52 Quotes & Sayings By Nilantha Ilangamuwa

Nilantha Ilangamuwa, S.M., Ph.D. is a Sri Lankan Christian theologian, academic and author of the book The Walking Church: A Guide for Pastoral Ministry in a Changing World . He was ordained as a priest of the Diocese of Colombo in 1991 and became the Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Colombo in 1999. His work as a leading figure in the international pastoral movement has been recognized by awards from the Sri Lanka Council for Higher Education Read more

He is also a founder member of the International Association for Pastoral Research which he helped establish in 2002.

The main element of true reconciliation is the public education...
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The main element of true reconciliation is the public education system. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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The Chilcot report is a revelation of injustice under the cloak of Aid. The Chilcot report is a sorry report on the current state of humanity. So the ultimate question here is — what are we going to achieve out of the sorry reports when “sorry” has no meaning in action? Nilantha Ilangamuwa
Reconciliation without truth is nothing but a smokescreen
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Reconciliation without truth is nothing but a smokescreen Nilantha Ilangamuwa
Nothing can be changed in the system when the system...
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Nothing can be changed in the system when the system itself is revolting against those who opposed violence. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
How can you cry for others’ struggles when you are...
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How can you cry for others’ struggles when you are facilitating mayhem in your own land? Nilantha Ilangamuwa
A society is driven by “social fear” always produces the...
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A society is driven by “social fear” always produces the seeds of doubt and unhappiness. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
The era of revolution by military means produced a greater...
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The era of revolution by military means produced a greater degree of desperation and frustration. This was brought to an end by the people. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
The most fundamental problem is not that we don’t have...
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The most fundamental problem is not that we don’t have a system to run but those with knowledge are cynically manipulating the system for petty personal desires. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
When the day to day life is suppressing you, how...
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When the day to day life is suppressing you, how could you put your moral values and will power to the realm of life? Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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History has taught us that the idea of superpower is for a political maniac to design the art of control over other countries. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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Foremost, step one could take is avoiding the cheap behaviour of compromising principles with decorated lies which assails the moral power of common sense. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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The victory is not only the pathway of celebration but also to take the greater degree of responsibility for those who were victimised. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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Peace without truth is nothing but an illusion — a deceptive misguidance which generates opportunities and problems to chew the sweet and bitter tastes of evil respectively. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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Fear has become normal and is covered by the idea of “patriotism”. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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As things stand the "intellectuals" only come out to lick the bones left over by the tyrant. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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Patriotism, currently, is nothing but the deadly evolution of narrow minded politics which has distorted language. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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Social systems are neither a consumer product that we can buy or rent from the market nor a material that we can import from another country. It is not a creation of the almighty gifted from the heavens. A social system is a creation of mankind. That is a reflection of our responsibilities. In other words, the social system is the result of our behavior and the decisions we take in our way of life. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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Ladies and gentlemen, it is time for us to change the mindset which has tended to create ad hoc solutions for the political madness and social farce. In fact, our age of tragedy which has been represented by the so-called “Marxists” in the Sinhalese community and “liberalists” in Tamil community since the 70s to the late 90s, has been replaced by the age of farce. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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It is a smokescreen if someone believes that they can make change without identifying the root causes which influence social disorder. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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True, the US Government does not have moral authority to ask for an independent investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity that occurred in final stages of the civil war in Sri Lanka. This is so not just because of what they have done in Sri Lanka, but what they do all around the world. Certainly, the US enhanced their assistance in many ways during last decades to fight against the Tamil Tiger rebels. But does the Government of Sri Lanka have moral authority to deny an international investigation? The answer is no. . Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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What unified the Balochis in their quest to regain self-determination, which resulted in the ‘existing state’? On the one hand, authoritarianism, militarization, and conquest has robbed them of their history and put them into the do or die situation. On the other hand, natural resources which would allow the citizens at large to achieve a respectable existence have been controlled by the military or political elites, well connected to feudal political elites in Pakistan. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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When man lost touch with his humanity he had no reason to walk along the higher path. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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We have created our own fake world in order to satisfy our imagination through the illusion. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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Mr. President, not only are you disastrous for the land, you are the man who must be held responsible for all the sins of the cowards, the cowards who were fooled into electing you as president. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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We lost our country somewhere along the way. We know where we lost it but we do not appear to have the strength to eliminate those blocking our view to enable us to develop our common identity. