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Legislating religion: Task force hits a snag
View(s):Sunil has been recruited by Mrs. Aandupaksa for one of the most serious undertakings of his life. He has been asked to assist a committee that will draft a new law to prohibit distortion of religious teachings in the country.
This follows a decision by the Ministry of Religious Affairs to introduce a draft bill on the distortion of religious teachings. Presumably this is with a view to redeeming the nation from the morass of sin and corruption that it has sunk into. The religious values of the people must be safeguarded, the ministry says. A Task Force to Legislate on the Distortion of Religious Teachings (TFDRT) has been set up for this purpose.
Sunil’s mother was dismissive when he announced his new assignment. “Budhu Ammo! I can’t believe it,” exclaimed Mrs. Anumaana. She thinks it is yet another of his incredible stories. Besides she knows that her son hasn’t stepped inside a temple of any description for many years. Sunil’s friends think he is joking. “We pray that you also won’t end up getting distorted, Insha Allah!” said his friend Ahmed.
But for Sunil it is serious business.
A number of government representatives as well as respected leaders of the different religious groups have been appointed to the TFDRT. They are expected to hold extensive consultations before drafting the new law. Sunil has been appointed as the coordinator of this important project. His task is to arrange the meetings, keep records, submit reports etc.
The task force members should be introduced to each other for a start, Sunil thought. After that they could sit together and draft the new law. There is so much work to be done. First they have to decide which religious teachings are the correct ones and which ones are distorted. Then they have to figure out a way to enforce the correct teachings. Then they have to devise ways to punish the heretics who are spreading the distorted teachings (so that others will be deterred from propagating them). And they have to do this for all four of the main religions! Oh my God, thought Sunil, how am I going to do this?
Luckily for Sunil the religious leaders in the task force — Mullah Mohamed, Swami Siva, Father Francis and Ven. VipulaThera–had excellent rapport with one another. However they had all expressed serious misgivings about the advisability and feasibility of the government’s plan.
Furthermore they were puzzled by the ways of the politicians. They noticed that the government representativeswere the ones who expressed concerns about the distorted religious teachings in the first place,and yet it seemed to be almost impossible to get them together for consultations.Sunil has been having a hard time simply trying to convene the first meeting.
First he tried to reach the MP who had been appointed as Task Force Leader, to remind him about the date. He knew his office aide well and had already got a lot of information from him about what was going on in his district. When he called, it was the aide who answered. He whispered that the manthri thuma had been involved in some ‘ganu-denu’ recently, and he had been asked to report to the Bribery Commission today. Sorry he was unavailable, said the aide.
Not to be discouraged, Sunil thought he would try to get a Provincial Council minister who had been assigned to the team. No luck there either.
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