Sri Lanka honoured
PRESIDENT Mahinda Rajapaksa’s upcoming
visit to the Vatican for the purpose of meeting Pope Benedict the XVI,
besides being a high point in the President’s public career, symbolizes
the Lankan State’s broad minded recognition and acceptance of all the
religions of this land.
We need hardly say that the equal recognition of all faiths by a
State is a measure of the degree to which it is both civilized and
democratized.
By sustaining the healthy tradition of conducting cordial relations
with the Vatican, President Rajapaksa is establishing afresh the
democratic credentials of the Lankan State and its warm accommodation of
the faiths of Sri Lanka.
Through his gesture of meeting the Pope, President Rajapaksa is also
underlining his personal respect for the Roman Catholic faith, which is
a major Christian denomination in Sri Lanka.
The Roman Catholic faith has not stood aloof from mainstream national
life and most literate persons would be aware of the substantial
contribution Roman Catholicism has made in the fields of national
culture and arts, besides the numerous Catholic public figures who have
contributed towards Sri Lanka’s advancement in a multiplicity of other
areas.
The latter tradition continues to this day, with a number of
Ministers of State professing and practising the Roman Catholic faith.
However, the President’s gesture should be also seen as his
acceptance of and respect for Christianity as a whole. There is no doubt
that the President’s meeting with the Pope would strengthen the
fraternal bonds which exist among Sri Lanka’s religions and contribute
sizeably towards national cohesion and unity.
One could recall the immense magnanimity with which President
Rajapaksa pledged to uphold religious freedom in Sri Lanka on assuming
office as Head-of-State. It is this clear and precise statement which
has defused some of the then tensions in Lankan society.
As a result of the President’s clear commitment to religious freedom,
today religious bigotry stands defeated. Consequently, the bonds of
trust among our religions have been strengthened.
On the part of the Vatican, there is unstinted recognition of the
importance of Sri Lanka in the collectivity of states, through the
Pope’s meeting with President Rajapaksa.
We have proof here that the State of Sri Lanka is respected by the
Vatican and that anti-Lanka propaganda spewed in some sections, has been
to no avail.
After all, Sri Lanka continues to be a vibrant democracy and the
Vatican sees in Sri Lanka, a standard bearer of all that is important to
a multireligious, tolerant society. |
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