Who da Man?
Christianity’s largest branch, the Roman Catholics, have a new leader. Former cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is the new pope elect and is to be known from now on as Pope Benedict the 16th. It’s a European again and if you don't like it there is always Indi’s choice beware though if you are in Sri Lanka. If he is not too busy he might also want to consider replying to Christopher Hitchens.
He will be welcome in Oz where according to the 2001 census, 68% identified themselves as Christian. However, I read somewhere that only about 20% practice religion. I guess the 26.6% RCs will be relieved. It looks like Jedi didn’t make enough of an impact, there is always the 2006 census. BTW check out the growth rate of Buddhism.
If you don’t like the wikipedia version of Christian History have a look at a Sri-Lankan flavoured history over at the bastion of online singhalese-nationalism ( I, II, III ). Who is HLD? (Please leave a comment if you know who he is). The new pope might have to pay some attention to SL sooner than he realises now that there is an anti-conversion bill. Paranoia comes in all forms I guess. I’ve also seen online articles implying connections between chirstianity and the tigers. Where is this emanating from ? Is there any truth to it? or Is this a means of putting pressure on western interference (read NGOs and Norway) ? Can someone please fill me in on any details about this? If this continues the new pope will certainly be hearing about it.
If I grew up with buddhism and catholicism, chose humanism leaning on buddhism and wished for the comfort of prayer on the dark days of the human-spirit would I be charged/convicted in the future Sri-Lanka?
To quote a prince song
...So u can be the presidentI'd rather be the popeYeah u can be the side effectI'd rather be the dope.....
posted by ivap @ 9:25 pm
6 Comments:
At 12:26 am AEST,
Chandare said…
When you say "Who is HLD?" are you being rhetorical, sarcastic or simply wanna know who he is?
At 1:41 pm AEST,
ivap said…
I want to know who he is.
At 11:34 pm AEST,
Chandare said…
As far as I know,he used to be the editor of Sunday Obeserver(or Daily News or both) during President Premadasa era .(1990-1994).Lake house group is Government owned (Sri Lankan Pravda which serves government in power).
When his senior ministers(Lalith Athulathmudali ,Gamini Dissanayake and H.G.Premachandra) rebeled against President and split the party ,so was the whole UNP apparatus that was running the state machinary.Since Premadasa didn't come from the same Social class as Lalith or Gamini ,he didn't have that much support among the elite .He must have had very little support among the people who were running English newspapers.
HLD was brought down from Autralia to run the Sunday Observer.As point men ,together with Dayan Jayatillake and Seelawimala De Silva (writing as Anurudha Thilakasiri)they put up a pretty good fight(probably won)!
He must have worked in Lake house before migrating to Austarlia.That might be the reason president choose him.I think he returned to Australia after Premadasa.
At 11:39 pm AEST,
Chandare said…
I googled and found this link
http://www.senter.no/mahindapala.htm
At 12:10 am AEST,
Chandare said…
By "Probably Won" what I meant was, they managed to defeat the impeachment brought against the president.
At 1:38 am AEST,
Chandare said…
If HLDs article was interesting ,check this one also
http://www.theacademic.org/feature/114435143044036/index.shtml
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