"Religion is both a personal activity as well as a social activity. Religion can become immersed in nationalism a creation of the west, which arose after the collapse of medieval Christianity with the Reformation. Nationalism has proved to be a powerful force as powerful in moving people as religion itself. So we extol nationalism as Sinhala nationalism and Tamil nationalism."_________________________________
by R.M.B. Senanayake
(February 13, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Mr. E.M.G. Edirisinghe laments that there is missionary activity by the monotheistic religions. Hinduism is pantheistic. He thinks if such missionary activity stops there will be peace in the world.
If Arahant Mahinda & Sangamitta thera didn’t come to Sri Lanka on missionary activity surely there would be no Buddhism here today. The people would then have continued to be animists- spirit worshippers seeing spirits in trees. If Buddhism has led to a higher culture or civilization, surely the work of the Buddhist missionaries from India should be looked upon with favor as people in fact do. As Toynbee points out "the higher religions have put mankind directly into personal contact with the ultimate spiritual reality and in doing this, they have made them independent of the society in which they find themselves implicated as a result of the accident of having being born at a particular time and place." People born to Buddhist parents consider themselves Buddhists; those born to Christian or Muslim parents consider themselves Christians or Muslims as the case may be.
Higher religions have freed man from the religious bondage to society
But they need not continue to follow the religion of their parents since they have been freed from the traditions of the primitive societies where religion and society were one. For primitive man social life and his religious life were one. The religious & the secular sides of life were inseparable. They were not even distinguishable. Each of man’s activities was religious and political and economic at the same time. Agriculture, says Toynbee was as much a religious activity as an economic activity. Religious attitudes were allowed little initiative. There was no question of a man changing the religion of the society he was born into. His approach to truth & salvation was exclusively through the medium of his society. His society stood between him and the ultimate spiritual reality behind the phenomena of the universe continues Toynbee. Yet the pursuit of the quest for ultimate reality is intrinsic in a human being. It is the quest that matters and not the intrinsic beliefs as such. So man must have the freedom to choose the way of salvation or liberation which satisfies him. All may not be interested in liberation either. But there comes a time to each man when he becomes dissatisfied with the mere pursuit of pleasure and he seeks answers to experiences that disturb him.The higher religions have given him the idea that he could stand apart from his society in his quest for the spiritual. Didn’t the Lord Buddha say that no one should accept his teachings merely on his authority but that he should inquire for himself and experience the truth himself? So society has evolved to the state that every man whether in the West or the East has the individual freedom to decide for himself what religion he should believe in. In the West many Christians have given up Christianity and accepted other religions and cults. This human freedom has evolved over history and has come to be accepted as a fundamental value. Nobody needs to continue in the religion of his forefathers and has the freedom to decide for him what religious beliefs he should hold or whether he should have any religious beliefs at all. So Mr. E.M.G. is opposing a fundamental value the right to change one’s beliefs, a right secured for man by the higher religions.
The missionary impulse
People who are convinced that they have the truth about human liberation would be very selfish if they did not try to share it with others. Lord Buddha thought so and so did the Lord Jesus Christ. The glimpses of the truth and the aids for living that each Founder of religions has given were so novel and beneficent that they are remembered and honored thousands of years after their demise. Buddhists claim that the Lord Buddha gained an insight into the nature of reality and found a way out of human suffering to gain nirvana. Other religious founders have claimed divine revelation for their teachings. They have all wished to spread the truth to all human beings. Buddhists may be less motivated to do so than other religionists. But the Lord Buddha emphasized the need to spread his message as much as the other religious founders. The wish to convert some one is evidence that one feels concern for his welfare Missionary activity by itself cannot be condemned. What is wrong is the use of force. But then can force really be effective in converting another. The person converted against his will is of the same opinion still. His belief in the new religion will be confined to a mere outward conformity and will be of no spiritual benefit to him. Unless there is a much deeper conviction about the new beliefs there will be no change in the behavior of the convert. Of what spiritual value is such a conversion without such a change in behavior? The Lord Jesus Christ only wanted his Gospel to be preached through out the world and not explicitly to make converts. The person who heard the message would not necessarily suffer a change of heart unless he was a man of goodwill who was in search of something spiritual because of the vicissitudes of life. Christians believe that only God can provide a conversion. The role of the missionary is to preach and to heal in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
History will not be still
Didn’t the Lord Buddha preach that everything is impermanent? This includes religions. History will not keep still. What is required is to stand for moral & ethical values in human conduct in all spheres of life. Persons who do so will have to face much hardship and suffering even death. But the Lord Jesus Christ has promised eternal life to those who persevere in the truth.
But Mr. E.M.G is right to say that religious exclusiveness and intransigence are bad and create antagonism. What is required is a dialogue of religions and the Christian Churches have sought to do just that in the last fifty years at least. Religion is a stable ingredient in human nature. Today people whether Buddhists, Christians or Muslims are caught up in consumerism. They think they can enjoy pleasures of this world and do not have any care for the next. They are no longer absorbed in eternal life or Samsara & nirvana. They want to have a good time in this world and by a good life they mean the opposite of what the great religions teach. Although people may call themselves Buddhists, Christians etc. they are in fact worshippers of money and pleasure. Materialism and nationalism are the dominant ideologies of the day. These ideologies repudiate the ideals of self-sacrifice and concern for others or for mankind as a whole.
