Right of Reply : Christian Superstition escapes media attention in Sri Lanka 
Posted on March 27th, 2016

Shenali D. Waduge

 

 This is a response to Charitha P de Silva’s Letters to the Editor, Sunday Times of 20th March 2016.

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/160320/plus/letters-2-186884.html

 

Charitha P. de Silva ‘s rabble-rousing letter reveals a mindset similar to that of aggressive Christian Missionaries who went around the world hand in glove with invading European Conquistadors on the fictitious premise that they were bringing light and civilization to the dark regions of the world peopled by brown, black and yellow races. This presumption however was far removed from reality. In fact both these groups engaged themselves in rapacious plunder of resources and forcible conversions of subject peoples to Christianity. Though the first generation of converted Christians had some respect and understanding of their former religion which they had abandoned for reward both in money and kind, eliciting the accusation of being ‘ rice christians’,  the latter generations of converted Christians became fanatical followers ready always to take up the cudgel on behalf of their adopted religion to bash, denigrate and demonise Buddhism  and its followers on any flimsy ground.

 

Red Herring

 

Charitha P. de Silva’s letter falls into this category. He starts with Kishani Jayasinghe’s operatic rendition of ‘Dhanno Budunge’. This is a red – herring. The vast majority of the pre-dominant

Sinhala Buddhist population of this country (70%) considers this incident as trivial and not worth a second glance. There are far more important things in this country to worry about than the rendition of a favourite song by a foreign trained singer. Either way it will not bring the heavens down.

 

Charitha P. de Silva’s ancestors were no doubt Buddhists. Having abandoned this noble religion by him or his forbears for reasons that remain conjectural, he has no qualms in casting aspersions on Buddhist cultural practices, running down Buddhist monks (‘thugs masquerading as monks’), validity of ‘ pirith noole’, ‘ Buddha Pooja’ and the like. He has exalted himself to cleanse the Buddha Sasana openly supported by a largely crusading mass media that engage in Sepoy journalism.

 

There was a time when Lascarins and Sepoys gave local armed support to foreign occupiers both in Sri Lanka and India. That role is now partly played by local columnists and journalists and their fellow travelers.

 

Buddhism and Buddhists are always singled out and targeted day after day, week after week, in our newspapers by editors and sepoys masquerading as journalists to earn their reward from the Church, foreign embassies and foreign funded NGOs. An objective content analysis of local newspapers would reveal this sorry state of affairs. Christians occupy a highly disproportionate place on the editorial staffs of our English language newspapers. They favour publishing pro – Christian letters while at the same time suppressing informed Buddhist opinion.  A Right of Reply by a Buddhist is tantamount to a privilege. Such is the state of shoddy journalism in Sri Lanka. 

 

The final aim of evangelists is to make Sri Lanka the next South Korea which was once a predominant Buddhist country. A Similar attempt to make South Vietnam a Catholic Dictatorship under Ngo Dinh Diem failed in the 1960s when dedicated Buddhist monks self – immolated themselves drawing world attention to the plight of Buddhists in South Vietnam.

 

Buddhists do not force their religion down the throat of others. Christian Missionaries supported by colonial Governments do as part of consolidation of their imperial conquests and spread of western domination of largely third world countries. 

 

While Buddhism is being showcased in the mass media as perverse and degenerate because of

Superstitious ‘ cultural practices we do not see a similar approach adopted concerning the morally indefensible practices of other religions such as Animal Sacrifice which Buddhism unequivocally condemns.

 

Christian Superstition

 

In the absence of an even handed approach on the part of the Press let me highlight some Christian superstition which seem to have escaped the attention of Charitha P. de Silva and his Much of Traditional Christian religion is technically, ‘SUPERSTITION’.

 

For example:

 

1) During a Christian service a wafer is turned into the body of ‘God’/Jesus and the Christian Priest misleads his flock by making them think that he is eating the body of Jesus!! To an objective observer that is ‘cannibalism’ – a Christian ritual based on Pagan beliefs

 

2) Wine is turned into the ‘blood of God/Jesus’ – and the flock is made to think that they are drinking the blood of Jesus/God during the service

 

3) Pouring water over your head in Baptism is supposedly to remove ‘original sin’

 

4) The ‘Devil’ – the Prince of Darkness – figures prominently in Christian beliefs. Christians have copied it from Paganism and the Christian Devil became known as ‘Pan the mountain Goat-God’, with horns, hoofs and tail.

 

5) According to traditional Christian theology all who die will remain dead underground until Archangel Gabriel blows his trumpet so that Jesus will come to ‘judge the living and the dead’ – the greatest superstition in Christianity.

 

6) You confess your ‘sins’ (taken from a Roman pre-Christian era ritual) to a priest and all your ‘sins are forever forgiven’.

