Reflections on Inter-faith Relationships - 8 October 2002

 

Reflections on Inter-faith Relationships

Lionel Bopage

Preface

This talk was written before the long civil war ended in 2009. Much of what I wrote about and hoped for i.e. inter-faith dialogue, empathy and social justice is not happening. Rancor, violence and bigotry is still drowning out the voices of peace, intercommunal harmony and empathy as witnessed by the recent riots against the Muslims by the majority community – making the observations and the hope contained therein, sadly more relevant than ever. It is in this light I present this paper.

The Talk

It is my belief that reflections on inter-faith relationships need to commence with considering the context in which certain events have taken place. Like in statistics, one could suggest that this could lead to diverse interpretations. However, if we consider factual events in their immediate objective context it may help us understand why things happened that way. This would assist us in discussing what we could do in future to change things for the better.

Born Buddhist, I studied Buddhist philosophy in Dhamma School as a child and on my own as an adult. Buddhism, as the story goes, was not superimposed on Sri Lanka but was brought or donated to the island from India. The majority of Sinhalese in Sri Lanka are Buddhists and are influenced largely by Buddhist monks. The majority of Tamils are Hindus. There had been invasions from the subcontinent mainly led by South Indian rulers. Also, there had been wars and conflicts among Sinhala kings themselves and between kings of Sinhala and Dravidian origins.  These invasions and wars were not ethnicity-based but conducted for the sole purpose of expanding the land dimensions of their respective kingdoms.

In the precolonial era, religion in Sri Lanka like in similar countries was extremely close to the feudal elite. Therefore, Hinduism and Buddhism had been used at various times as instruments of conflict. Before Sri Lanka became a Portugese colony a sort of subtle military and religious equilibrium had been in existence. This is reflected in the presence of statues of Hindu deities inside many Buddhist temples. In particular, at Kataragama, Buddhists pay homage to God Skandha, a powerful Hindu deity. Hindus also consider Buddha as an incarnation of one of their gods. Most of the Buddhist rituals and traditions conducted at their social occasions are derived from Hindu rituals and traditions. Throughout history, there had been constant and mutual economic, social and cultural interaction between India and Sri Lanka.

The relationship of Christianity to Buddhism and Hinduism in this context appears to differ from the relationship of Buddhism to Hinduism. The colonialists showed the Bible with one hand and took away land and other resources with the other hand, in the name of their king and their particular brand of Christianity – be it Anglican, Catholic or the Dutch Reform Church. Christianity like capitalism was superimposed on an indigenous culture without their consent, with the attendant socio-economic and cultural consequences. Some sections of the Sinhalese and Tamils converted to Christianity. Many did it due to coercion and their own survival.

However, some conversions would have been voluntary and genuine. Such conversions had been considered as threatening the Buddhist predominance and have led to strong, but hidden antagonism between Buddhists and Christians. I may be incorrect, but I have never seen such antagonism in the Tamil predominant regions of the northeast. Reflections on interfaith relationships have to start from this context.

When I was at the Hardy Institute of Technical Training, I had a good Buddhist friend who paid homage to Hindu Kovil by visiting it weekly. As his good friend I used to accompany him. My experiences in inter-faith relationships commence that way. In spite of the tension between Sinhalese and Tamils we were able to maintain friendly contacts with some of the Hindu students. I first met Chitra, my dear wife, when I visited her to get her to support a human rights network. She was a religious superior with strong Christian beliefs in ameliorating the sufferings of people.

At that time, she was working, under the direction of Fr Tissa Balasooriya, with people living in slums in Colombo. She had difficulties with the indifference her church hierarchy had for the poor. Due to differences of opinion, she decided to leave her spiritual vocation and we decided to share our lives together. My mother had reservations about our marriage, obviously because I was Buddhist and she was Christian. Some of Chitra’s family members displayed extreme resistance. This was understandable because I was a radical political activist and apparently, it was sacrilege for a Christian to marry such an individual.

This is only one aspect of the story. The organization with which I was involved was mainly based on rural Buddhist Sinhalese. This organization considered my relationship as threatening and harmful to the organisation. They did not want me to continue the relationship. One of the leading members held the opinion that the CIA through the Church was trying to take me away from the organisation. I told them to provide any evidence to support their view and if they show any real evidence then I would be glad to give up the relationship. With time, Chitra’s family members came to know me better through their own personal experience. In fairness to all, I should say that there were many Buddhists and Christians in both families who supported us in those difficult times.

