The Place of Buddhism
Buddhism's place in the Constitution has been among one of the most divisive issues in constitutional debates. A privileged position to Buddhism, the religion of the majority, was provided in the 1972 Constitution for the first time.
The 1978 Constitution has retained this provision on Buddhism and strengthened it. Section 29 of the previous Soulbury Constitution, that provided some degree of protection to minorities, was removed in 1972. Prior to that Buddhist actors led by the ‘All Ceylon Buddhist Congress' had called for the protection of Buddhism in the country's constitution and the 1972 Constitution's protection of the religion was partially in response to those demands.[1519]The current Constitution contains a number of provisions on religion, some of them contradictory to the provision protecting Buddhism. On the one hand, Article 9 of the Constitution privileges Buddhism by providing that:
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, while assuring to all religions the rights granted by Articles 10 and 14(1)(e).[1520]
On the other hand, Article 10 of the Constitution guarantees freedom of thought, conscience and belief, and the freedom to have or adopt a religion or belief. It is an entrenched provision and cannot be restricted.[1521] This Article is supported by Article 14(1)(e), which protects the right to manifest religion or belief in worship, observance, practice, and teaching either alone or in association with others, and either in public or in private.[1522] Unlike Article 10, the rights contained in Article 14(1)(e) can be restricted on several grounds.[1523]
Besides Articles 10 and 14, Article 12 provides that no citizen shall be discriminated against on the grounds of race, religion, language, caste, sex, political opinion, place of birth or any such grounds and Article 12(3) prevents persons on the grounds of religion being subject to any disability, liability, restriction, or condition with regard to accessing places of worship of their own religion.[1524]
The ambiguous clause of Buddhism was an attempt to reconcile several competing interests among those who sought that Buddhism be made the state religion, and those who favoured a secular state.[1525] It was also a compromise between those who favoured greater state supervision over Buddhism, and those who advocated for monastic autonomy.[1526] Despite the privileged position provided to Buddhism, there are at least two decisions of the Supreme Court that have observed that Sri Lanka is a secular state.[1527]
VII.