03-17-2006, 01:01 PM
The papal plea for human hights
by Prof.S.Ratnajeevan H.Hoole
As we explore the idea of a pleasant state where we paradoxically bear the costs of freedom to have more freedom, this past week brought home to us the need for greater tolerance as the liberal ground keeps shrinking rapidly under us.
His Holiness the Pope, John Paul II, on the 25th anniversary of his ascending the Throne of Saint Peter that fell on the 16th, said two things that bear on us in Sri Lanka. Not being a Roman Catholic, perhaps I have the liberty of quoting and promoting the Holy Father here without being accused of religious jingoism.
One, he said, in his address: "Our work will be more incisive when we know how to highlight the face of the Church that loves the poor, that is simple, that takes the side of the weakest in society."
If we read this substituting "Sri Lanka" for "the Church," it would be fittingly applicable to us. The Pope's plea was a plea for human rights. Human rights laws and treaties protect the weak and take away the powers of the majority insofar as they are used to trample on the small fellow.
They protect women and children who are exploited, those without education or food, those in prison, those threatened with genocide, those who write exposing the wickedness of the powerful, those living under errant armed forces, those who espouse unpopular or minority ideas and religious tenets, those caught in the middle between warring forces and in general all who have no one to speak up for them.
In such a state, we have the security of the assurance that if ever we ourselves become weak, we will be protected. It feels good to live in such a state.
The Pope also said (Daily News, Oct. 20) that he and the Church should proclaim their faith to their "dying breath ... Our main commitment is to never shrink from the courage to proclaim the Gospel."
The same day however, Mr. Wimal Weerawansa, the JVP's Media Secretary asserted, "As long as we have people who preach and talk of Christianity, nothing could be achieved". This was the ominous culmination of judgements and a series of articles in the press against the freedom of Christians to preach their religious views.
His sentiments on being rid of Christians are in direct violation of the basic tenet of a rights based approach to development that requires the active, free and meaningful participation of all individuals and groups, specially minorities.
The Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in Sri Lanka, in unusual contradiction of the Pope whom they regard as infallible when pronouncing on faith, speaking together as the collective Episcopate, immediately declared that they do not convert people. Surely the Bishops were reacting with fear when they went so far as to contradict the Pope and their Lord and Master's Last Commission so quickly on an occasion that is so personal to the Pope.
As a student in 1971 I had heard rumours that the JVP's policy was that old people and Tamils are naturally conservative and inherently opposed to revolutions, and therefore should be destroyed. It was widely believed but, not having seen any document to support it, I had dismissed it as counter- revolutionary propaganda by the State. This new statement of the Marxist leader about people who even talk of Christianity being an obstacle is very scary and gives credence to old reports of its tendency to ascribe collective blame and collective punishment to communities identified by collective characteristics.
If correct, the growing support for the JVP translates into growing intolerance and Mr. Weerawansa would do well to correct the report if it is wrong.
Adding to the fear engendered by these developments, all my neighbours and I received invitations from the Colpetty Police inviting us to a Vigilance
Committee meeting. In panic I recalled the days recently gone by when every time someone came to spend the night with us, the police would turn up almost immediately with questions. A colleague from Wellawatte on Saturday was equally panic stricken when she reported how two persons, one claiming to be a policeman, came down their street and collected the names of all residents. She loudly wondered whether another 1983 list was being prepared.
Parallel to all these, a newspaper carried horrifying reports from the East which we Tamils are scared to talk of and must, sadly, leave to sensitive, thoughtful Sinhalese to raise.
Thankfully some NGOs like the National Peace Council, after an inexcusable silence, are newly doing this, taking over the job from the Sihala Urumaya which was exploiting the situation to its own ends.
These are all surely signs of a terrible deterioration of civil rights across both sides of the communal division even as the euphoria of peace is trumpeted.
The Government and the LTTE have a duty to address these concerns if they care for ordinary folk. Hopefully they will learn a thing or two from the Holy Father and protect the weakhttp://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:yGM4MfDElR0J:www.dailynews.lk/2003/10/25/fea07.html+S.+Ratnajeevan+H.+Hoole+Religious+Conversion+Among+the+Tamils+%E2%80%93+To+the+government+Religion&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=4est everywhere.
by Prof.S.Ratnajeevan H.Hoole
As we explore the idea of a pleasant state where we paradoxically bear the costs of freedom to have more freedom, this past week brought home to us the need for greater tolerance as the liberal ground keeps shrinking rapidly under us.