 

7) Receiving the ‘last rites’ will guarantee you a place in heaven because a priest will utter some magic words to that effect – and especially if you leave property to the Church.

 

8) That Jesus had to incarnate to save mankind because Adam and Eve ate an apple (because a snake, without a human voice-box, convinced Eve to do so) and cursed humanity to hell.

 

9) That a child who dies before being baptized cannot enter heaven.

 

10) The ‘devil’ can be driven away by making the sign of the cross or sprinkling holy water.

 

11) That God judges souls and condemns anyone who dies in a state of ‘sin’ to Hell for eternity.

 

12) That you will go to hell for eternity- trillion, trillions of years in tortuous hellfire – if you use contraception, if you remarry after divorce, if you masturbate, if you are gay, if you committed adultery (and eternal damnation some years ago if you eat a ham sandwich on a Friday) especially during Lent.

 

13) Even if you are like Adolf Hitler or Winston Churchill (a mass murderer of Indians and Black Africans) and manage to say you are very sorry for your sins before you die, you will go to heaven

 

http://www.victorzammit.com/articles/archbishoppeterjensen.htm

 

The main reason why ex-Christians particularly in western countries are no longer attending Church on Sundays is that they do not wish to subscribe to silly Christian Superstition any more. 

 

Christianity today finds itself in a state of deep irreversible crisis. Christian leaders and the Church are in a state of panic. Educated people everywhere these days want evidence and proof and not superstitious nonsensical beliefs written by unknown writers some thousands of years ago, where the original authentic writings can no longer be accessible.

 

Buddhism is a rational religion

 

Buddhism is a rational religion. You are invited to test it and if you are unhappy with the findings you can always leave without fear of punishment. No punishment in Buddhism for apostasy unlike in Abrahamic religions.

 

C.P. de Silva is way off the mark when he says todays ‘ultra-nationalists have no regard for history’. Why should we be ashamed of the colonial past? It is the repressors and invaders who have to be ashamed. These are the colonial rulers and the Church that accompanied them on a mission to plunder and convert entire nations/territories. It is not the nationalists that attempt to obliterate that part of the history but the very colonial countries and the Church who have yet to apologize or compensate for their crimes.

 

They have to even return the stolen temple lands on top of which churches are built. Let Mr. de Silva be reminded that there were only Buddhists and Hindus living in Sri Lanka. Islam & Muslims were treated as aliens till 1815 and no right to land earlier. The Sinhala Buddhists and Tamil Hindus became divided into Sinhala Christians and Tamil Christians/Catholics only after the conversion successes of the Portuguese, Dutch and the British. If roads had been named in foreign names it is because these invaders named them so. If people were forced to pronounce these names then, why is it difficult to pronounce Sinhala names now?

 

British Governors like Robert Brownrigg and Torrington committed crimes against humanity when they put down mercilessly the Uva (1818) and Matale (1848) rebellions. One has to be insane to glorify and remember your oppressors by maintaining Roads and Squares named after them.

 

Shenali D. Waduge

7 Responses to “Right of Reply : Christian Superstition escapes media attention in Sri Lanka ”

  1. Ratanapala Says:

    Well replied Shanali to the Christian colonial back licking scum! These scum are getting their just desserts in the middle east from their fellow believing Islamic scum. It is a Karma now they at each other’s throats. Buddhists must arise to protect our heritage and land from these barbaric scum. They pillaged our land and built temples of the devil called churches on top of Temples.

    Now the Islamists are all over buying land to chase the Sinhalese out of their economic heartland. Very soon we will see how the multi-cultural experiment in Europe and elsewhere will work out. It will be back to Hitler days with Muslims at the receiving end this time. The desecration of religious sites will end up at Mecca!

  2. AnuD Says:

    Evangelical Christianity is the capitalist version of Cult Christianity.

    In their girls dance in the stage just they way they dance in Las Vegas, if you have seen how stage dances go in Las vegas.

    Anyway, they cheat people and convert. It is an business enterprise. I think, preachers who give a better portion to the head office get better churhces where they can earn more. New comers go rural churches.

  3. mario_perera Says:

    Reading Shenali’s recent spate of articles, the statement made very recently by Prof.Desmond Mallikarachchi demands our attention. He said: We as a country are poor in every respect, in humanity as well as in economy.

    We as a country are poor in every respect, in humanity as well as in economy…

    Shenali wrote, in another of her articles: The nations that have civilizational histories cannot remove their histories just because some nations do not have history, heritage or cultures/value systems to be proud of or are jealous of them.

