The All Ceylon Women’s Buddhist Congress (ACWBC) has written to American Ambassador Jeffrey Lunstead seeking an early opportunity for a "small representative group" of Buddhist women to meet him to discuss the recently published International Religious Freedom Report (South Asia) 2004 issued by the US Government.
ACWBC President Indrani Devendra writing to the ambassador had expressed "dismay and disappointment" at the contents of the report as reported in last Sunday’s Island.
"The largely unsubstantiated statements referring to attacks on Christians by Buddhist extremists have obviously been made without any attempt to at least ascertain the views of reputed Buddhist organisations such as the ACWBC. The two Supreme Court decisions referred to in the Report were initiated by our Congress," Devendra has said.
"They have to be understood in the context of Sri Lanka’s constitution which enshrines the foremost position for the Buddha Sasana while, at the same time, ensuring individual freedom of religious belief. This tradition parallels that of many Western democracies such as the USA which has written in the (Christian) God into its own Constitution, Britain which has its official Church of England and Norway whose official religion is Lutheran Christianity and bars non-Lutherans from holding the highest office of State."
Urging that "most favoured status" to one religion "does not" preclude the exercise of religious freedom, Devendra has made the point that an objective analysis of the two relevant Supreme Court judgements will indicate that they do not obstruct or preclude the practice of the Christian faith.
"What they do is curb unethical means of conversion by material inducements (i.e. bribery) which, I am sure you will agree, is most dishonourable and undesirable," she said.
The letter pointed out that it was an unfortunate fact that most of the ‘new Christian’ Sects indulging in this practice rely on large financial contributions from their principals in the USA. Devendra has referred the ambassador to the study of this subject made by sociologist Sasanka Perera in his paper "New Evangelical Movements in South Asia" published by the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies.
"There is a strong suspicion that this Report has been influenced by these groups which have a tremendously powerful lobby – more so in these last few weeks leading up to your country’s Presidential Election," Devendra has said.