Culture is not the same as religion although some intellectuals who proclaim Sinhala Buddhist nationalism continue to treat them as the same. Dr. Nalin de Silva for example draws a distinction between those whom he calls Olcott Buddhists and Sinhala Buddhists proper. Others would say there is a distinction between the truths enunciated by Lord Buddha and the cultural garb in which such religious truths are cloaked. A distinction is perhaps necessary between religious truths and cultural aspects of religious beliefs & practices. The latter are subject to change but perhaps not the former, at least their essence.
Religious nationalism the cause of antagonism
Religion is both a personal activity as well as a social activity. Religion can become immersed in nationalism a creation of the west, which arose after the collapse of medieval Christianity with the Reformation. Nationalism has proved to be a powerful force as powerful in moving people as religion itself. So we extol nationalism as Sinhala nationalism and Tamil nationalism. Nationalism in the West was associated with a particular territory. A religious conception of nationalism is particularly evident in India & Sri Lanka today. The Indian constitution proclaimed a secular and territorial nationalism. A religious conception of nationalism tends to blur the distinction between religion and culture. In India today some nationalist minded Hindus claim that the Indian national life is the Hindu national life. History is re-interpreted as the continuous struggle between the Sinhala Buddhists and foreign invaders, the Tamils and later the European colonizers. What are the social & political implications of nationalism based on religion? All the people inhabiting a particular territory cannot then belong to the nation until the nation belongs to them politically and economically. Mr. E.M.G should note the divisive and exclusivist character of religious nationalism. It is not religion by itself but religion linked to nationalism that is proving to be disastrous in the world today. A person who is seeking the path to liberation should be able to experiment with different ways as the Lord Buddha himself did. This is man’s inherent right. Society cannot dictate to him what religion he should believe in as primitive society did.
Religious differences not the only cause of war
Throughout history people have fought wars for a number of reasons. The Central Asian tribes swept across Europe and invaded countries to plunder them. People fight to possess women and property. Hence the Ten Commandments forbade the coveting of another’s wife or his property. Our own kings have fought wars to secure the throne. Wars have been fought over ideologies like communism. So it is not only religious differences and missionary activities that have caused wars. Wars have been fought in self defense and the Americans claim to wage war against terrorism.
So war seems to be as natural to man as religion. Man doesn’t have to look far for a cause to wage war.
(February 13, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Mr. E.M.G. Edirisinghe laments that there is missionary activity by the monotheistic religions. Hinduism is pantheistic. He thinks if such missionary activity stops there will be peace in the world.
If Arahant Mahinda & Sangamitta thera didn’t come to Sri Lanka on missionary activity surely there would be no Buddhism here today. The people would then have continued to be animists- spirit worshippers seeing spirits in trees. If Buddhism has led to a higher culture or civilization, surely the work of the Buddhist missionaries from India should be looked upon with favor as people in fact do. As Toynbee points out "the higher religions have put mankind directly into personal contact with the ultimate spiritual reality and in doing this, they have made them independent of the society in which they find themselves implicated as a result of the accident of having being born at a particular time and place." People born to Buddhist parents consider themselves Buddhists; those born to Christian or Muslim parents consider themselves Christians or Muslims as the case may be.
Higher religions have freed man from the religious bondage to society
But they need not continue to follow the religion of their parents since they have been freed from the traditions of the primitive societies where religion and society were one. For primitive man social life and his religious life were one. The religious & the secular sides of life were inseparable. They were not even distinguishable. Each of man’s activities was religious and political and economic at the same time. Agriculture, says Toynbee was as much a religious activity as an economic activity. Religious attitudes were allowed little initiative. There was no question of a man changing the religion of the society he was born into. His approach to truth & salvation was exclusively through the medium of his society. His society stood between him and the ultimate spiritual reality behind the phenomena of the universe continues Toynbee. Yet the pursuit of the quest for ultimate reality is intrinsic in a human being. It is the quest that matters and not the intrinsic beliefs as such. So man must have the freedom to choose the way of salvation or liberation which satisfies him. All may not be interested in liberation either. But there comes a time to each man when he becomes dissatisfied with the mere pursuit of pleasure and he seeks answers to experiences that disturb him.The higher religions have given him the idea that he could stand apart from his society in his quest for the spiritual. Didn’t the Lord Buddha say that no one should accept his teachings merely on his authority but that he should inquire for himself and experience the truth himself? So society has evolved to the state that every man whether in the West or the East has the individual freedom to decide for himself what religion he should believe in. In the West many Christians have given up Christianity and accepted other religions and cults. This human freedom has evolved over history and has come to be accepted as a fundamental value. Nobody needs to continue in the religion of his forefathers and has the freedom to decide for him what religious beliefs he should hold or whether he should have any religious beliefs at all. So Mr. E.M.G. is opposing a fundamental value the right to change one’s beliefs, a right secured for man by the higher religions.
