Responding to a video that has been circulated on social media, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka said that there is an ongoing campaign that attempts to instill fear about born-again Christians among the majority Sinhala-Buddhist population of Sri Lanka.
“There are certain religious cliques or sects called born-again, which is a denomination of Christianity, similar to sects such as Theravada and Mahayana in Buddhism. Similarly, within Sri Lanka, there is the Malwathu chapter and Ramanna order, and born-again is a sect similar to that. I don’t think we can point fingers at those religious followers if that is their preference. If one wants to worship a tree or a rock or a building, it’s there somewhere as a part of every religion.”
Fonseka claimed that the video claims that his family belongs to born-again as well.
“I saw on Facebook that an individual has posted a video that contains pictures of my wife and my children. It says that my whole family belongs to the born-again sect. They were born, but not ‘born again’. According to Buddhism, we will be born again only in the next birth. Even the Mahanayaka Thero of this country and the Diyawadana Nilame of the Temple of the Tooth Relic know that my wife, my children, and I are Sinhala-Buddhists. Therefore, we don’t have any problem or doubts about this. We are good Sinhala-Buddhist characters who belong to the Sinhala-Buddhist group of people by birth,” Fonseka said, addressing a press conference yesterday (22).
He added: “The same video claims Sajith Premadasa’s wife Jalani Premadasa belongs to the born-again sect. However, when Jalani Premadasa contacts us, she always says ‘May the Triple Gem bless you’ (theruwan saranai) before concluding. The same video shows a picture of Tissa Attanayake. I think he has visited about 12,000 temples up to this year. He goes everywhere to offer alms to Buddhist monks. But I haven't seen him visiting churches recently.”
While denying the allegations, he stated that similar campaigns are misleading and trying to take advantage of the public.
“Talking about taking advantage, many political leaders have numerous connections with several individuals belonging to several religions. We know that the wife of Mahinda Rajapaksa openly follows Catholicism and she has never concealed that. What’s the issue with that?”
It was alleged that several institutions including Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) favour and promote cricketers who identify themselves as born-again Christians. However, these allegations have been vehemently refuted by the SLC.