by Senaka Weeraratna

A crisis of cataclysmic proportions brought about by natural disasters e.g.  Great Fire of Lisbon (1755) and man made wars in Europe on ground of religious enmity (Wars of the Reformation and Counter – Reformation),  gave rise to the Enlightenment philosophy in 18th-century Europe that placed a higher emphasis on reason and rationality over superstition and conjecture. The relatives of the ‘unsaved ‘ who died in their thousands in these catastrophes  despite seeking protection through unending prayers finally said ‘ Enough is Enough’ and shed their belief in an external saviour. They lost faith in the power of prayers and the wisdom of that practice. They began to place more trust in self – reliance and reason.  People realized the need for each  person to avoid conformity and false consistency and follow their own instincts and ideas worked out and tested by themselves.

Thus dawned the Age of Reason in the Western world. 

Richard Dawkins authored book ‘ God Delusion'(2006) epitomises the trend of such rational thinking.  He contends that a supernatural creator and loving God certainly does not exist.  

The frequently used phrase ‘ God loves you’ is conspiquous by its absence in the carnage in Gaza that we witness today (day after day) on our TV Screens. 

More than 90% of Global level wars within the last 500 years have originated  in countries following the Abrahamic Religious Traditions. They invoke the blessings of God to achieve victory in battle.  They do not necessarily subscribe to Non – Violence as the Indian leader  Mahatma Gandhi did as a tool of Resistance against foreign occupation. Gandhi taught the world a moral lesson as much as Ceylon taught the world a moral lesson at the Peace Conference held at San Francisco, USA in 1952 when its delegate Hon. J.R. Jayewardene (then Ceylon’s Finance Minister) called on the Victors of the Second World War not to punish Japan with a view to settling scores but to heed the call of the Buddha who preached that ‘ Hatred does not cease by Hatred but only by Love. This is the Eternal Rule.’ . Several  Asian countries that had attended this Peace Conference with lists of Demands in the form of Reparations folded up their papers without submitting them after hearing J.R. Jayawardene speak seeking clemency for Japan. That forgiving gesture on the part of mostly Buddhist Asian countries which were not prepared to toe the line of the Victorious Western Alies saved Millions of Dollars for Japan and in turn helped the once defiant Japan (Pearl Harbour)  but now lying defeated, battered and bruised, to rebuild Japan ( known as the Light of Asia when almost the whole whole of Asia bar Thailand was under Western domination).  

There are no winners in modern wars of the type we are seeing on TV sets today. The Leaders that take their people to wars are not really heroes. 

If God is on the side of Humanity he will stop the war.  

The Price of Glory is Death.

Senaka Weeraratna