[Buddha-l] Buddhist extremists brutally attack Catholic church in Sri Lanka

[Chris Fynn]

Katherine Masis wrote:

> This came out over a month ago.  Had anyone on Buddha-L seen this?  
> Apologies for not knowing how to convert long url's into tiny ones!

> Katherine Masis
> ====================================

While this is appalling, of course the Catholic News Agency article 
fails to reflect on the 16th C. Portuguese Catholic "extremists" 
(followers of Jesus and St. Francis) who took over the island in the 
name of their religion - Showing equal intolerance for Buddhism, 
Hinduism and Islam alike. They however didn't hesitate to play these 
groups off against each other in aid of their own cause. On all sides 
tensions seem to have existed ever since.

This particular manifestation of violent intolerance seems to have 
something to do with a several years old dispute over the construction 
of a new Catholic Church nearby a Buddhist Monastery ~ The Sri Lankan 
Supreme Court recently ruled that the construction of this church could 
be completed.

At root I suspect this dispute probably as has much to do with property, 
ethnic rivalry and power as it has to do with religion.

- Chris