Colombo, Sri Lanka - In a surprise move, Buddhist monks have placed before Parliament a constitutional amendment to make Buddhism the state religion of Sri Lanka. It will be considered on October 4.
The 19th amendment was first proposed by the Buddhist Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU or National Heritage Party) in October 2004, but the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional in December of that year. The court said that the amendment would require a larger than usual two-thirds majority vote in Parliament and a referendum before it could be approved.
The constitution currently requires government officials to “protect and nurture Buddhism.” Under Article 9.5 of the proposed amendment, however, converting Buddhists to other forms of worship or “spreading other forms of worship among the Buddhists” would be prohibited.
If approved, the amendment would also bind “persons practicing Buddhism to bring up their offspring in the same faith.”
Shift in Tactics
Following the Supreme Court’s 2004 ruling on the amendment, the JHU focused on anti-conversion legislation. The party’s draft Bill for the Prohibition of Forcible Conversions was first presented to Parliament in June 2004. It was placed before Parliament again in May 2005, although the Supreme Court had ruled that the proposed bill was unconstitutional in August 2004.
The bill called for prison sentences of up to five years and/or a stiff fine for anyone found guilty of converting others “by force or by allurement or by any fraudulent means.”
It also encouraged members of the public to report suspected cases of forced conversion.
The Minister of Buddhist Affairs, Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, put forward a similar bill that was approved in principle by the Cabinet in 2004.
Both bills were put on hold for the past few months as tsunami relief efforts, ongoing peace negotiations with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and fast-approaching presidential elections took center stage.
Back Room Politics?
Monks from the JHU had asked presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapakse, currently prime minister of Sri Lanka, to push the anti-conversion agenda forward before elections in November.
This plan was dropped after the JHU signed a deal with Rajapakse in mid September promising electoral support in return for a more aggressive approach to peace negotiations with the LTTE. (See Compass Direct, “Buddhist Monks Press for Anti-Conversion Laws in Sri Lanka,” September 23.)
Christian leaders now speculate that a private agreement to return the constitutional amendment to Parliament may have formed part of the deal with Rajapakse, particularly in light of a comment made recently to the Sri Lankan press.
JHU leader Athuraliye Rathna Thero told the daily Colombo Page on September 20 that his party had “decided to withdraw its [anti-conversion bill], as the threat of conversion to other religions will not exist when Prime Minister Rajapakse becomes president.”