Contribution of Sri Lanka Council of Religions to Peace to Social Harmony: History and Prospective

by Ven. Dr.Wadinagala Pannaloka Thero
Senior Lecturer, Secretary General
Sri Lanka Council of Religions for Peace

Despite ambivalent conceptions regarding the role of inter-religious organisations in the country as agents of foreign powers, the Sri Lanka Council of Religions Peace (SLCRfP),since its inception has been contributing to gather people of different faiths into one table, work towards common goals and to preserve peace and harmony in tense situations among diverse relgio-ethnicities in the country.

Sri Lanka Council of Religions for Peace is a non-governmental organisation initiated by a highly reputed group of leaders representing four major religions in the country, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. To mention the founding leaders, Venerable Maduluwawe Sobitha, one of the influential Buddhist clergies in our era, Venerable Professor Bellanvila Wilamalarathana, a renowned Buddhist scholar and Buddhist leader, Most Venerable Kotugoda Dhammawasa, Venerable Brahamanawatter Sivali, Venerable Medavacchiye Dhammajothi, Kandy Bishop Vienni Fernanno, Chancellor Mrs Jemima Ismail, Moulavi S,H, Athambava, Mrs Sivanindini Duraisami and Christobel Saverimuttu. The constitutional inception of the SLCRfP had taken place in 2010.

As to the organisational hierarchy, the main organisation is Religions for Peace International, New York and under it there are few regional organisations, for instance, Asian Conference of Religions for Peace. Religions for Peace operates all over the world and more than ninety-five countries have got its membership. In the administrative process, the Sri Lanka Council of Religions for Peace connects with the Asian Conference of Religions for Peace and Peace for Religions International, New York.

The strength of the organisation lies in its expansive membership. Before Covid-19 was effective, under the General Council which is made up of fifteen members, more than seventeen district councils had been established all over the country. Each district council consists of fifteen members. In addition to council members, there are two affiliated bodies, youth council and women association.

The organisation operates at two levels, international and local. Sri Lankan representatives are invited to attend international activities all over the world and they contribute to the ongoing dialogues by way of presenting their views at such meetings and conferences.

Executive Committee Meeting of Asian Conference-2024

One of the strong branches of Religions for Peace International is Asian Conference of Religions for Peace (ACRP), which operates based in Japan. Due to Covid-19 and some other reasons, Sri Lanka Council was passing a dormant period from 2015 to 2023 December. With the objective of reactivating the SLCRFP, a delegation from Peace International and ACRP met Venerable Professor Kotapitiye Rahula Anunaya thera, who had been active in the organisation for years, in the last week of December 2023 and informed their plan to select Sri Lanka as the host country for Executive Committee Meeting of Asian Conference of Religions for Peace in Sri Lanka.

Following this meeting Venerable Rahula with the help of Ms Christobel Saverimuttu and some other founding members such as Venerable Dr. Bellanvila Premarathana convened a general meeting and appointed a new council on 13 February 2024. New faces like myself, Venerable Bishop Rev. Dr.Valence Mendis , and Swami Gunatitananda Saraswati were appointed as council members. Being supported by the newly appointed council members, Venerable Rahula effectively communicated with ACRP to stage its EC meeting in Sri Lanka. Due to the relentless effort of the both sides, Sri Lanka Council and ACRP are going to hold the Executive Committee Meeting from 28-31 May 2024 in Sri Lanka. The major programme will take place on 29 May with the participation of Executive Members representing more than twenty-two countries belonging to regions like South Asia, West Asia, East Asia, South-east Asia and Asia-pacific.

International Conference of Religion, Peace and Economic Empowerment

As an integral element of the Executive Committee Meeting, the SLCRfP has organised an international conference on the theme, “The Role of Religions in Achieving Peace through Economic Empowerment’. It is customary to hold a public Peace forum as a component of the EC meeting. This time, due to the contribution of several brainstorming sessions on how to make the peace forum more effective, the SLCRfP suggested conducting the programme as a conference to deeply address how religions can contribute to gain peace and economic empowerment. I do hope both local experts who address the conference and join as participants will come up with deeper insights widening and deepening knowledge relevant to the selected theme.

At the time Sri Lanka had discussions with peace-mediators, a delegation of SLCRfP was led to meet Norwegian Peace Envoy Erik Solheim in Oslo. Since the beginning, the organisation had tried to maintain a balanced position and not be veered towards any extremist position.

Social Activities at Local Level

At the local level, organizing workshops on the value and utility of inter-religious dialogue, assimilating all religious groups in the country, conducting various social welfare services, and maintaining a nursery school are a few noteworthy.

Impact on Conflict Resolution

Among the national contributions, the role played in the issue of Halal problem is remarkable. As we all remember, the halal food declaration caused a tense situation in the country in 2013. At this moment, the Sri Lanka Council of Religions for Peace led by Venerable Professor Bellanvila Wimalarathana was able to strategically bring the parties involved in the issue into a dialogue table. An important meeting took place between the SLCRfP and All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama, an Islam religious organisation and other Muslim religious leaders.

Before reflecting upon such cases, it is useful to refer to another incident that stirred the peaceful atmosphere in the country, that is, the infamous Aluthgama incident in 2014. Here there was a clash and destruction of properties between Sinhala and Muslim groups. In this case, Sri Lanka Council of Religions for Peace actively involved to settle down the issue.

To evaluate the value of this type of incidents, it can be analysed as cases both nationally and internationally significant for peace-making studies. And also, it can be considered a huge achievement for a non-governmental organisation. The ability to work as mediator between conflicting parties is quite essential in the world where it is common today to find frequent arising of various types of tense situations. Specially, faith-based organisations must emerge more and more as they are much closer to the hearts of people rather than ultimate level organisations such as the United Nations etc. Faith leaders intrinsically do possess a chance of being listened to by many parties in society than politicians or bureaucrats.

Prospective

Religion is one of the strongest institutions ever invented. Man is not satisfied with a single aspect of reality. Though man himself loses his interest in certain aspects of human civilization’s influence for a short time, they would catch his heart with much more force than ever. I would place religion among such phenomena. With modernisation, religion was perceived to be losing its validity and even academia began and some philosophical circles began to perceive it as harmful to the harmony of human society. But by the moment, the story has taken a total turn. Nowadays, the experts of Peace-building, Peace-making and even economic development theorists have begun to see the effectiveness of religion in those areas. Religion is not a divisive force but a harmoniser of the differences. Thus, we can see the resilient capacity inherent in religion.

In the light of the broader picture associated with religion today, I would like to draw a few ideas regarding the future of the Sri Lanka Council of Religions for Peace. Based on success achieved in serious cases in the past, SLCRfP has potential to grow as a mediator in the issues at national level. Moreover, its strength coming from the compound of the union of different religions and ethnicities would be good capital to be used to prevent such cases where there are races or faiths that stand against one another. If the SLCRfP can prove efficient locally, due to its affiliation to Religions for Peace International (the mother organization) in New York, would easily be noticed by the rest of the world.

Among the many directions to grow, SLCRFP already has contributed to social welfare in Sri Lanka. By organizing awareness increasing programmes related to religious diversity, it has tried to build a pluralistic society where diversity is tolerated and appreciated. Today, the world is trying to go beyond the boundaries and see humanity as the only value. This is a point human civilization must try to reach more and more. I think the Sri Lanka Council of Religions of Peace being ideologically backed by four great religions, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Islam is of great potential to grow as an inclusive social movement.