    Those who sit under the tables of the rich are not intellectual discussion groups vaunting their past glory: history, religion, culture and civilization. They are for all practical purposes like mongrels with eyes wide open, ears pricked up, noses distended, with only one yearning, to pick up the crumbs that fall from the table.

    What outcome does one expect by lambasting those who sit at these abundantly laden tables? One may verbally tear to shreds their histories, their religion, their culture, civilization and whatever else. Yet the stark reality is that those who indulge in their vain glory squat under those very tables fighting for the pittance that come their way.

    I recall a famous law professor (I may state his name…Professor L.M.J Cooray) telling his students: There are those who make the little they have go a long way, while others who have a lot cannot make it go even a little way.

    Shenali’s whining put our nation categorically in the second group: those who have a lot but cannot make it go even a little way. Ultimately it all smacks of jealousy and little else.

    Shenali quotes Desmond Tutu. Well DT made himself well entrenched with those who indulged in such deceit…didn’t he?

    At the end of the day there are only two religions that count: riches and poverty. Those who sit at those exquisitely laden table murmuring sweet nothings to themselves, whatever be their history, religion, etc etc…and those who sit under those tables conjuring visions of the Mahavamsa days which all broils down to one dictum: apata puthey magak nethey.

    For poverty ridden nations such as ours indulging in such vain glory is like spitting in the air. The spittle intended for the high diners unfortuately fall back on…. guess?

    At the end of the analysis what the two professors DM and LMJC said are what matter.
    We are a poor country in humanity as well as economy
    While vaunting our ancient glories we have not been able “to make a lot go even a little way”

    Ultimately it is all: neva gilunath BAN CHOON

    To end I would make reference to our disgraced cricket team’s captain’s comment. What he said in brief is that the batting failed, the bowling failed and the fielding failed. But he also added: we will not make immediate changes…we will wait and see!!!

    What the dickens does that mean… a team with batsmen who failed, bowlers who failed, and fielders who failed, still opting ‘to wait and see’…

    Such is our country (the selection board) and its politicians (the selected team)…all failures but nothing else to do but ‘wait and see’.

    While waiting and seeing nothing else to do but indulge in our favourite pastime – bash the rich from whose crumbs we live, ad like monkeys praise our long tail.

    For the traveler in the desert, seeing mirages is natural.

    Mario Perera
    Kadawata

    Mario Perera
    Kadawata

  4. Dham Says:

    There are a lot of positives too.
    One should not highlight the negatives on the “humanity” side only and condemn the nation.

    1. We had world’s first female head of state. Even after 50 years US is still struggling.
    2. We have a high literacy rate
    3. We have a low infant mortality rate better than Malaysia and better than “rich” Saudi Arabia
    4. We are number 8 in world giving index ( “rich” Singapore is at 34th position)
    5. We have acceptable life expectancy, above average
    6. We have an unemployment rate better than Australia

    On the cricket side, we still have some good records.

    1. Only one bowler in the world who holds a record of two consecutive hattricks ( 4 wickets)
    2. We hold the world record for maximum runs in 20-20
    3. We hold the record for maximum runs in ODIs
    4. We hold the record for maximum runs in Test cricket

  5. Ancient Sinhalaya Says:

    Thanks once again to SW for being so patriotic and so brave to show what these people really are.
    The evidence of catholic-run UNPatriotic Buddhism-destroying, Buddhist-killing activities are everywhere
    to see. But not many people are dared to write or talk about it. So they getting bolder by the day.
    This is why they want to destroy MR clan for good, including his son, brother etc. They are the
    only Buddhists in the country who have a backbone.

    Gangodawila Soma Thero’s demise proven beyond anybody’s doubt. No action. Now mysterious death
    of Sobitha thero. 30 long years of catholic tigers of tamil drealam’s Buddhist-killing spree which
    claimed more 100,000 lives gone unpunished. Catholic-run UNPatriotic party’s killing of 60,000+ Buddhist
    jvpers gone unpunished. No wonder they are getting bolder by the day. Now a west back-licking
    government in power. So they want to expedite their agenda of eradication of Buddhism from Sri Lanka.
    The 4 enemies of Sinhalese Buddhists (tamils, mussies, catholics and Sinhala donkeys who support
    UNPatriotics) along with the west, will do the job very very nicely and swiftly.

  6. Christie Says:

    Shenali; what about the Hindus?

  7. Jag Says:

    I almost missed this article.

    Hats off to you Ms.Waduge. Thank you for being so brave and presenting the facts.!

    Ratanapala – Can’t agree with you anymore. I am with you all the way !

    Of course there is nothing that our Christian / Catholic friends have to get upset about. They too were Buddhists before, unless they were Lascarins and Sepoys, who still resort to the same old colonial time arguments to intimidate Buddhists for talking the facts!!!

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