His Holiness the Pope, John Paul II, on the 25th anniversary of his ascending the Throne of Saint Peter that fell on the 16th, said two things that bear on us in Sri Lanka. Not being a Roman Catholic, perhaps I have the liberty of quoting and promoting the Holy Father here without being accused of religious jingoism.
One, he said, in his address: "Our work will be more incisive when we know how to highlight the face of the Church that loves the poor, that is simple, that takes the side of the weakest in society."
If we read this substituting "Sri Lanka" for "the Church," it would be fittingly applicable to us. The Pope's plea was a plea for human rights. Human rights laws and treaties protect the weak and take away the powers of the majority insofar as they are used to trample on the small fellow.
They protect women and children who are exploited, those without education or food, those in prison, those threatened with genocide, those who write exposing the wickedness of the powerful, those living under errant armed forces, those who espouse unpopular or minority ideas and religious tenets, those caught in the middle between warring forces and in general all who have no one to speak up for them.
In such a state, we have the security of the assurance that if ever we ourselves become weak, we will be protected. It feels good to live in such a state.
The Pope also said (Daily News, Oct. 20) that he and the Church should proclaim their faith to their "dying breath ... Our main commitment is to never shrink from the courage to proclaim the Gospel."
The same day however, Mr. Wimal Weerawansa, the JVP's Media Secretary asserted, "As long as we have people who preach and talk of Christianity, nothing could be achieved". This was the ominous culmination of judgements and a series of articles in the press against the freedom of Christians to preach their religious views.
His sentiments on being rid of Christians are in direct violation of the basic tenet of a rights based approach to development that requires the active, free and meaningful participation of all individuals and groups, specially minorities.
The Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in Sri Lanka, in unusual contradiction of the Pope whom they regard as infallible when pronouncing on faith, speaking together as the collective Episcopate, immediately declared that they do not convert people. Surely the Bishops were reacting with fear when they went so far as to contradict the Pope and their Lord and Master's Last Commission so quickly on an occasion that is so personal to the Pope.
As a student in 1971 I had heard rumours that the JVP's policy was that old people and Tamils are naturally conservative and inherently opposed to revolutions, and therefore should be destroyed. It was widely believed but, not having seen any document to support it, I had dismissed it as counter- revolutionary propaganda by the State. This new statement of the Marxist leader about people who even talk of Christianity being an obstacle is very scary and gives credence to old reports of its tendency to ascribe collective blame and collective punishment to communities identified by collective characteristics.
If correct, the growing support for the JVP translates into growing intolerance and Mr. Weerawansa would do well to correct the report if it is wrong.
Adding to the fear engendered by these developments, all my neighbours and I received invitations from the Colpetty Police inviting us to a Vigilance
Committee meeting. In panic I recalled the days recently gone by when every time someone came to spend the night with us, the police would turn up almost immediately with questions. A colleague from Wellawatte on Saturday was equally panic stricken when she reported how two persons, one claiming to be a policeman, came down their street and collected the names of all residents. She loudly wondered whether another 1983 list was being prepared.
Parallel to all these, a newspaper carried horrifying reports from the East which we Tamils are scared to talk of and must, sadly, leave to sensitive, thoughtful Sinhalese to raise.
Thankfully some NGOs like the National Peace Council, after an inexcusable silence, are newly doing this, taking over the job from the Sihala Urumaya which was exploiting the situation to its own ends.
These are all surely signs of a terrible deterioration of civil rights across both sides of the communal division even as the euphoria of peace is trumpeted.
The Government and the LTTE have a duty to address these concerns if they care for ordinary folk. Hopefully they will learn a thing or two from the Holy Father and protect the weakhttp://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:yGM4MfDElR0J:www.dailynews.lk/2003/10/25/fea07.html+S.+Ratnajeevan+H.+Hoole+Religious+Conversion+Among+the+Tamils+%E2%80%93+To+the+government+Religion&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=4est everywhere.