Religious barriers to information

Food, sleep, fear, and reproduction are basic needs of animal life. Humans are different from animals in that, if they wish, they can be aware of these functions, have some control over life, and be above normal.

- BY GEEWANANDA GUNAWARDANA, Pu.D.

That is the message of the country’s main religion, developing the mind above normal, contemplating the body, sensation, mind, and natural laws. Science too is trying to understand the mind, and in the process, it is rediscovering what has been known for two thousand and five hundred years. Ironically, we Sri Lankans remain woefully oblivious of such matters despite having access to both sources of knowledge.

This resistance to knowledge is exemplified by the opposition from religious quarters to proposed introduction of sex education in schools. It is as if such education would turn the children into degenerate savages that will bring shame to the nation. Do they realise that it is an attempt to teach the basics of their body, how it changes during puberty, and how that affects their growing minds? What is taboo about knowing nature’s ways? Five years ago, it was the opposition to ‘Ape Hathe Potha,’ a supplementary reader, and now it is about the proposed curriculum. This is a pathetic commentary of the nation’s attitude; as we have never had such a formal education, we have no knowledge about reproductive biology; and based on various statistics, we are not any better than our animal brethren in that department. More about the statistics later, but there is a massive misunderstanding about this topic, and it behoves us to clear up it before proceeding.