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| utter brutality of killing is unpardonable |
Not because
Sri Lanka is a Buddhist Country
that slaughter of animals as religious
sacrifice should stop, but any where in the world killing of animals for
religious purposes to satisfy a God or a deity is savage, and meaningless, and
no God will be honoured to have animals being killed as a Sacrifice for him.
The God of
the Bible wanted blood sacrifices and peace sacrifices and the people of Israel made these sacrifices at the
Tabernacle and the Arc of God. Bible is full of such sacrifices carried out to
satisfy the God . After 516BC the Jews made sacrifices only at the temple in Jerusalem.
Jews
eventually evolved their religious practices, and built Synagogues the Centres
of Jewish teaching and later of
worship. After the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem
in AD 70, the Jewish ritual of sacrifices came to an
end. Their belief system evolved around
the Synagogue and savage uncivilized animal sacrifice became history.
Of the
three Abrahamic religions Judaism,
Christianity and Islam. Jews and
Christians have become civilized people
and stopped making animal sacrifices to their God. It is still the followers of
Islam that are savage and uncivilized
and continue to make animal sacrifices in celebrating their religious
festivals such as Bakr Eid.
In India .. the All
India Muslim Personal Law Board vice-president and Shia cleric Maulana Syed
Kalbe Sadiq, in a statement said "It is my appeal to Muslims to completely
restrain from sacrificing the cow on the Eid-ul-Azha. India is our country and we should
respect the feeling of Hindu brethren who are in the majority."
Will the
Muslims in Sri Lanka
listen to this wise man’s appeal ?
Now in India apart
from the Muslims, the Hindus as well make animal Sacrifices. In India
it has taken a most savage turn.
Thousands of animals are being killed for religious rituals. The absurdity
of these sacrifices apart from their savage inhuman aspect is said to be
the sacrifice of various animals of
different sizes not so much as a religious ritual but as a show of riches and social standing.
“As
affluence in India rises, more and more larger animals such as bovines, camels
and increasingly horses are slaughtered to show the ‘status‘ of the person
making the sacrifice. Slaughter was symbolic and never meant to be a status
parade that it has become.”
These slaughter of animal
attracts large number of devotees who
bring their animals for slaughter, and
it looses any sanctity when the slaughter becomes an amusement, “.. it is increasingly common
to see the ‘spectacle’ of animals slaughtered publicly for the amusement of
those witnessing the slaughter.”
Despite the
laws prohibiting slaughter of animals in India, there are vast number of
illegal ritual slaughters.
In Sri Lanka too
there is such a savage slaughter of animals in Munneshwaran Kovil in
Chilaw. On the 25 August, 2010, 300 goats and 600 chicken had been
slaughtered , this despite the Cruelty to Animals Ordinance.
There is a
news item today that the Munneshwaran Kovil is now preparing for their annual
ritual of animal slaughter. It is
therefore high time that the Government leaves aside its lackadaisical attitude
and issue strong instructions to stop the slaughter of animals as sacrifices,
warning those who incite killing and those who bring animals for sacrifice
liable to be charged under the relevant laws.
The Government should not hesitate stop this most inhumane, uncivilised,
and barbaric move on the grounds of hurting the sentiments of India,
TamilsNadu or Tamils.
The Tamil terrorists slaughtered innocent men,
women, and children for 30 long years until a determined President turned up to
stop the savagery. But why cannot this
President, who defied the terrorists not stop the slaughter of innocent
animals.
There are
those who bring in democracy to allow the slaughter of innocent animals on the
ground that the people should have the freedom to worship according to their
traditions. But that should not be at the
cost of the lives of innocent animals that cannot call out for help.
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| are these human beings who aretorturing these innocent Animals before chopping off their heads ? |
Sri Lanka has a Buddha Sasana Ministry, which
has become absolutely useless, unable even to decide matters on which they
should pass laws. There was a bill once presented to stop illegal conversion and to this day no one
knows what has become of it. In the mean
time they are preparing to pass laws to prohibit publications defamatory of the
major religions. But more important
issues are not touched because it fears antagonising the other religious
faiths.
If that is
how the Buddha Sasana Ministry functions it is better that the government scraps
the Ministry altogether, saving a considerable sum of money as the Ministry
actually serves no useful purpose. If
the Ministry is active it should not hesitate to implement the Cruelty to Animal Ordinance, and
stop the Munneshvaran Kovil from making its
intended slaughter of animals.
The Ministry should draw up legal documents making it illegal to make animal sacrifices
for religious or any other purpose.
There were
human sacrifices in the Aztec and
Mesoamerican civilisations. But after
the conquest of these countries by Spanish Conquistadors these human sacrifices were stopped.
In the
present fear of the Government of Sri Lanka to displease other countries and other religions it is frightening to imagine what the government of Sri Lanka would have
done if there is a Community in Sri Lanka which makes humans
sacrifices in the performance of their religious ceremonies. The Government may perhaps not intervene not
to displease the religious sentiments of that Community !!!
The false
religious ceremonies of Munneshvaran
Temple should be stopped
in the name of humanity whether it hurts religious sentiments of those “savage”
devotees or the rich trustees of the Kovil.
In India there was
Sati an ancient custom where the widow is burnt alive on the funeral pyre of
the husband. In 1987 India passed a
law banning the practice of Sati. But yet
hey say there are reports of incidents of attempted Sati. If it exists in Sri Lanka what will the Government do ? Will it shy away from banning such savagery
or just close its eyes not wanting to hurt the religious sentiments of the
devotees ?
These may
sound absurd propositions, but is it not similar to what the government is
doing in shying away from passing laws to stop slaughter of innocent animals as
religious sacrifices ?
It is time
that the Government takes a firm decision to stop the animal sacrifices by
Muslims to celebrate Bakr Eid, and stop
animal slaughter by Munneshwaran Kovil now and for ever.
If human sacrifice by Aztecs had been stopped, the Jews have stopped blood
sacrifices, and Christians do not make any sacrifice of animals either , surely the Muslims could stop animal slaughter
for their festivals, and Munneshvaram
Kovil can stop animal slaughter for Kali.
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