Based in the capital city of Colombo on the island nation’s western coast, Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara, general secretary of the Buddhist extremist Bodu Bala Sena, made the 71-mile trip to Sri Lanka’s central Kandy District to lead 250 villagers and 11 Buddhist monks to the premises of a Holy Family Church leader identified only as Pastor Susantha, according to the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL).
After storming the pastor’s Asgiriya premises at about 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 16, the villagers and 11 Buddhist monks belonging to the Bodu Bala Sena demanded that he immediately stop worship services that take place there. As Pastor Susantha was explaining to Gnanasara his right to continue worship services, the mob dragged the church leader and his wife from their home and assaulted them, sources said.
“The mob punched, slapped and hit the pastor and his wife with their fists,” a Christian leader told Morning Star News. “The pastor and wife both suffered minor physical injuries.”
The Buddhist extremists also verbally abused the couple’s 18-year-old daughter, sources said.
The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), translated as the Buddhist Power Force, is a Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist group founded by monks Gnanasara and Kirama Wimalajothi with headquarters in a facility in Colombo owned by the Buddhist Cultural Center, which Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa opened in 2011. The BBS is responsible for much of the increase in persecution of Christians since 2012.
36 comments
Wow... Buddhists persecuting Christians. I've honestly gotta say, I'd never suspected that, or even wondered if, this had ever happened. Kinda sad, really.
@aebars
It was a big problem in Japan in the 19th century, where Buddhist and Shinto followers would attack Christians before and during the Meiji Restoration period. A lot of Christians in Japan were killed to discourage it between the 1500's and the 1800's. When Emperor Meiji was made the official head of state though, he put a stop to it and passed laws protecting Japanese Christians. So yeah, it does happen in East Asia occasionally.
That being said, Buddha would be horrified by this, especially given his 'all religions are equal paths to enlightenment' stance. Shame on these people.
A long time since we had buddhist fundies
@Doubting Thomas
I take it you are not familiar with the story of the soviet union.
The problem is that regardless of the religion, philosophy, political stance or whatever for some reason assholes sooner or later (usually sooner) use it as a justification to act as well assholes.
Hell I'll bet that if for some reason religion disappeared overnight it would take less than one week for these guys to find some other excuse.
Pedophiles, traditionalist Catholics, Buddhist fundies, and more bizarre MRA arguments. One hell of a group of quotes today.
"Buddhist Power Force" reminds me of the Power Rangers or something. I think the BBS needs to pay more attention to the words of Buddha. Like fundies in general.
Now THIS is Christian persecution. Fuck the "war on Christmas." If they want to fight discrimination against Christians, they should actually start with a real example of discrimination--like this one, or the fiasco in Sudan over Mariam Yehya Ibrahim.
@ Mech610
The whole thing about christianity in Japan began when converted peasant disrupted the feudal order. It was not so much a religious problem as a brutal reaction against desired social reform.
As for the OP, well, as said, it these people are oppressed. They need support.
Let me fuese, un their next reincarnation they're going to be cocks, for their bullying tendencias, I mean
Why are these bozos even Buddhists? Buddhism is all about pacifism, peace, kindness, non-violence, compassion....THIS MAKES NO SENSE!
It's like Warmongering Hippies, Vegetarian Carnivores, God-Loving Churchgoing Satanists or Black Gay Muslim Klansmen! IT MAKES NO FREAKIN SENSE!!!
This here is proof-positive that frummer psychopaths are really non-believers & pretenders who use religion as some rallying/brainwashing tool!
THESE AREN'T BUDDHISTS!
They're just demiurgic fakers!
@Spukikitty
No true Sri Lankan ?
>>The whole thing about christianity in Japan began when converted peasant disrupted the feudal order. It was not so much a religious problem as a brutal reaction against desired social reform.
Indicible, yes that was the genesis of it, but soon simply practicing Christianity was enough to merit persecution. Christians became guilty by association, so the persecution did become religious in nature.
Only bad people on different sides, huh...?
There are bullies everywhere. Fundies won't stop being fundies if they convert to another religion, not even atheism (hear that, Moose? CX). It's kind of depressing, honestly. But it does help me remember that no one religion is tied to fundieness. There are just a lot of Christians in the world, so more fundies will be Christian just by proportion.
Always saddens me when Buddhists get the bellend bug. One expects better of them, somehow. They should apply Buddha's "everything in moderation" thing to their own religion, maybe they'd stop being such pricks about it. Although technically I guess it would actually make them more fundamentalist. But nicer ones.
This is legit persecution. Not being told too stop handing out Chick Tracts, not being tol "Happy holidays!" instead of "Merry Christmas!", not being yelled at when you tell someone they'll go to Hell for being gay. But being beaten for having the wrong religion.
@Evgir Unslaad
I like you and I like your post.
@Mech610, Indicible & Naturalistic Worldview:
IIRC, there was also the matter of agents of a foreign power (the Jesuits) establishing a power base among the population (including some daimyô) and meddling in the internal affairs of Japan. Plus, the Bakufu was probably more than a bit butthurt after they learned that the Portuguese traders who had brought the Jesuits had been fleecing Japan by playing on the different silver-to-gold exchange rates between Japan, China and Europe, which had significantly drained Japan's gold reserves.
@Indicible & Adrian
Frankly, it doesn't matter if it was politically or economically motivated or not, just that it was the deliberate persecution of a minority group. It was abuse of people who had nothing to do with politics that lasted for centuries and included the feudal lords encouraging citizens to oust and assault followers of Christianity. Do you think any of that stuff about silver-to-gold exchange mattered to the ordinary peasant who was told by his lord that it was okay to attack his Christian neighbor? Spoiler alert: it didn't, all that peasant was told was the same thing Crusaders were told; "He's worshiping [insert deity here] wrong. Punish him.".
Persecution is persecution is persecution no matter the excuse for it or the group being persecuted. I know the Christians today like to claim persecution for everything, but don't belittle one of the few periods and places in history when they actually DID experience it.
I am pretty sure that every single tenet of the Buddhist faith, specifically and clearly, condemns everything the Bodu Bala Sena is doing.
This is a very sad time for Buddhists.
@SpukiKitty : Beware of the No True Scotsman trap. These people may very well believe in Buddhism; that doesn't stop them from being psychopaths. Without knowing their minds, we can't confidently say "they aren't real Buddhists." We can say, however, that they don't ACT like Buddhists.
@NonProphet : I note that they're also nationalists. I wouldn't be surprised if the BBS has no idea how to disentangle being Sinhalese from being Buddhist (i.e. Buddhism--for all we know, they might even be super-picky as to whether it's Theravada or Mahayana--is "just" something BBS expects your average Sinhalese to be just by virtue of birth into a Sinhalese household).
I don't suppose we have data on how much of the Sinhalese populace follows the Hindu pantheon, both now and in the past? And how much discord there might have been between the two groups, if there were enough Sinhalese Hindus?
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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