Government of China must not fund renovation costs of Thewatta Roman Catholic Church, Ragama
Several local newspapers announced in July 2015 that the Government of China planned to allocate as aid a sum of Rs.300m to renovate the Basilica at Thewatta, Ragama following a request by the former Minister of Law & Order and Christian Affairs. When the wealth of the Vatican runs into accountable and unaccountable billions it is unfortunate that China is coming forward to fund a renovation of a Christian Church plagued in controversy over diabolical attempts to re- write Sri Lanka’s Buddhist history.
We cannot ignore the subtle attempts being made to distort and erase the Buddhist history of Sri Lanka. Buddhist nomenclature is now being used by Christians & Islam alike, copying of Buddhist architecture, writers being paid to promote commonalities between these two faiths and Buddhism, Buddhist cultures, events, pageants all being followed with the long term plan to show people that there is no difference in what Buddhism has to offer and what they are offering – thus the rise in conversions.
Nevertheless, what cannot be overlooked is that Sri Lanka (originally known in pre-colonial history as ‘Sinhale’) was held together within a Buddhist cultural fold where the Kings followed the dasa raja dhamma and the populace too lived following the tenets of Buddhism. It was these Buddhist principles that helped defend the nation while it was the Christian colonial conquistadors and their accomplices i.e. Christian missionaries, that strove to break the Buddhist hold on the nation by slowly introducing elements that would divide and destroy the Sinhala Buddhists and their ability to defend their nation.
Evil designs of Colonial countries
Christianity did not enter as a religion of peace to Sri Lanka. Christianity came hand in hand with colonial conquistadors who held a Bible in one hand and gun in the other. Their goal was to destroy Buddhism and replace Buddhism with Christianity. This was why the education offered was to people who converted, who gave up living as per Buddhist values and adopted western living, western cultures and Christianity. This was the objective of the Missionary educators and not much different from the western government funded Christian NGOs posing as charities and humanitarian aid workers. What the missionaries did during colonial rule the NGOs are now doing instead.
Historian Dr. Tennakoon Wimalananda says “They were all united in the effort to completely destroy Buddhism in our country. As the Portuguese were in possession of the sea coast of Ceylon, the Buddhists could not communicate with any sympathetic power outside Ceylon for help at that hour. Thus, the Roman Catholic Church embarked upon a campaign of destruction and bloodshed unopposed by any political power”. While another historian P E Peiris says “the missionary could see in Buddhism nothing but the abhorrent creation of the devil; he did not stop to inquire what were the principles which were taught by the sages, nor what the ideals after which its lofty philosophy struggled. ……..Buddhism was not Christianity………. Buddhism must be wiped out of existence”.
The Portuguese ransacked and burnt Buddhist temples, Hindu kovils and Muslim mosques. The reason why there are no temples more than 150 years old in coastal areas is because the Portuguese destroyed them. Examples of Buddhist and Hindu temples destroyed by the Portuguese include : ‘thousand pillar’ temple in Devundara, Trincomalee, Saman Devale in Ratnapura, Sunethra Devi Pirivena in Kotte, Vidagama Pirivena in Raigama and Wijebahu pirivena near Hikkaduwa. Temples at Nawagamuwa, Kelaniya, Mapitigama and Wattala were all plundered.
This hardly boasts of Christian humanity to non-Christians and shows that the converted Christian is being used as a battering ram for imperial expansion. It was part of this policy after destroying the Buddhist temples to use the material to build churches on top of these very sites adding insult to the injury. The Roman Catholic churches in Kalutara, Thotagamuwa, Keragala, Wattala etc were all formerly Buddhist temples. Evidence is provided by Portuguese historian Queyroz in his book “The Temporal & Spiritual Conquest of Ceylon’ which actually lists all the Roman Catholic churches built by the Portuguese on top of sites of destroyed Buddhist viharas and monasteries.
What would world reaction have been if Buddhists or Hindus had done such to Christian or Islamic places of religious worship?
