“Constitutional and Legal Framework Governing Religious Freedom and Related Issues” by CPA

More than a month after the events in Aluthgama, many questions remain in terms of justice and accountability regarding these and others developments related to ethnic and religious freedom in Sri Lanka. These questions are even more poignant as we mark 31 years since the deadly pogrom of July 1983.

Although religious freedom is provided for in the present framework in Sri Lanka, concerns are raised as to why threats, intimidation and attacks continue to occur with limited action to prevent such events and to hold to account perpetrators. In light of recent events surrounding religious freedom in Sri Lanka, questions have been raised regarding the legal provisions related to the issue and the powers of key actors. The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) has compiled a short brief to create awareness on the Constitutional and legal framework and available legal remedies regarding religious freedom and related issues.

Access the brief here – http://www.cpalanka.org/constitutional-and-legal-framework-governing-religious-freedom-and-relatd-issues/

“Sri lankan leader warns of radicalisation after clashes” by Shihar Aneez and Ranga Sirilal

Sri Lanka’s Muslim minority could become radicalised and turn to foreign Islamic groups for support because of violent attacks on them by Buddhist hardliners, the island nation’s main Muslim leader and justice minister said on Friday.

via: http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/07/11/sri-lanka-muslims-violence-idINL4N0PM3ST20140711

“Sri Lanka’s Downward Spiral” by Taylor Dibbert

The U.S. Congressional Caucus on Ethnic and Religious Freedom in Sri Lanka held a hearing on July 9 in Washington, D.C. The caucus, created in 2013, is co-chaired by Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) and Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio). It remains to be seen how effective this newly created group will be but — given the recent developments in Sri Lanka — there is no question that there was plenty to discuss at the gathering.

via: http://southasia.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/07/14/sri_lanka_s_downward_spiral

“Dalai Lama to Myanmar, Sri Lanka Buddhists: Stop violence against Muslims” by Tim Hume

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has made a renewed call for Buddhists in Myanmar and Sri Lanka to cease violence towards the countries’ Muslim minorities, in an address delivered on his 79th birthday.

via: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/07/07/world/asia/dalai-lama-muslim-violence/

source: CNN

“Sri Lanka monks occupy ministry building” by Dinouk Colombage

Protesters led by Buddhist monks from the right-wing Ravana Balaya group have occupied the Ministry of Buddha Sasana and Religious Affairs in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo.

The Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist group protested on Wednesday against the creation of a new religious police unit, which was created in April this year in the wake of rising number of religious conflicts in recent years.

via: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2014/05/sri-lanka-monks-occupy-ministry-building-2014528103425654560.html

source: www.aljazeera.com

“CBK takes on religious intolerance in Sri Lanka” by Harim Peiris

It is in this context, that President Kumaratunga has taken a public stand and brought the issue to the forefront of the public debate. Blanket denials by the government of existential ground realities are not credible. Reining in the extremist attackers (identities clearly available on YouTube and their own well publicized press conferences) and engaging with the excellent recommendations of the inter faith dialogue brought together by the former head of state, would be a good way to address the situation.
Read more here.

“Buddhists challenged to respect their religion” by Kusal Perera

In short, this decision by the two Amarapura chapters have thrown out a challenge to the Budhists in Sinhala South. Will they respect their own religion, if they are Buddhists ? If they take up this challenge positively, it would certainly mark a new phase in Sri Lankan politics, not only in the South, but in the whole country as well. For that essentially deforms the Sinhala extremist platform.

Via http://groundviews.org/2014/03/12/buddhists-challenged-to-respect-their-religion/

source: Groundviews

“Cultural Domination and Subordination among the Sinhalese: Colonialism, Resistance, Religion and Critical Discourse” by Dr. Siri Gamage

There is a close nexus between institutional/ceremonial Buddhism and the dominant caste and classes that sustain the state. Each blesses the other, rationalise and sustain. Ceremonial Buddhism –in contrast to spiritual Buddhism – contributes to the maintenance of domination-subordination process as it seemingly tolerates the continuation of the ‘unequal social order’, continued appropriation of labour, land and other resources by the upper classes (supiri classes) to the detriment of lower classes and subordinated masses. Only at the symbolic level through rituals and public ceremonies (such as perahara) that these differing classes and dominating/dominated groups are brought together as one audience. At the relational levels, inequalities and disparities continue, though they do not exist in the eyes of those who are placed at the apex of class and caste hierarchies. One has to wonder whether the lack of any serious and critical discourse about these inequities from the Buddhist clergy is indicative of institutional tolerance for an unequal social order?

