For Christ's sake, dismantle the arms industry
Easter Sunday, celebrated universally by Christians of all denominations today coming as it does following a dastardly attack on Coptic churches in Egypt is a grim reminder that the world is not at peace.
West Asia, where Christianity was born and took root continues to be in turmoil. Syria and Iraq -- the cradle of human civilisation are torn asunder by superpower rivalries playing out in the midst of ferocious theological and ideological differences.
In Egypt, one week ago when Coptic Christians were marking Palm Sunday, the beginning of the Holy Week preceding Easter, a solemn day in the Christian calendar, two bombs killed scores of worshippers.
It was the Friday before that an aerial bombardment of chemical weapons allegedly on the orders of the Syrian President Bashar al Assad triggered a response from the United States: 59 Tomahawk missiles ( ironically named after the weapon used by native AmericanIndians to scalp the ' white' immigrant settlers) were fired into Syria without any United Nations by- yourleaves.
The US President who ordered the strike seemed confused as to what he had ordered. He told a TV station that he had ordered the Tomahawks be fired into Iraq only to be corrected by the interviewer that it was to Syria.
This came only days after the US President had said the Syrian President must stay to defeat ISIS. It is now said that US foreign policy depends on which side of the bed their President gets up from in the morning.
Suddenly, the G- 7 countries of the West have also backed the US flip- flop stance and called for Assad's ouster as President. This, of a sovereign country that is a UN member-state fighting terrorism.
The Russians have called this "an obsession" of the West to get rid of 'dictators' they don't like and cited how much worse off the peoples of Iraq and Libya are since the West's intervention in those countries.
Pope Francis has placed his finger on the right button. He sees the bigger picture in these superpower games exploiting sectarian differences in West Asia and parts of Africa.
On the same Palm Sunday, he spoke from St. Peter's Square in the Vatican and condemning the attack in the Nile delta of Egypt said; "May the Lord convert the hearts of the people who sow terror, violence and death and even the hearts of those who produce and traffic in weapons."
He has said this before -- in the heart of the American capital while addressing the US Congress but it all falls, alas, on deaf ears. The arms industry is too intrinsic to the West's economies and foreign policy to listen even to the Pope.
Till then, West Asia where Christ was born, crucified and resurrected, continues to be a hotbed of violence and strife even as the world prays that Christ’s message to His disciples when He appeared to them in the Upper Room that first Easter; "Peace be with you" will prevail.
This Easter, we should recall the prayer of another Francis – St. Francis of Assisi: “Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy…..”. No. 08, Hunupitiya Cross Road, Colombo 02. P.O. Box 1136, Colombo editor@sundaytimes.wnl.lk - 2331276 news@sundaytimes.wnl.lk - 2479332, 2328889, 2331276 features@sundaytimes.wnl.lk - 2479312, 2328889,2331276 pictures@sundaytimes.wnl.lk - 2479323, 2479315 sports@sundaytimes.wnl.lk - 2479311 bt@sundaytimes.wnl.lk - 2479319 funtimes@sundaytimes.wnl.lk - 2479337, 2331276 2479540, 2479579, 2479725 2479629, 2477628, 2459725