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| Friday, 9 January 2004 |
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'Unethical conversions' - rights and wrongs by Rashomi Silva
Organised conversions or 'unethical conversions' as it is called has become a hotly debated topic. With the anti-conversion movement emerging, the government is exploring avenues to bring in legislation to prevent 'forced conversions'. The Daily News spoke to a cross section of religious leaders and well-known figures in civil society to ascertain their opinions on 'forced conversions' and probable laws. Vasudeva Nanayakkara. Leader of the Democratic Left Front: Faith is a personal matter of an individual and should be kept completely outside the legislature. It will be hardly effective to bind or to convert a person by laws or through allurements to any faith or a religion. If the Government feels that someone is using poverty and the ignorance of the people for their advantage, what should be done is to take steps to free people from poverty, introduce some form of social security, adequate poor relief. About 25 years back this country had ample poor relief mechanisms, but in recent times they too have eroded with the eroding political and social system. However if we talk about conversions we cannot overlook conversions taking place in the central hills. I personally know of instances where plantation workers converted to Buddhism for numerous reasons and benefits. Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera: The conversions of Buddhists and Hindus to the Christian faith has been there for the past five or six centuries. In recent times too although the conventional church may not have a hand in it we have witnessed instances where some organised groups and fundamental sects have purposely insulted Buddhism and Buddhists and keep on destroying statues, temples in the remote areas. I feel it was a proper thing to appoint the committee, and it is high time to bring in legislation to prevent these injustices to the Buddhists and Hindus. It may even help to prevent probable religious clashes in the future. My personal feeling is that this awakening should have taken place a long time back. Rev. Fr. Srian Ranasinghe of Mattakuliya: My personal view is that there are fundamentalist groups carrying out conversions by unethical means and that has to be prevented. Religious belief is usually something one is born into. Whilst converting and propagation are not be despised, we cannot approve using and abusing the poverty of the people to reach such ends. Using the poverty and financial assistance as a bait to attract people to any religion is disgraceful. Meantime, if one changes one's religion by conviction and on a free basis we respect that. Appointing a committee for religious harmony and introducing laws could be for the good of the society. However one's right to worship and religious freedom should not be trampled upon.
The Catholic Church too has suffered immensely from the activities of the fundamentalists, as they are misinterpreting and over emotionalising the scriptures, misguiding the poor and ignorant masses. If the fundamentalists are so keen on helping the poor they should do it without discrimination, and without expecting some benefit in return. P. P. Devaraj - Advisor, Ministry of Economic Reforms, Science and Technology: It was a wise step by the Government to appoint a ministerial committee to look into this matter. If we ignore this at this juncture in future we may have to deal with a more serious and more hazardous situation. It is true that we are a democratic country and everybody has right to worship the religion of their faith. But organised mass conversions are something that calls for attention. That organised conversions by these new branches of the Christian Church are there, is a fact that nobody can deny. It is unethical to use poverty and the ignorance of one section of society for the benefit of another group. Catholic Church has in a recent statement denied any involvement with conversions and has also alleged that there are even attempts at converting Catholics to different branches of Christianity. It may even be timely to consider the introduction of new laws by the legislature to discourage such organised conversions, as is done in India and some other countries. Both Buddhist and Hindu religious organisations are not as financially stable as these new churches which get funds from around the world. |
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