The missionary impulse
People who are convinced that they have the truth about human liberation would be very selfish if they did not try to share it with others. Lord Buddha thought so and so did the Lord Jesus Christ. The glimpses of the truth and the aids for living that each Founder of religions has given were so novel and beneficent that they are remembered and honored thousands of years after their demise. Buddhists claim that the Lord Buddha gained an insight into the nature of reality and found a way out of human suffering to gain nirvana. Other religious founders have claimed divine revelation for their teachings. They have all wished to spread the truth to all human beings. Buddhists may be less motivated to do so than other religionists. But the Lord Buddha emphasized the need to spread his message as much as the other religious founders. The wish to convert some one is evidence that one feels concern for his welfare Missionary activity by itself cannot be condemned. What is wrong is the use of force. But then can force really be effective in converting another. The person converted against his will is of the same opinion still. His belief in the new religion will be confined to a mere outward conformity and will be of no spiritual benefit to him. Unless there is a much deeper conviction about the new beliefs there will be no change in the behavior of the convert. Of what spiritual value is such a conversion without such a change in behavior? The Lord Jesus Christ only wanted his Gospel to be preached through out the world and not explicitly to make converts. The person who heard the message would not necessarily suffer a change of heart unless he was a man of goodwill who was in search of something spiritual because of the vicissitudes of life. Christians believe that only God can provide a conversion. The role of the missionary is to preach and to heal in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
History will not be still
Didn’t the Lord Buddha preach that everything is impermanent? This includes religions. History will not keep still. What is required is to stand for moral & ethical values in human conduct in all spheres of life. Persons who do so will have to face much hardship and suffering even death. But the Lord Jesus Christ has promised eternal life to those who persevere in the truth.
But Mr. E.M.G is right to say that religious exclusiveness and intransigence are bad and create antagonism. What is required is a dialogue of religions and the Christian Churches have sought to do just that in the last fifty years at least. Religion is a stable ingredient in human nature. Today people whether Buddhists, Christians or Muslims are caught up in consumerism. They think they can enjoy pleasures of this world and do not have any care for the next. They are no longer absorbed in eternal life or Samsara & nirvana. They want to have a good time in this world and by a good life they mean the opposite of what the great religions teach. Although people may call themselves Buddhists, Christians etc. they are in fact worshippers of money and pleasure. Materialism and nationalism are the dominant ideologies of the day. These ideologies repudiate the ideals of self-sacrifice and concern for others or for mankind as a whole.
Culture is not the same as religion although some intellectuals who proclaim Sinhala Buddhist nationalism continue to treat them as the same. Dr. Nalin de Silva for example draws a distinction between those whom he calls Olcott Buddhists and Sinhala Buddhists proper. Others would say there is a distinction between the truths enunciated by Lord Buddha and the cultural garb in which such religious truths are cloaked. A distinction is perhaps necessary between religious truths and cultural aspects of religious beliefs & practices. The latter are subject to change but perhaps not the former, at least their essence.
Religious nationalism the cause of antagonism
Religion is both a personal activity as well as a social activity. Religion can become immersed in nationalism a creation of the west, which arose after the collapse of medieval Christianity with the Reformation. Nationalism has proved to be a powerful force as powerful in moving people as religion itself. So we extol nationalism as Sinhala nationalism and Tamil nationalism. Nationalism in the West was associated with a particular territory. A religious conception of nationalism is particularly evident in India & Sri Lanka today. The Indian constitution proclaimed a secular and territorial nationalism. A religious conception of nationalism tends to blur the distinction between religion and culture. In India today some nationalist minded Hindus claim that the Indian national life is the Hindu national life. History is re-interpreted as the continuous struggle between the Sinhala Buddhists and foreign invaders, the Tamils and later the European colonizers. What are the social & political implications of nationalism based on religion? All the people inhabiting a particular territory cannot then belong to the nation until the nation belongs to them politically and economically. Mr. E.M.G should note the divisive and exclusivist character of religious nationalism. It is not religion by itself but religion linked to nationalism that is proving to be disastrous in the world today. A person who is seeking the path to liberation should be able to experiment with different ways as the Lord Buddha himself did. This is man’s inherent right. Society cannot dictate to him what religion he should believe in as primitive society did.
Religious differences not the only cause of war
Throughout history people have fought wars for a number of reasons. The Central Asian tribes swept across Europe and invaded countries to plunder them. People fight to possess women and property. Hence the Ten Commandments forbade the coveting of another’s wife or his property. Our own kings have fought wars to secure the throne. Wars have been fought over ideologies like communism. So it is not only religious differences and missionary activities that have caused wars. Wars have been fought in self defense and the Americans claim to wage war against terrorism.
So war seems to be as natural to man as religion. Man doesn’t have to look far for a cause to wage war.
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