THE BISHOP WHO MIGHT MOURN AT YOUR WEDDING

What is called a pastoral letter to his flock written and dispatched by the Bishop of Colombo Rt. Rev. Diloraj Canagasabai, calls for a 'period of lamentation' on the 3rdand 4thof February, the independence holiday and the day before that, on account of what the Bishop refers to as the demise of the Rule of Law in this country.

This seems to be the single most abominable religious act of exhortation by a leader of a community of any faith in this country, in recent times. It is almost treacherous to call for a period of lament, even in the worst of times -- but to do so during a period of palpable celebration and collective national pride, is -- in short -- ghoulish.

To call for a period of mourning on Independence Day from his flock at this time when the writ of the Sri Lankan government runs the length and breadth of this country after 30 or more years of terror when it certainly didn't (prior to 2009), is one spectacular act of misplaced religious zeal -- nothing less.

Contrast this to the call made by Minister John Seneviratne on behalf of all of the people of this country, to join in the 65th Independence Day celebrations to be held at Fort Fredrick in Trincomalee. Could Fort Fredrick have been a viable location for such an event, say a mere four years ago when the writ of the sovereign people of this country did not run the length and breadth of this nation, Rev. Diloraj?

The answer is a categorical no. If the people of this country can celebrate the fact that they were able to rid themselves of the scourge of long years of colonial domination on a day such as the 4th of February, and do so in any part of this country they choose, then that is the true reflection of the fact that they are sovereign -- tangibly so -- as per the aspiration for them contained in our constitutional document. This should be a cause for celebration, after over 30 years in which the true measure of this independence was not reflected on the ground in the entirety of this land.

What independence -- if the writ of a fascist who inducted child soldiers, who decimated the leaders of his own community and who engaged in gun-running and drug-peddling along with his band of brigands, ran in areas such as Fort Fredrick or at least the own immediate environs of Fort Fredrick, in the district of Trincomalee? It was the period in which the sovereign writ of the people of this country was robbed in broad daylight so to say, in which the Anglican Church should have led a lament that could have awakened the people to the reality that their independence was phony and confined to noble sentiment and sloganeering alone, with no proper reflection of that emancipation on the ground.

But the Anglican Church led by Bishop Diloraj called for no lamentation at that time, no exhortation was made for the 'flock to be dressed in white' so that Independence Day could be observed as a day of mourning.

So here we have a Bishop who in effect sees a celebration as a lament, and who saw a lament as a celebration. At this rate, he will call for mourning at his next wedding consecration? Indeed the leadership of the Anglican Church at the time of the terrorist war, seemed to take a perverse joy of sorts in calling for negotiations with a fascist terrorist and asking for a settlement with a man who had usurped the sovereign people's right to call the entirety of this land, Point Pedro to Dondra Head, their own.

But, the head of the same Anglican faith now sees that he should be the killjoy, and ask for his flock to take out their mourning garb - - literally -- on a day of quintessential celebration which should be a double celebration really, one because it signifies independence from a colonial power, and two because it signifies the fact that the original grant of independence was reaffirmed and effectively born again after a long period in which its true meaning had been lost in the thick fog of fascism.

Dear Bishop, Jesus Christ would most certainly not have countenanced this ugliness of spirit on your part; he had no time for the 'none so blind' that stubbornly refused to see.