Book review:- Capt Elmo Jayawardena
Title: Faithing the Native Soil
Author: Shanthikumar Hettiarachchi
The book is timely, explaining the roots of religions that are relevant to Sri Lanka and addressing the root causes of ‘faith’ disharmony within us. Now let’s be honest, we do not have ‘buddy- buddy’ relationships among the denizens of our homeland where religions are concerned. Minor squabbles to major conflicts are erupting all over the country. Unless reined ASAP by some sane means the result is sure to escalate into uncontrollable disorder. That certainly has the possibility to lead us into another dilemma with catastrophic consequences.
True or false? Only time would tell, but the writing on the wall is becoming clearer by the day.
Getting back to the book, Dr Hettiarachchi opens the first round with the ‘Sinhala Buddhist selfhood’ that emerged in the late 50s with S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike becoming the leader of the country. “It was a politico-psychological assault on the colonial and imperial past,” says the author. The book gives all possible sides of the changeover when the Anglicised elite was dethroned and the path was made for the improvement of the social standing of the common man. The Sinhala Buddhist masses were able to re-claim their lost identity. That was the beginning, a people who were deprived of a cultural heritage through foreign domination began to find steps to regain their former glory, mainly as a religious body.
Whether it indirectly dented the nation’s minorities or not too is addressed in the book.
Author Hettiarachchi is well versed in the happenings of the Christian World and he brings out the entire road-map in detail. He traces Pope Pius IX‘s Vatican Council I of 1872 where it was exclaimed ‘extra ecclesiam nulla salus’ the “outside the church there is no salvation.” From there he goes to the Vatican Council II of 1964 where a lot of modern thinking began. The International Missionary Conference in Thambaram, the World missionary Council from Edinburgh to its development and the formation of the World Council of Churches are all the reformatory paths that changed traditional thinking of Christianity are highlighted in the book. To be honest, I must say, much of it was beyond my comprehension as I had very little interest in how the churches manipulated themselves in the international scene. For me all this was pure power-seeking in a social sense and far removed from what happened on Calvary. But I did appreciate the use of English language that expressed the author’s thoughts and know for sure someone marching to that ecumenical drumbeat would find all this very interesting. On any count the contents are certainly not boring.
I lit up when Shanthikumar brought in the local scene of Christian re-thinking in the native soil and gave prominence to people like Yohan Devananda of Ibbagamuwa, Bishop Lakshman Wickremasinghe, Bishop Duleep Chikera and a host of others who shifted steadfast paradigms with their sometimes solitary convictions which they voiced with courage. Among the Catholic clergy, Bishop Nanayakkara, Father Michael Rodrigo of ‘Suba Seth Gedara,’ and priests Paul Caspersz, Sarath Iddamalgoda and Oscar Abyeratne are quoted, all who stood for different definitions of preaching the word of God. The analysis of their contributions is very comprehensive and raises the veils of tradition in Christianity which appeared as if they had come down straight from Mount Sinai itself.
Good reading, manna for a logical mind seeking justification of dogma deviations.
The birth of evangelicalism brought in a new dimension to the faiths of the native soil. The hereto established Christian denominations could be categorised broadly as Catholic and Protestant. The author addresses the new theological challenges of the traditional churches finding means to retain the faithful without losing them to the evangelising competition. In addition he states his views on the questions arising from the conversion of Buddhists to evangelical Christians which have now become expressed in capital letters of conflict.
Amidst all the expansion of evangelicalism in Sri Lanka the re-emergence of the Sinhala Buddhist identity claim is given extensive coverage by the author. The leadership of Gangodawila Soma thera who preached as a Buddhist reformer and gathered a large following is well-documented in Bhikkhu Soma Factor (page 179). The formation of Sihala Urumaya as a catalyst of this revival and the subsequent re-named Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) became, according to Dr Hettiarachchi, a bulwark against the expansion of evangelicalism. I am neither a political or religious authority to comment on the accuracies of his expressions.
But I see him as an unbiased author stating his facts in a logical order more as a historian than an opinionated scribe manipulating facts to distort the truth and displaying it in masquerade.
The book is a good eye opener for anyone to understand the deep-rooted foundations of colonial Christianity and its manifestations on the colonised countries and its people. Then comes the amputation of the colonial master and each native that shed his shackles became a free-thinking man. He then found his own God, chose his faith and decided who and how to worship. The reality should have been ‘to each his own belief.’ But it wasn’t as simple as that.
Maybe reading the ‘Faithing the Native Soil’ might give the reader a wider understanding of the conflicts that face us today in Sri Lanka. Unfortunately the book was written prior to the latest calamity that the country is facing with the ‘halal’ argument. Religious conflicts are erupting in the motherland, slow burning like a long fuse that leads to dynamite. The facts for causes of disharmony are differently interpreted and defer as night from day, depending on who is at the pedestal and what theme he or she is preaching. History has given us in clear evidence how religious rhetoric has divided people and decimated countries. We are just ‘born again’ from a horrendous catastrophe and the last on our ‘want list’ would be to re-trace steps to a similar calamity that will drain us another three decades.
‘Faithing the Native Soil’ explains a lot we do not know. How could we comprehend the pros and cons of all these religious divisions if we have little knowledge of the fundamental foundations on which they stand? What measurements do we have to evaluate not the spirituality but the social establishments of each religion vying to be chosen as the faith of the proletariat?
Read Dr. Hettiarachchi, he’s got 250 pages. A unique glossary and a comprehensive bibliography to educate us in ‘Faithing the Native Soil.’
Perhaps then we as peace-loving citizens of Sri Lanka might add our smidgens of peace which is so vitally important to our home land. Or we should shut up without stating things we do not know or may have totally misunderstood.