Via http://groundviews.org/2014/03/11/cultural-domination-and-subordination-among-the-sinhalese-colonialism-resistance-religion-and-critical-discourse/

source: Groundviews

“Buddhist Hell, Sri Lanka – Gruesome Photos Banned By Facebook, Revealed” by Nate Robert

“Like me, you may have assumed Buddhism was such a happy religion. Until I discovered Buddhist Hell, deep in the South of Sri Lanka, I figured that Buddhist temples were full of kind, enlightened, robe-wearing folks, living out their days in this world performing good deeds, and getting a stack of good karma to boot. From a Western perspective, brand-Buddhism is pacifism, tranquility, and paying a hundred bucks to see the Shaolin Monks world tour, and being ripped off by Buddhist monks selling plastic beads. But wait, there’s more.

Unfortunately, visiting Sri Lanka, one of the most stunning island nations on the entire planet, has taught me everything I never wanted to know about Buddhism. Like all religions, Buddhism has a special dark place where people just don’t want to end up in this life, or any other. Buddhists refer to it as “Naraka” or “Niraya”. You may know it as “hell”. One artists vision of this tormented and gruesome place is on display inside the Buddhist temple named Wewurukannala Viharain the town named Dikwella. And the Buddhist version of hell, makes your version of hell seem like not such a terrible place.

Buddhists have developed a complex, and rather specific, number of hell’s and punishments. There’s sixteen hells. A small sample includes “Nirarbuda”, a place where miscreant beings roam around a dark, frozen plain surrounded by icy mountains, where bodies blister from the icy cold, and are covered in blood and pus.Or maybe “Samghata”, where the residents are continually crushed by huge rocks until they are nothing but a bloody jelly. The rocks then move apart, the being is restored, and the brutal process is repeated. For precisely 10.0368 trillion years”

via: http://www.yomadic.com/buddhist-hell/

source: www.yomadic.com

“Complexities of Sinhalese Ethnicity and Community: Caste, Kinship and Religion” by Dr. Siri Gamage

The Sinhalese society is constructed on the basis of several key hierarchies. These include the party-political, religious (including Buddhist and deity worship), caste, bureaucratic-administrative, professional (e.g. educational, medical) and the military. Understanding how these hierarchies are formed and they way they operate is one way to approach this subject. In doing so, one has to understand the nature of those who hold positions within them. There are also layer upon layer of ‘interconnecting relationships’ based on the hierarchies mentioned here.

Via http://groundviews.org/2014/01/30/complexities-of-sinhalese-ethnicity-and-community-caste-kinship-and-religion/

source: Groundviews

“Religious Hostilities Reach Six-Year High” by Pew Research Center

Vous trouvez là un lien pour consulter le topo de la BBC sur l’intolérance religieuse et celle envers la religion à travers le monde sauf l’Amérique :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_IKPeoYYKo&feature=em-share_video_user

Réalisé à partir des données d’une étude fort complète du Pew Research Center qu’on peut trouver ici :
www.pewforum.org/2014/01/14/religious-hostilities-reach-six-year-high

source: Pew Research Center

“Meet Sri Lanka’s radical Buddhist”by Rosie DiManno

Everything in this man’s disposition radiates the peaceable philosophy so widely associated with gentle Buddhism.

But Rev. Iththbekande Saddhatissa is a radical, accused of spreading xenophobia, religious intolerance and Sinhalese domination over Sri Lanka’s minority Tamils.

He preaches politicized Buddhism.

He organizes rallies aimed at suppressing Tamil aspirations for autonomy in the north of a deeply divided island nation.

He embodies Sinhalese chauvinism.

He has the ear of a government that has embraced a version of fundamentalist Buddhism unrecognizable elsewhere on the planet — and the state’s official faith in a country where Buddhists comprise 70 per cent of the population.

He is secretary general of the small and extremist but disproportionately influential National Organization for Ravana Balaya, named after the mythological 10-headed king of ancient Lanka.

