The New Constitution & The Same Old Underwear

By V. Kanthaiya –SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

“It is the policy of (Name of the Company) not to discriminate against any applicant for employment, or any employee because of age, colour, gender, disability, national origin, race, religion, caste or veteran status…” ~ An extract from the annual report of a company listed in Colombo Stock Exchange

“The Constitution shall accord the foremost place to Buddhism. The Existing Article 9 shall be maintained just as it is without any amendment… ” ~ Page 29, Interim Report of the Steering Committee, The Constitutional Assembly of Sri Lanka.

Several times in my life, I have been met by people carrying pamphlets and trying to inform me that the religion they follow and the God they worship are the correct way to heaven. They would fervently preach that Gold loves me and is doing all his best to help to come over all my troubles. Once I had severe financial difficulty (I always have but this time it was severe) and I thought time has come for me to let the God into my life. I attended a group worship. I prayed with them. They prayed for me. They were really nice people. And finally the preacher started to preach us. Then he asked the devotees to donate some money to the particular institution.

This was the same pattern with all the other religions. The men of God will preach us and pray for us and finally ask us for financial contribution saying it is for the God. All the religions portray the God as the almighty creator of this universe who has the power to change anything and everything. But in contrast to this, my subconscious mind started to believe that God is someone like me, a person plagued with financial difficulties.

What is surprising to my rational mind is that how religion is able to dominate one’s life? After all it’s just a choice of a way to reach the God. We accept the fact that there are numerous ways to prepare a cup of tea. We accept that people have different choices and it is their fundamental right to choose something they like unless it harms the others. But why this rationalism instantly vanishes when it comes to religion?

Many of those who identify themselves as ardent Buddhists, Catholics, Hindus or Muslims will find difficult to understand that religion is just a collective belief. Something which exists only in the mindset of those who believe it. This is exactly what Kanye West and Jay-z tell in their song ‘No Church in the Wild’.

“Human beings in a mob.

What is a mob to a king? What’s a king to a god?

What’s a god to a non-believer…?”

Now I want to ask a question.

How much Buddhism amounts to a Christian Sinhalese, to a Tamil, to a Muslim, to an atheist, and to an agnostic? The Constitution says it places Buddhism in the foremost place. Then what about the Christian Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims? They too are the citizens of this country. Won’t their fundamental rights being violated by placing Buddhism in the foremost place?

Another question is, what this state is trying to achieve by giving prominence to Buddhism through the constitution itself? Who is benefiting from it? Is it the common man of this country? Or at least the common Sinhala Buddhist of this country? This will benefit only the members of Maha Sangha and the Buddhist monks to have a place in the society and assist them to get financial resources.

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