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JHU
wants Buddhism as ‘State Religion’ The Bill seeks to amend Article 9 of the Constitution which stipulates that, "The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana…" JHU sources said the draft bill proposes to make Buddhism the "State Religion", taking into consideration the recommendations of the Presidential Commission on Buddha Sasana. The Commission proposed that "Buddhism is fitting to be recognized as the State Religion of Sri Lanka, as 70 percent of the population is Buddhist." A JHU spokesman said since Article 83 (a) of the Constitution stipulated that any Bill to amend Article 9, has to be passed by a two-thirds majority in Parliament and by the people at a referendum, the JHU was prepared to go before the people for a mandate. He said as the present interpretation of Article 9 was "ambiguous and vague" and as there was no interpretation of what was meant by "foremost place", it thus had no "value". Once Buddhism was made the State Religion the Government could follow practices and traditions followed by other countries and also international norms, said the spokesman. He added that however this would not hinder any other religion from enjoying the rights granted by Articles 10 and 14(1)(e), which stipulates that "every person is entitled to freedom of … religion, including the freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice" and that "Every citizen is entitled to the freedom… to manifest, his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching". The move has been necessitated as Sri Lanka has upheld Theravada Buddhism continuously for more than two millennia, the spokesman said. |
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