Prelate praises president's single Religious Ministry decision

by Asela Kuruluwansa

The Most Ven. Tibbotuwawe Sri Siddharta Sumangala Mahanayake Thera of the Malwatte Chapter yesterday commended President Mahinda Rajapakse's decision to create a single Ministry of Religious Affairs to cover all religions in place of separate Ministries as a pragmatic and far sighted decision which will foster religious harmony in Sri Lanka.

The Mahanayake thera emphasised that no injustice would be caused to Buddhism due to this decision.

The Mahanayake Thera also expressed confidence that the President would render a great service towards the furtherance and benefit of all religions through this new Ministry.

The prelate said moreover if the President followed precedent and set up separate Ministries for various religions, the State would have had to incur additional expenditure for the maintenance of such ministries. The money thus saved would now be pooled to do a much better service towards various religions through a single Ministry, he added.

Now that the Presidential Election had been concluded it was imperative on the part of all political parties to forget petty differences make a joint endeavour to bring about peace, the Mahanayake thera said.