Ordinary People Blindly Follow Present Day Leaders: What A Tragedy For This Dhammadipa?

By A.T. Ariyaratne -July 24, 2013 

Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne

The Role Of Religion In Reconciliation 

At the outset I wish to thank Mr.Asanga Abeygoonesekera, Executive Director of Lakshman Kadirgamer Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies, for inviting me to deliver the Keynote address at this National Conference on “The Role of Religion in Reconciliation.”

I understand that this conference is the eighth in a series organized by the Institute where the subject of Reconciliation is being studied and discussed from a number of perspectives. For my part I do not claim to be a scholar or a national leader who can influence the intellectuals and the decision makers in our society. From my student days up to today for nearly sixty six years I have been engaged in working at the grass roots level to empower those who are the poorest and the most powerless in our society. Out of this period over fifty five years were spent with the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement. So my remarks on the subject assigned to me, namely, The Role of Religion in Reconciliation, will be conditioned by the experiences I had both in our country and abroad in carrying out Sarvodaya activities.

This is a very timely conference, especially as it is being held at a time of great national debate on the system of devolved government and the role of the international community.  The delay in achieving reconciliation after the end of the war gives the discussion to day special relevance.  There is polarization within the country that is manifested in election results that reflect an ethnic divide. Internationally, there is the accusation of serious human rights violations that is not going away due to inability to make a satisfactory response. There is no agreement between Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims on key political issues or between Government and Opposition on addressing the burning issues.                  Read More     

Theology For Reconciliation Process

By Asanga Abeygoonasekera -July 24, 2013 

Asanga Abeygoonasekera

Most Venerable Mahasanga, Christian, Hindu and Islamic religious dignitaries, Excellencies from various diplomatic missions, our distinguished speakers for today, ladies and gentleman.

On behalf of Hon. Prof. G.L. Peiris, Minister of External Affairs and the board Directors of Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies, I would like to welcome with great honour the Maha Sanga, the Christian, Hindu, Islamic religious dignitaries and all distinguished guests for this gathering.

It is with great pleasure I welcome our Keynote speaker Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne, I welcome our eminent panelists for today Ven.Prof. Bellanwilla Wimalarathna thero, Ven.Galkande Dhammananda thero, Rev.Fr.Bendict Joseph,Ven.Ramachandra Kurukkal Babu Sharma, Mr.N.M.Ameen, Dr.Pradeep Jeganathan, Prof.Rohan Gunarathna and Mr.Prasantha lal de Alwis. Our Institute is honored by the presence of such a renowned panel. I thank you for your time and contribution. Many religious members requested to speak at our conference but due to time constraints we had to limit the number of speakers. We welcome all participants for the discussion towards the end of the conference.

This is the 8^th conference we are conducting on reconciliation at our Institute. We held the inaugural conference with Secretary of Defense as the keynote speaker in 2011 November. The other conferences focused a number of themes such as the role of Business, women, ICT, youth, education and Art and culture. Our aim is to identify champions of reconciliation in our society and recognize their ideas and thoughts on the subject and thus consequently feed into a dialogue among the public and policy making. Contributions in these conferences are encapsulated in a comprehensive report. We also produce position papers to our Minister on the recommendations made during the discussions. For example from the last conference we had recommendations from a participant requesting a National Reconciliation Day to be declared by the government.

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