SAPRI's Program on Building Religious Harmony at Policy, Advocacy and Grassroots Level- 2013

 Introduction

Succeeding a prolonged ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, the transitional period has been challenging due to a variety of reasons. Incidents of hate and violence related to religion have been significant as they pose a serious threat to the harmonious coexistence of the society. Extremist and radical groups have been harassing minority religious communities and executing physical attacks on places of worship, property and even commercial establishments. Hostile rumors critical of minority religions spread through the use of social media caused a mindset change particularly in   the youth who frequented the social media.

Therefore it became imperative to encourage and build pluralistic values among the citizens in order to strengthen the ongoing ethnic reconciliation efforts targeting the preemption of reversal   to the former state of violence which prevailed prior to 2009. It became essential therefore, to create awareness among the people,  of the importance of safeguarding religious harmony and through a process of capacity building, encourage the society to co-exist peacefully, as a conflict free society is essential for the development of a country.

Background: SAPRI's Initiative on Building Religious Harmony 

Given the hostility in the country due to religious intolerance, SAPRI, in 2013, decided to embark              on a process to build religious harmony, in conformity with its Conflict and Peace Building theme. Thus, SAPRI became one of the first organizations in the country to commence an initiative on Building Religious Harmony.

 Senior members of the Clergy of the main religions of Sri Lanka, academics, professionals, the legal community and the civil society were invited by SAPRI to conduct a study to ascertain the challenges to religious harmony in the country and suggest measures to address them. The study group, named the Forum for Inter-Faith and Dialogue (FIFAD) began an intense dialogue for this purpose from June 2013. A colloquium was held in Colombo in early January 2014 with the participation of eminent experts from the South Asia region and beyond on “Challenges to Pluralism in South Asia”, to give an impetus to the FIFAD process.

Following the study, on  January 28th,2014, SAPRI launched a publication on “Building Religious Harmony “with the patronage of leading religious leaders and non clergy from all walks of life.

An outstanding feature on this occasion was Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic, Catholic and Christian religious leaders converged together on one platform conveying the message of unity.

This process prepared the ground for SAPR's grassroots program to build Religious Harmony in the following years. To commence the program, SAPRI designed a project on building religious harmony and planned for   its implementation through policy making, advocacy, and awareness creating at grassroots level.