Conference in Sri Lanka stresses peace must start with religious reconciliation
February 17, 2014 - About 250 people from every ethnic, gender, age, social and religious
background attended a conference last Thursday on reconciliation for peace near the
Sri Lankan capital, stressing that harmonious coexistence among all communities is
needed to overcome the ravages of civil war. "To build up true peace in the country,
there should be strong reconciliation among major religions, and religious leaders
have a big role to play," said representatives of the Women's Action for Social Justice
(WASJ) and the People's Health Movement (PHM). The two organizations sponsored the
conference on 'Religious reconciliation for Peace' at the Nagarodaya Centre in Borella,
in suburban Colombo. The event brought together some 250 people from different ethnic
(Sinhala and Tamil), religious, gender, age, and social backgrounds.
"In the
current climate, minorities feel excluded from socio-political decisions and this
has worsened the conditions of women, who are half of the population," WASJ president
Padma Pushpakanthi told AsiaNews. According to the two groups, this is a problem,
especially since Sri Lanka has just come out of nearly 30 years of civil war and does
not seems to have found a way to renew with true peace and harmony in society. For
PHM president Sirimal Peiris and Padma Pushpakanthi, all religious leaders have an
important and essential role to play, namely "Create understanding and awareness in
the population about social justice so as to achieve peaceful coexistence once and
for all." This takes on an even greater importance in light of tensions that have
surfaced in the past 18 months between some radical Sinhala Buddhist groups and minority
Christians and Muslims. In view of this, Ven Pallekande Ratanasaara Thero, a Buddhist
monk present at the meeting, reminded everyone that the "Buddha respected other religions,"
that "He knew them and sometimes prayed with their words. For this reason, we Buddhists
must not underestimate the teachings of other religions nor their followers." (Source:
AsiaNews)