Viahttp://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/01/13/meet_sri_lankas_radical_buddhist.html

source: www.thestar.com

“Video: Buddhist Monk Led Mob Attacked Christian Church” by Colombo Telegraph

“On the 12th of January 2014, the Assemblies of God and the Calvary church in Hikkaduwa (Galle District) came under attack by mobs while engaging in worship services, says the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri-Lanka.”

read the article and watch the video

source: Colombo Telegraph

“Brief Note: Legal Framework Governing Places of Religious Worship in Sri Lanka” by CPA

In light of the notice carried in newspapers recently regarding the approval for the setting up and carrying on of new places of religious workshop, read ‘Brief Note: Legal Framework Governing Places of Religious Worship in Sri Lanka’ published by CPA in 2012.

See http://www.cpalanka.org/brief-note-legal-framework-governing-places-of-religious-worship-in-sri-lanka/

source: www.cpalanka.org

“Femmes, ethnicité et religion : la communauté tamoule hindoue du Sri Lanka à Montréal” par Catherine St-Germain Lefebvre

Nous avons le plaisir de partager un lien pour télécharger le mémoire  de Catherine St-Germain Lefebvre qui porte sur “Femmes, ethnicité et religion : la communauté tamoule hindoue du Sri Lanka à Montréal”. Ce travail à été réalisé dans le cadre d’une maîtrise en sciences des religions à l’université du Québec à Montréal.

Résumé

Convaincue que les femmes, de par leur rôle dans les rapports sociaux de sexe, ont un rôle important à jouer dans la transmission de l’identité ethnique aux jeunes générations, nous avons voulu, dans ce mémoire, mettre à jour ce phénomène tel qu’il se déploie dans la communauté tamoule du Sri Lanka immigrée à Montréal. La perspective féministe en influence la trame de fond, contribuant à orienter le choix du sujet ainsi que son traitement. Ce mémoire est le fruit d’une recherche exploratoire de type qualitatif. Il repose sur un terrain de recherche mené au temple hindou Thiru Murugan situé à Dollard-des-Ormeaux, municipalité de l’ouest de l’île de Montréal. Il a pour objectif de définir la contribution spécifique de femmes de cette communauté à la « production de l’ethnicité » tamoule, au sens entendu par la sociologue des relations ethniques, Danielle Juteau. Ce mémoire s’appuie sur un cadre théorique contribuant à jeter les bases d’une définition sociologique de l’ethnicité, où non seulement le rôle des femmes dans sa production/reproduction est mise de l’avant, mais où se dégage également l’importance de la composante religieuse dans l’affirmation ethnique, particulièrement en contexte migratoire. Cette recherche analyse d’une part la perception du rôle des femmes dans les rapports de sexe tels qu’ils se déploient dans la communauté tamoule montréalaise et telle qu’elle a été exprimée par les personnes interrogées dans le cadre de cette étude. Il s’attarde d’autre part à l’implication des femmes de cette communauté dans la transmission de la langue, de la religion et de la culture. Ce mémoire démontre que les idéaux associés à la conception de la féminité influencent à· maints égards le rôle des femmes dans les rapports sociaux de sexe à l’oeuvre dans la communauté étudiée. Ce rôle amène celles-ci à s’impliquer activement dans la transmission de leur identité ethnique auprès des générations nées au Québec. De plus, la pratique religieuse jouant un rôle important dans la formation identitaire de nos répondant(e)s, la dimension religieuse est omniprésente dans le bagage ethnique transmis par les femmes aux jeunes générations. Par leur travail actif et conscient lié à la transmission de la langue, de la culture et de la religion aux jeunes de la communauté, ces femmes participent activement à reproduire les frontières ethniques de leur communauté et contribuent, par cela, à la « production de l’ethnicité » tamoule hindoue du Sri Lanka en contexte québécois.

lien pour télécharger le mémoire: http://www.archipel.uqam.ca/1168/1/M10512.pdf

Référence: St-Germain Lefebvre, C., (2008), « Femmes, ethnicité et religion : la communauté tamoule hindoue du Sri Lanka à Montréal » Mémoire. Montréal (Québec, Canada), Université du Québec à Montréal, Maîtrise en sciences des religions.

source: http://www.archipel.uqam.ca/1168/