Inter-racial inter-religious harmony

IMADR AC in collaboration with other civil society partners carried out activities to promote community level dialogues and interaction with religious leaders, religious associations and similar forum. Further attempts were made to identify and interact with professionals and civil society activists who have been engaging in inter-religious programmes. The purpose of this activity was to increase dialogue and

interaction at the grass-roots level among all three communities. The regions were identified accordingly where the population consisted of all three communities as well as areas identified as trouble-spotsActivities were conducted in collaboration with networking partners in several districts:

an inter faith dialogue meeting was held with the participation of 11 inter religious youth leaders comprising of males and females. This programme was held in Colombot. During the capacity building programme, the participants improved their knowledge and skills related to identifying community related root causes for inter religious violence and conflicts.

Celebrating Diversity

Year – 2015

The following are the main events conducted at community/ district level, during the year 01.

• Children drawing competition (Trincomalee/ 15 children participated/ on 20^th June 2015)
• Youth Cricket Tournament (Trincomalee/ 54 youth cricketers and 400 villagers/ on 30^th May 2015)
• Arms giving programme (Trincomalee/ 51 female from 3 ethnic groups/ the 05^th June 2015)
• Arms giving programme (Gampaha/ 58 female from 3 ethnic groups/ 02^nd June 2015)
• Drama programme (Kurunegala/ 48 female: 26 Sinhalese, 12 Muslims, and 06 Tamils/ 13^th August 2015).
• PosonPoya Day (02^nd July 2015), in Negombo/ Gampaha, an inter-religious arm giving programme (Dansela) was conducted, based on action plans of respective CDFs. The CDF of Gampaha is multi religious in nature and they uniting to organize community events of religious importance is appreciated and supported by the CRDSL.

A drama programme was held in Kurunegala under the theme of “Peace and Reconciliation”. These women staged 3 dramas under the theme of peace and reconciliation. Each drama focused on a specific and practicalissue that prevail in Trincomalee district. Through each drama, they gave a message to the audience as how they should resolve issues related to inter-ethnic and religious nature in non-violent ways.

• An inter religious and inter cultural festival was held in Hambantota. The chief guests were leading Buddhist, catholic, Islam, and Hindu religious leaders in the district. A drama troupe was also held. The participants appreciated the event as they could experience the importance of inter religious co-existence through culture and arts expressions.
• A Sarawathi Pooja (a Tamil cultural event) was organized in Gampaha to invoke blessings of goddess “Saraswathi”. This event was conducted not purely as a religious event, but as an inter-religious event, as Buddhist and catholic religious leaders also participated in addition to Hindu priests. The participants were also educated on the cultural value behind the Saraswathi Pooja event.
• Awareness about Islam among the Sinhalese in Deniyaya/ Matara is very low. CRDSL conducted an eventat Deniyaya in which basics of Islam religion were shared with Sinhalese, and a Mawlavi (Islam Priest) from an Islamic teaching institute from Kandy conducted the event. Basic principles of Islam, its holy book, its evaluation in Sri Lanka, and some of the current stereotypes of Islam in Sri Lanka and worldwide were discussed. A Buddhist monk also participated in the learning sessions.
• A group of 25 individuals gathered in Hambantota to learn about Catholicism/ Christianity. The participants were Buddhists Islamic, and Hindus. The parish priest of Tangalle Church (Fr Viraj Thiserra) conducted the programme titled “The Cores of Catholicism”. The participants could improve their knowledge on basics/ core principles of Catholicism/ Christianity, its evolution in Sri Lanka, and some of the criticisms it gets in the contemporary world.
• In 2015 a convergence was held in Kandy representing all communities to mark the initiation of our Campaign Centre calling for religious harmony. As the annual highlight of the CRDSL, we organized a national unity assembly in Kandy on 29^th December 2015. This occasion was graced by around 600 citizens and inter religious leaders. The guest of honor was the Assistant Indian High Commissioner, Mrs Radha Venkataraman. In addition to the Mrs Venkataraman, Mr Lal Wijenayake, the Chairman of the Public Representations Committee on Constitutional Reforms, and several other political and religious leaders graced the event.  Addressing the occasion, Mrs Venkataraman stressed the importance of Ahimsa (non-violence) as practiced by Mahatma Gandi of India. There were number of cultural items that depicted the importance of religious tolerance in Sri Lanka performed by children from arts schools in Kandy. Also there was an event presented by a group of differently abled children.

During the event, we recognized the role played by local community leaders and representatives in promoting religious tolerance in their neighborhoods/ communities by giving them a token of appreciation as community level inter religious volunteers.