Where the mind is without fear and the head
is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up
into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of
truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms
towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason
has not lost its way into the dreary desert
sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into
ever-widening thought and action---
Into that heaven of
freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
Rabindranath Tagore - Gitanjali
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Official website of the Secular Society of Sri Lanka [SSSL]
ශ්රී ලංකාවට විද්යාත්මක පුනරුදයක්
Fostering a Culture of Science and Critical Thinking in Sri Lanka
Become a member of the Secular Society
A secular constitution that everyone in Sri Lanka can subscribe to, and feel a sense of belonging in; regardless of their ethnic origin or religious convictions or lack of thereof; is a big step towards the correct direction.
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Become a member of the Secular Society
WE NEED YOU — YOU NEED US. Join our discussions and voice your views -help foster a culture of Science and Secularism in Sri Lanka. Subscribe to our mailing list to receive new articles, join discussions with members and stay connected with other Secular Sri Lankans. Join us on Facebook Discussions and Follow Us on Twitter.
Dawn of Reason and Science in Politics: Separation of Religion and The Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka
A political and legal doctrine
that government and religious
institutions are to be kept separate and independent from each other.
The term most often refers to the combination of two principles: secularity
of government and freedom
of religious exercise.
Current legal standing of our Republic of Sri Lanka includes constitutionally protected preferences for Buddhism, which provides a specific clause "The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give
to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the
duty of the
State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana". It also allows unacceptable government engagement in other religions for political advantage. This clause allows a provision for unjust government interference on personal Freedom of our citizens due to establishment of laws providing
legal protection for Buddhism and specific other religions through various branches of government. Governments participate in religion violating fundamental rights, tax payer money, enforces mandatory requirements
of religious indoctrination inside public schools system. This also nourishes a religiously and ethnically devided political landscape where politicians of both government and opposition directly use religion at official business level. Such constitutional provisions lead to religiously motivated legislative restrictions on Freedom of Speech of our citizens and restrain several other Fundamental Rights.
Our membership is open and all are welcome, religious as well as non-religious, atheists, agnostics, freethinkers, secularists, skeptics, humanists, and individuals who are questioning and searching beliefs with open mind. We campaign for a Secular Sri Lanka, moving forward with an amended Secular Constitution, promoting Science and Reason as the central doctrine in democratic governance. Religion should be strictly a private matter of Sri Lanka's citizens, and The Republic needs strict separation from religion to foster freedom for religion and freedom from religion. We encourage and promote a much needed dialogue for a constitutional amendment to separate religion from Sri Lankan State.
The ideological differences that we have within us is an encouragement as long as we agree on the common goal of secularization of Sri Lankan public affairs. We should never stop challenging our own views. If we don't do that, as a nation we would become close-minded ourselves. If everyone here thinks the same it would be uninteresting, and moreover it would be a formula for stagnation as we would become more and more self-centered, and would become oblivious to the real challenges ahead of us in achieving our goals.
Those who disagree with us that Sri Lanka is not going to be benefited by secularization; if you are honest about your opinion, then we have one thing in common; we all like to make Sri Lanka a better place. You can still join our group. We can discuss, debate or agree to disagree with each other. However, we don't have to undermine each other with false allegations. We just agree on ends, but only disagree on means to get there.
Our goal is to foster a Secular Society based on science, reason, freedom of inquiry, and humanist values. We do not encourage partisan politics in these discussions, or allow race or ethnicity based division, ethnic recognition or identification of ourselves or other Sri Lankans, and consider these ethnic identities are completely outdated and irrational divisions for a modern, progressive and forward looking Sri Lanka.
We encourage both majority and minority participation based on traditional divisions still exist in our society, and highlight the need to campaign for the equal rights, equal opportunity, affirmative action and freedom for the underrepresented groups living in a free and democratic Sri Lanka. We do not in any form support ethnic politics or ethnically divided political environment within Sri Lanka.