If it was a Western Christian colonial policy to systematically destroy the nerve centre of the natives and replace with Christian religious symbols what difference is it when the same Western nations are today indirectly funding NGOs to build the foundation to do the same and the interim period is being camouflaged by the notions of ‘multiculturalism’ & ‘inter – faith’ which have underlying overtones of Christian hegemony.
The Thewatta Church
Before distortions end up as facts it is important to place the facts in perspective. Firstly the Basilica is not a historical monument. It is a church built in 1950 and opened in 1974. This Church has copied architectural features of the stupa in Kushinagar, India where the Buddha attained Parinirvana.
The most alarming feature of the Basilica are the murals displayed all over the walls in this building. It represents a total distortion of the history of this country. It endeavours to re-write Lanka’s history by creating a bogus story that Christianity existed for around 2000 years in the island. This is not supported by credible historical evidence. The view of the reputed scholars is that Christianity was first brought by the Portuguese and then imposed on the people of Sri Lanka beginning in 1505. Various scholars and learned writers have written extensively refuting the idea that there was a prior existence of Christianity before the entry of the Portuguese.
The other deceitful piece is the Museum adjoining the Basilica which has an architectural design resembling a traditional Buddhist temple. All this is being done to deceive the gullible that there is no real difference between Buddhism and Christianity and therefore Buddhists should embrace Christianity. The Government of China should not be a party to such a well – manipulated scheme.
China must not help the Catholic Church to deliberately and calculatingly twist the well established national history of Sri Lanka. It will produce ramifications that will far outweigh any benefits that China is seeking to gather from such an unwise move. It will hurt immensely the feelings of the Sinhala Buddhist public of Sri Lanka and cause irreparable damage to the good relations between the two countries.
It is in the light of these realities that the Buddhists of Sri Lanka are questioning China’s motives in collaborating to fund a renovation that can easily be done via the Vatican or the Christian West.
China’s Buddhist links with Sri Lanka
China’s Buddhist links with Sri Lanka cannot be forgotten. We have dealt with China for 2 millennia before even the birth of Christianity. Our nuns established the order of Bhikkunies in China. Chinese monk Fa Hsien arrived in Sri Lanka in the 5th century AD and took back valuable texts on Buddhism. Therefore, when Sri Lanka’s last defense lines are being ruptured using every means of Western imperial pressure possible it is an affront particularly to the Sinhala Buddhist people of this country which comprise 70% of this country’s population to have a traditional friend like China agreeing to fund and renovate a church that is engaged in a diabolical plan to distort the well established Buddhist history of Sri Lanka.
When China is guarding itself against Western imperialism and has controls in place upon the Chinese Christians with clear instructions that while Christianity can be practiced the allegiance of the Chinese Christians must be foremost to the Chinese sovereign and not the sovereign in the State of Vatican, we are more than puzzled at the decision of the Chinese government to fund this particular church in Thewatta which is known for attempting to re-write history and build a fictitious notion that if allowed to go without protest in future there is more than likelihood for people to say Sri Lanka was a Christian country eliminating the Buddhist history in toto.
People cannot rule out this belief as imaginary for the same occurred in Maldives following the Islamic takeover and the current history of Maldives omits reference to the Buddhist civilization that existed. Similarly, South Korea whose population was 90% Buddhist in the 1950s today stands at less than 30% having converted Buddhists to Christianity and South Korea today is one of Vatican’s proud show pieces. Korean Christian missionaries are now being used by the Vatican to convert Buddhists in Mongolia to Christianity.
The Buddhist world will always be closer to China because of long standing historical religious and cultural links. The same cannot be said of the Christian world which saw China as a target for invasion, plunder and colonial occupation in the past.
Sri Lanka’s Buddhists are very concerned to see that the same fate that befell Buddhism in South Korea not happen to Buddhism in Sri Lanka. The Government of China must therefore discontinue this ill-advised move to renovate a building of a Catholic Church that has conspiratorial designs to subvert and undermine the historical status of Buddhism as the foremost religion in this country.
Shenali D Waduge
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