Author: Janaka Perera
Publication: Asian Tribune
Date: June 8, 2005
URL: http://www.asiantribune.com/show_news.php?id=14673
The Scientologists' ulterior motives
were well and truly exposed when they were found distributing a 30 page
full color, propaganda booklet in Sinhala, titled, Santhoshayata Maga (The
Path to Joy) in Colombo suburbs, recently. Questions have also been raised
on their movements outside tsunami- affected areas, despite their pretence
of having come to aid tsunami victims.
This came to light when the Venerable
Gnanaweera of the Mallikarama Buddhist Temple, Ratmalana and Deeptha L.
Gamage a U.S.-based Sri Lankan Journalist confronted them in two separate
incidents.
A copy of the half A-4 sized booklet
that came into Gamage's hands carries maliciously distorted facts on Buddhism's
history.
In a chapter that warns readers
against wrong sexual behavior, the author states on page 8: " Adultery
is nothing new. Buddhism, which was a powerful religion in India in the
Seventh Century, disappeared from there as a result of sex perversions
of Buddhist monks in temples."
Any one with a fair knowledge of
Indian history knows that the primary cause of Buddhism's disappearance
from that country was the series of Islamic invasions.
Venerable. Gnanaweera told the Asian
Tribune that he was at his temple when he received a phone call informing
that a group of foreigners and their local guide were being questioned
at the Dehiwala Police Station.
Rushing to the spot he had found
about a dozen whites wearing yellow jackets, with the word Scientologist
printed on them. They had been brought to the police station on a complaint
made by a resident of the area that they were distributing publications
that insulted Buddhism and Buddhists.
According to Ven.Gnanaweera, the
Officer In Charge of the police station however apparently did not like
the monk's presence there. He had told the monk that he should get the
issue raised in Parliament and not get involved in police matters.
"I told the officer that this matter
that concerned me very much since this was an obviously an attempt to rouse
religious tensions. A senior police superintendent, who had come to the
station on some official matter, overheard our argument and called the
OIC and explained the issue to him. Thereafter the he was very polite to
me, although I do not know what action he took on the complaint made against
the scientologists. "
The Ven.Gnanaweera regretted that
this utter lack of concern on the part of state officials was one major
factor that encouraged evangelists and proselytizers to engage in unethical
religious conversions.
Deeptha Gamage who is currently
in Sri Lanka on private business, found a group of yellow-uniformed Scientologists
collecting garbage in a section of Mount Lavinia.
When he asked them what they were
doing there instead of being in the tsunami hit areas, they had responded
by saying that they were helping to keep the town clean.
It is here that Gamage noted that
they had distributed copies of the offensive booklet. The group had even
rented a house nearby without informing the real purpose of their being
in the area.
According to Gamage, this Scientology
group had even met the Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia Municipal authorities to
discuss what material assistance they could offer to the council. This
was, he said, a confidence building measure that could be useful to their
other activities.
Gamage said that he was well aware
of Scientologists' underhand activities since their headquarters was located
on the Santa Monica Boulevard-Los Angeles Road, close to where he has his
home in LA. He added that Dr. Walter Jayasinghe a Sri Lankan-born physician
in LA had been converted from Buddhism to Scientology. He was now trying
to persuade other Americans of Sri Lankan-origin to embrace his new faith.
Gamini Perera Coordinator, Joint
Committee of Buddhist Organizations in Sri Lanka said that there were reports
Scientologists were even going to universities and that a certain Government
Minister had permitted them to work here unhindered.
The unethical conversions debate
in Sri Lanka is simmering up with German Journalist Christian Eckert replying
to the Church of Scientology's response from Lind Simmons Hights, the Media
Affairs Director of the Scientologists. Earlier, Eckert had gathered sufficient
evidence of conversion attempts by Scientologists and Christian Evangelists
in Sri Lanka.
In Germany, .two of the highest
courts recently dealt with cases involving the Scientology organization.
The Federal Labor Court (Bundesarbeitsgericht) has ruled, that the Scientology
branch in Hamburg was not a religious congregation, but clearly a commercial
enterprise. In its decision, the court quotes one of Scientology Founder
L. Ron Hubbard's instructions "make money, make more money -- make other
people produce so as to make money" and concludes that Scientology purports
to be a "church" merely as a cover to pursue its economic interests.
In France, the Scientology organization
is neither a religion nor a non-profit institution. The organization's
Paris head office was closed in early 1996 for not paying taxes.
In Great Britain, the Scientology
organization has been rebuffed repeatedly by the Charity Commission, which
insisted as recently as 1995 that the organization could not be considered
a religion under British law and could, therefore, not enjoy any tax-exempt
status.
