Affairs
- Department of Buddhist Affairs
- Department of Hindu Religious and Cultural Affairs
- Department of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs
Now, that's a shitload of public money being spent for the promotion and "protection" of religion. "Protection of religion" usually involves going batshit insane when a bunch of kids write a rock song that has some "religious material" in it. I wish these were the regular government departments that waste public money and blow some hot air once in a while, but hell no, they usually end up infringing on my right to live and enjoy life.
Census: Atheists aren't Sri Lankans too
Recently, the census forms were causing a commotion among Sri Lankan atheists, because you only had the choice of picking between the four (or five) major religions and another box titled "other", with no space left to write what those "other" beliefs were. This is not a big deal in itself, but it's a symptom of a much bigger issue: Sri Lanka is in denial about its growing population of atheists, agnostics and apostates; and it's refusing to give them equal recognition, protection under the law, and perhaps their own department. ;)
In Conclusion
There's nothing much to be said on this matter that isn't common sense. Government should be about managing our tax money in a responsible manner and providing the general public with basic services and security, not about telling us what to believe and when to riot over Akon or a rock song. Oh fuck, wait, I forgot I was talking about Sri Lanka there. My bad.
The government should not have any religious affiliations, and while having a Ministry of Culture is cool with me, I don't see why we need a Ministry of religious affairs and departments for each major religion. That money would be better spent on, I don't know, doing something useful like giving kids better Science education so that they can evaluate, and make an informed choice, regarding their world view and belief system.
Perhaps, in the future, the traditional picture of kids from the four religions representing the concept of Sri Lankan-ness can be modified thus:
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| I'm not really kidding |
Only yesterday, I was catching up with a Maldivian friend,on her visit to Sri Lanka.
ReplyDeleteThe Maldives I grew up in was 100 percent Sunni Muslim but there were no wearing your faith on your sleeve kind of practice back then - they were a free and fun loving people.
Now they seem to be growing orthodox and fundamentalist, with the state and political parties playing a big part in it.
She mentioned how they were always accusing each other of 'not being religious enough' - started with the political party leaders and filtered down to the people.
Now it's a 'fashion' to wear head scarves - that are increasingly growing in their areas of coverage, and voluminous abaya style clothes.
Girls who hold out are accused of not being 'religious enough.'
Pretty scary where they are going with this - a free and spirited people regressing backwards, suckered into it by cynical politicians :\
Drat, comment got posted under the wrong domain name, but it's just as well :)
ReplyDeleteAnd in case the above comment of mine offends any Muslims reading this - I hasten to add - my problem is not with the clothing that the Maldivian women are taking up but that they feel either 'obliged' or 'coerced' into it. It should be about free choices - not about other people accusing you of being religious enough and your need to prove yourself or fit in.
A society that was once open and tolerant is now becoming rabid and narrow minded - that's never a good thing.
Totally agree with you about the redundancy of the ministries. But even one of us went to rule Sri Lanka we'd not be able to take any of them down. :|
ReplyDeleteWhy does Himal keep jumping into pictures? Does he not have anything else to do?
ReplyDeletewhat's funny is that Buddhism is a form of atheism. and therefore is not a religion.
ReplyDeletethe so called Buddhists in this country are only good at paying a million rupee to attain enlightenment at the top floors of Liberty Plaza. :D
Now i understand how the peaceful teachings of Jesus & Mohammed were made into oppressive hateful religions.
Buddhism has been converted to a religion. so are we going on crusades too? :(
and all the while I thought SL has no divisions in terms of race, religion, caste etc after we defeated terrorism. O_o
I like US constitution, when it is come to religion - i.e. Separation of church & state
ReplyDeleteInteresting post!
ReplyDeleteOh man, I didn't know the census form had a space for religion! They didn't give us the forms. They were asking questions and filling the forms themselves. They didn't ask anything about our religion!
ReplyDeleteTulie - All it takes is a few people saying shit like that, and years worth of progressive attitudes turn to ashes in a day. :(
ReplyDeleteThameera - Seriously, bro. Was thinking about this ever since I saw your comment. We'd be labeled "traitors" and hung, probably. ;)
Angel - There's a long answer and a short answer to that. The short answer is yes! :D
Welcome to Boredom - The "no divisions" thing is just them trying to hide the fact that equality doesn't exist. :D If you can't ask for your rights as a Tamil or a Muslim (coz there aren't any Tamils and Muslims, right? We're all Sri Lankan) then there aren't any people whose rights have been taken away. :)
K - Yes, but even in that country that was founded on those principles, modern politicians are attempting to get rid of that separation, as the recent debates on birth control and gay marriage have shown. :(
Sweetest Princess - Thank you. :)
Anandawardhana - They ask you if the head of the household if he's "Sinhala Buddhist" and confirms that his wife is the same. Then they don't even bother with the kids. ;)