“And They Also Come For The Christians” – With Apologies To Martin Niemöller (1892-1984)
By Asoka N.I. Ekanayaka -September 17, 2013 |
Professor A.N.I. Ekanayaka
Amidst the widespread condemnation of recent attacks on Muslims by hostile Buddhist militants in Sri Lanka, it is fair to say that Christians in Sri Lanka though saddened and outraged by these incidents are probably not surprised. That is because they have in many ways been getting a bigger beating and over a much longer period of time, than their recently beleaguered Muslim counterparts. Considering incident reports many in the public domain during 11 years from 2002 -2013 there seem to have been at least 250 hostile incidents against Christian churches, Christian pastors and Christian worshippers in Sri Lanka – and still counting. They constitute a depressing tale of beatings, insults, verbal abuse, stoning, stabbings, destruction of property, desecration, arson, mob violence, death threats, attempted murder, disruption of worship, obstruction of funerals, defiling people and places with human excreta, as well as framing up victims with fake charges. In one of the most recent incidents it would appear that at Meegoda in the Colombo district a Christian prayer meeting was disrupted by a mob led by some monks who forcibly entered the premises destroying musical instruments and damaging furniture and glass windows. Evidently the pastor was assaulted by a monk who hit him over the head with a guitar until it broke and the pastor fell unconscious to the floor.The recent attack on people who were taking refuge inside a church in the Weliweriya massacre ( an act of desecration strongly condemned by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjit himself ) also deserves mention here, since it points to the seeming disregard of the government itself towards the sensibilities of Christians. We may speculate that if provocations even fractionally as serious as these had been directed against the Muslim community in the nature of things there might have been grievous repercussions.
By comparison the persistent harassment of Christians has proceeded with relative impunity, amidst frequent police inaction if not seeming partiality towards the culprits, overall government apathy , the sanguine indifference of a predominantly Buddhist public and the complacency of a predominantly Buddhist media for whom this is not a priority. Moreover being a longsuffering placid non violent community, Christians in Sri Lanka have been restrained in the face of these humiliations rather than attract public attention by raising a hue and cry.