Later, I had to resign from the organisation I was involved with, due to entirely different reasons. However, they commenced a slander campaign against me by erroneously claiming that I resigned because of the Catholic Action. I was advocating equality for all citizens irrespective of their socio-cultural background and death threats were issued against me. We had to leave Sri Lanka and it was due to the assistance extended by Fr. Tissa Balasooriya and a Women Christian community in Queensland that we were able to settle down in Australia.

In a multi-faith family, how do we maintain our religious relationships? Our children fell in love with friends of another faith or nationality. We kept religion and nationality away from the marriage equations. We believe that all religions have many positive aspects. Therefore, when we attend religious ceremonies we show flexibility and our whole family participate if possible. We go to Churches together. We go to Buddhist temples together. We go to e Hindu Kovils together. We have also attended Islamic and Bahai functions together.

All our family members oblige in helping those in need. Religion has never been a factor in our considerations. I think the common factor of giving and offering makes it easier for us to do so. Our two children were brought up in an environment where they were instructed to choose their own religion when they grew up. Both of them choose to become Catholics and I did not have problem with their choice. Despite this, some Sri Lankan Catholics and Buddhists have stopped talking to us because of this religious mixture in our family. Some believe I have committed sin and Chitra has committed blasphemy. This I believe is errant nonsense.

Now to widen the discourse from the personal to the societal.

Since coming to Canberra, I gained more experience with regard to multi-faith aspects of interaction. Probably you are aware that not many Sri Lankans are actively engaged in peace efforts. Many were active cheer leaders on either Tamil or Sinhala side of the conflict. Pincered between these two extremes are the long-suffering majority, who get on with their daily lives, remaining silent on crucial issues affecting the community here in Canberra, some of whom desired peace, but are not politically active by temperament.

Several concerned Sinhalese and Tamils got together and established a forum called ‘Forum for Just Peace in Sri Lanka’ to discuss issues concerning the conflict and its effect on the diaspora. When peace talks failed in 1994, we decided to have an inter-faith prayer for peace in Sri Lanka. This is interesting because this is the first time I came to know about the fundamentalist nature religion plays among the Australian Sri Lankan community. There were preliminary obstacles, since the proposal for the inter-faith gathering had to be approved by various social and religious communities of Sri Lankan background.

There was considerable discussion in the Buddhist Association. Could Buddhists attend an inter-faith prayer session? Were Christian and Muslim missions not about converting Buddhists, rather than understanding Buddhism? However, in the end, they all agreed to participate in the session. I was a contributing member of the Buddhist Association. Several years ago, Chitra was elected a member of the Executive Committee of the Buddhist Association. Many Buddhists accommodated Chitra while some fundamentalists campaigned against her attending the Executive. Resistance and slandering reached an intolerable level that after several meetings she had to resign.

Despite being an atheist, I respect all religions. Whenever it is feasible, we contribute to whatever good things any religious organisation would do. In 1991, when we arrived in Canberra, we were invited to a discussion about building a Theravada Sri Lanka Buddhist Temple in Canberra. We attended the discussion and physically and materially contributed to the building of the Buddhist temple in Kambah. For many years since the opening up of the Temple, I used to contribute to the running of the Temple and also training of Dhamma School children to sing devotional songs during the annual Vesak celebrations. Since I was involved in supporting peace and reconciliation efforts among the Canberra community of diverse Sri Lankan background, first the association running the temple asked me to stop devotional training of children, then our family’s material contributions, and finally to stop visiting the Temple.

Some responsible Buddhists believe that the Catholic Action is behind the Tamil militant struggle. They say they have nothing in common with Christians and Hindus. Some responsible Christians say they have nothing in common with Buddhists and Hindus. Some responsible Hindus say they have nothing in common with Christians and Buddhists. In reality, what these individuals displayed was their ignorance, lack of love, respect, and empathy to adherents of other faiths. When we organized the multi-faith prayer session in November in 1995, I was able to get the only available free venue from the Anglican Church in Manuka. Many including Bishops Pat Power and George Browning conducted prayers for peace. There were also Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Satya-Sai, Mahikari and Bahai reflections and prayers. The extreme Sinhala Buddhist elements vigorously campaigned against this gathering saying that we all celebrated the LTTE leader’s birthday.

