I write as a Christian, albeit a non-church going one (for reasons too complicated and probably irrelevant to go into here. Those interested in this can go to tamilcanadian.com, type my name in the 'search box' and scroll down the 50 + articles I have written and find the two written by me to the Head of my Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and you will know why I stand where I do. My letter to the Roman Catholic Bishop in Colombo

which is  there, might also be worth reading. There is another letter which I am sending the Pope which will appear at the same site in a few days).

What is going on with the Tamil refugees in the Sri Lankan North and East, and now on the asylum-seeker boats off Indonesia, and in the numerous hell-holes in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and my own country Australia, is not a Christian or non-Christian problem, nor is it a Sinhalese or a Tamil problem but a problem in Human Right

I have stressed this in the dozen DVDs I have recorded and distributed world-wide and which are still available for those who want them.

A number of emails have recently come my way asking for prayers for the refugees, asylum-seekers etc. As I said in a talk, a sermon I you like, that I was invited to deliver in the Elim Church in Auckland last March (and which is in a dvd now) I said "Prayer without action is dead". I said this in the clearest possible language to the Archbishop of Canterbury in the letters I have referred to, and just a few weeks ago here in Brisbane when I was asked to address a group of Churches.

Menik Farme Refugess behind barbed Wire I did the same when asked to preach the sermon on St Luke's Day in Kandy, in St Pauls Catherdral, Kandy where I said that "anyone can come to church and recite prayers and hymns parrot-fashion, but that real Christianity had to go beyond that. I said that I expected them to stand up in public and condemn what my aunt, Prime Minister Sirima Bandaranaike and her goons were doing to the Plantation Tamils who were dying on the streets in Kandy and were being transported by me to my ward in the General Hospital Kandy so that they can die withdignity, love and care".  If they could not or would not, do that, then all their Church-going was a meaningless ritual. All this is in a booklet called "What I have taught and learnt in Sri Lanka. The musings of a senile teacher" I do have a few copies of this still available if you are interested.

To get back to the Merak asylum seekers, the situation is somewhat more serious. We now have the unnecessary death of a 29 year old, whose only crime was that he was born a Tamil, was seeking refuge from a barbaric and murderous regime in Sri Lanka, and has died because of a refusal to administer minimally acceptable medical care. For this, those responsible must be held accountable, just as those responsible for he atrocities in North east Sri Lanka, must be held accountable. All this will be dealt with in a series of articles calling for action which I will publish in the coming weeks, if not days.

Right now, we are being carried away by "Christmas" which really has nothing to do with Christianity but a commercialized 'event' sponsored by big business to rake in some money, lots of it. This is not to say that the Birth of Christ should not be celebrated (not that there is any evidence that Christ was, in fact, born on Dec 25th.. Be that as it may, I think the spirit of Christianity, of doing what is right and not what is easy, must go

beyond Christmas.

In this spirit, I would urge you to get involved from tomorrow (Christmas Day 2009), to commit yourself to get involved in addressing some of the dreadful things that are going on, in many parts of the world, not least to the people of Tamil Eelam

  

By Dr. Brian Senewiratne, Brisbane, Australia.