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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Mr. President, it is time for you to give me back my country. You can either continue to make fools of the people who elected a tyrant like you or let the country rise phoenix-like from the ashes. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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The man on the top of the hierarchy has created social fear in order for us to accept him as the leader. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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The tyrant has power to play as long as he is the master in his surroundings. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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The Rajapaksa regime in Sri Lanka, knows exactly how the political bluff works and uses it to spread lies among the people. What he has done to this country is assassinate the dignity and respect of good citizens while centralising everything into himself and his family members. His ego may lead him to think that it will last forever so to keep his dream alive he will not hesitate to eliminate the person who questions this. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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All it takes is common sense to understand that the Rajapaksa administration has vandalised every layer of the country’s resources to get rid of political obstacles while minimising the space available to facilitate the sharing of authentic political dissent. At the same time the opposition appears to be caged. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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That the military have the power to manipulate personal liberties while cocking a snook at justice and freedom in Balochistan is a fact. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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We as human beings need freedom, and justice, and a true cause to engage in to make life meaningful. This basic and comprehensive dream cannot be allowed to be shattered under any circumstances; if it starts shattering then the resistance will arise. The elimination of torture and other practiced cruelty needs to be effected for there to be freedom and justice. It will guide us in our search for a secure place to enjoy personal liberties. . Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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The decrease in the number of killings doesn’t make any difference if the society has to sleep with the ghosts of the old devil. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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The government of Pakistan is yet to understand that the insurgency is not the disease but the symptoms of the disease. If the government really needs to cure the crisis in the area, then it must engage in genuine treatment procedure rather than engage in ad hoc solutions that go under the motto: picked up, killed, and dumped. Kidnapping the target and dumping his or her bullet riddled and tortured corpse in a public place to scare the people in the area is a military strategy which aims to provide a lesson to those who still retain seeds of resistance. If this is the only solution that the government is capable of then it will have to commit genocide against the people of Balochistan so that it can continue to steal their natural resources and have total control of the province. . Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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Will there be people who will have the conscience to contribute to the country by changing themselves first? That is the need of the moment. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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Life in this form is one-time chance, death is the inevitable consequence for anyone who is born. The record of one’s death is the primary respect one could render to the lost one. Tears of all relatives of missing people are indeed flowing due to this invaluable action by the authority. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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We are not subjects of an autocratic King, but are citizens of the country contributing to the advancement of our people who pay taxes out of their hard earned income. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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We are citizens who love to fake life than dig deep into our reality to discover the truth and make amends and correct our own wrongdoings, because we are reluctant to learn from our past. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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We do not have to dig deep into history to understand the reality. The examples of Saddam Hussain, who was executed after a sham trial and the case of Muammar Gaddafi, who killed after surrendering in broad daylight, have given enough factual reality to understand the painful truth. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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What we can see in most societies is the gravity of suffering, tears of sorrow and nightmares of hopelessness. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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Mr. President; give me back my country. Allow people to have their humanity. If you do not do this, history will never absolve you! Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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Let us applaud the howls of the ignorant extremists as we stand on a knife-edge, not glad, but in acknowledgement of the bad, sad, mad gifts that the regime continue to offer us. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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Failed coup has put the people in general on a long trudge to freedom while creating a situation to consolidate more power to exercise the legitimised arbitrariness of ErdoÄŸanian democracy. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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Balochistan was refused legitimacy for its nationhood with the creation of Pakistan due to the geographical location and the rich natural resources. The story would have been completely different if this has been a barren land. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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Trump is a counter-product of the traditional political scheme. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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The mentality of being the super power globally or regionally has contributed strongly to the development of very negative aspects to the political cohabitation the countries of the region than proving the capability of producing solutions that would meet the needs of the public. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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It’s true that journalism in reality is not the journalism that we learnt in the university. It is far from it. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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We are naked, but we think we are not; we are wrong, but think we are correct. We are misled but we think we are properly guided. We think we have leaders but in reality we do not. What we have are tyrants. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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We have passed some of the dirtiest chapters of mankind. Perhaps we are heading towards further inhuman treatments in many places such as Syria and Palestine. Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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We once again see the painful reality of the spineless political intelligentsia Nilantha Ilangamuwa
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If you want to denounce impunity then you have to start with denouncing the impunity that the regime enjoys. Nilantha Ilangamuwa