The Forum was formally registered as ‘Friends for Peace in Sri Lanka’ in 1999 and we organized another prayer session. Many Christians did not want to attend the peace prayer session because it was held in a Hindu Kovil. We have organized another multi-faith session this Saturday praying for the success of the current peace efforts in Sri Lanka. Twice during the last few years, we made requests to the Sri Lankan Buddhist temple to hold meditation sessions on peace, which were rejected outright. This poses an extremely important question. If a Christian attends a peace meditation at the Temple, why do these Buddhists consider it as a betrayal of Buddhism? When some Christians refused to attend peace prayers at the Hindu Kovil did they think that they would be betraying the teaching contained in the Bible? When Hindus refuse to go to Christian churches to attend peace prayer sessions is that a reflection that the Hindus believe they would be betraying their faith?

The Kambah Buddhist Temple Association’s reprisals against me and my family were not yet over. They encouraged and established a separate association called ‘Sinhala Cultural Association (SINCA) to counter the Australia Sri Lanka Association (ASLA) in the ACT, spread rumours to the effect that I was a LTTE supporter and campaigned against me in my workplace, within the Sri Lanka community, the other communities, multicultural organisations, and the ACT Government. When my community work was recognized by the ACT Government with an Award of Recognition, they walked out from the audience, campaigned against me on community radio programs.

These are not just abstract questions but questions of living reality. Why do these faiths that are supposed to preach tolerance, love and kindness towards others endeavor to make exclusive domains for themselves rather than widening their nets of inclusivity? How can we concentrate on widening inclusiveness of every faith? Why cannot Buddhists in their Metta Samadhi, filled with loving kindness meditation, include those of other faiths? I believe that these questions need to be confronted by these faiths in this country. As Buddhists, we are supposed to extend our compassion to ourselves, to our families, friends, neighbours, even to our enemies and ultimately to all living beings. In theory, this should include all faiths, however sadly in practice this does not happen. In Christianity when they say the Grace, do they include everybody? I do not know the answer because I do not know enough about Christianity.

Apart from better understanding the complexity of a struggle which has ethnic, linguistic, social and religious connotations we have been able to do little to further the cause of peace in this most intractable civil war in Sri Lanka. Buddhists and Hindus are on different sides of this divide, as Sinhala language and Tamil language respectively. Muslims speak Tamil but feel deeply antagonistic towards the LTTE because of the massacre and the cleansing of Muslims by the LTTE. Christians stand uneasily on both sides of the community divide; some take ethnic positions, only a minority try to use their strategic position to work actively for peace.

I believe Buddhists could learn many things from Christianity. Christianity helps its adherents to enjoy life while helping others in need. In particular, the assistance the Christians provide for the needy was something preached and practiced by Buddha. However, such practice cannot be witnessed among many Buddhist religious. Contribution made by Christian religious with regard to social justice does not prevail among the Buddhist religious. In spite of such differences, I find many characteristics that are common among diverse faiths. Characteristics that include relationships of welcoming, giving, offering, forgiving and trusting and features such as love, hospitality, friendship, generosity and kindness.

Other than for communal reasons, many people with different faiths would be willing to listen to and understand each other. Core aspects of teachings of each faith could be interpreted by other faiths in a positive light for building harmonious relationships among communities. This will be an essential characteristic of survival in a pluralistic society such as Sri Lanka. However, opportunities for such interaction are seldom. Factors attributable to this situation are many. Social stigma is obviously one. If an individual of one faith attends an event of another faith the community could consider that person a renegade. From my point of view the most important factor is that the political leadership of the country is either not conscious of the role such interaction could play, or is not committed to pluralism. Thus, they are not aware of the serious repercussions their one-sided policies have subjected the society to. Without recognizing Sri Lanka as multi-cultural and multi-national, without encouraging qualities of tolerance, respect and appreciation of diverse cultures we cannot expect much peaceful co-existence.

If the political leadership of Sri Lanka takes the initiative, there would be many among all faiths, who have ample tolerance levels to listen to discussions on Tripitaka, the Buddhist philosophy, on Saiva Siddhanta, the Hindu religious philosophy, or Gospel readings from the Holy Bible and Surahs from the Holy Quran! Such interaction between different faiths would help each faith to listen to and interact with other faiths while respecting and appreciating diversity of faiths, as a lived reality. This could be positively used to enrich humanity, rather than to its destruction. Such interaction would transform inter faith relationship from a slogan to reality. Identifying areas where diverse faiths could collaborate and work together, would mutually enrich the experiences of each faith. For example, such areas of collaboration could include alleviation and/or eradication of poverty, respecting human dignity, exercises of peace building, protection of environment etc. Development of such collaboration will establish positive relations between diverse faiths that would contribute to building better relations between them and a peaceful society for the humanity.