Over the Moon and from the Pulpit

The week ending Sunday, July 21 marked two contrasting anniversaries. The first was on Saturday, July 20. It was a day of ecstasy and elation when the world celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing on a day such as this in 1969.   

This is how the BBC described the historic event -- On July 20, 1969, the Eagle module from Apollo 11 landed at Tranquility Base and hours later, at 21:56 CT (02:56 GMT), Neil Armstrong made history by becoming the first person to walk on the Moon.   

“Originally inspired by the US’s Cold War rivalry with the Soviet Union, the mission is now remembered as an iconic moment for stargazers all over the world. NASA marked the anniversary by streaming footage of the launch online, giving a new generation a chance to see the historic moment that was watched by half a billion people 50 years ago,” the BBC said adding that at the moment the spacecraft landed, Apollo 11 Commander Armstrong said: “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”   

Hours later, as he first stepped on to the Moon’s surface, he uttered the historic phrase: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Armstrong was joined on the mission by his crew-mates Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. All three were born in 1930. Aldrin and Collins are still alive, but Armstrong died in 2012 at the age of 82, the BBC said.   

Meanwhile, the other event we wish to underscore was the agony and the anguish of Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019 exactly three months to the day marked on Sunday, July 21, 2019. The suicide bomb attacks on the three churches – St. Anthony’s Shrine in Kochchikade, Kotahena, St. Sebastian’s Church in Katuwapitiya, Negombo and the Zion Church in Batticaloa and the four hotels – Shangri La, Cinnamon Grand and Kingsbury in Colombo and Tropical Inn in Dehiwela – left 268 dead and some 500 injured.   

Although hundreds were arrested and detained for questioning, the investigations are supposed to be continuing with no end in sight nor much progress being made.   

In this connection, an investigation carried out by our sister paper, the Sunday Times has revealed that the Police, particularly the CID, knew the identities of the IS-backed Muslim extremists and the preparations for attacks even weeks before they were alerted by the Indian intelligence agency with only the date of the attack not being mentioned in any of the warnings. Also revealed was that the State Intelligence Service (SIS), the premier intelligence agency in the country was also aware of the attacks and that it had identified four persons from the six names listed by Indian intelligence -- Zahran Hashim, Rilwan, Sajid Moulavi and Milhan.   

Meanwhile, at the consecration of St. Sebastian’s Church in Katuwapitiya, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith blasted the government urging it to resign because of its failure to investigate an “international conspiracy” behind the deadly Easter Sunday bombings and that the authorities had failed to identify those behind the suicide bombings.   

“The executive and the legislature were locked in a power struggle. They did not care about the international conspiracy against the country,” the Cardinal said.   

He was probably referring to President Maithripala Sirisena’s failed bid to oust his Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the ongoing power struggle between the two since the October 26 conspiracy.   

“The current leaders have failed. They have no backbone. They must quit the government and go home,” the Cardinal said in his hard-hitting sermon. “I have no faith in any of these committees and commissions of inquiry. These are election gimmicks. The leadership must allow someone else to run the country.”   

The President, meanwhile did not take the Cardinal’s comments lying down but countered them at a public ceremony on Monday where he gave several examples of being equipped with a strong backbone.   

Be that as it may, a few weeks ago President Maithripala Sirisena accused international drug barons of having orchestrated the suicide attacks after having initially blamed the Islamist fundamentalist terrorists. Muddying the waters with such contradictory statements could only make the task of the investigative agencies that much harder with little or no reason to blame the Cardinal for having doubts about the investigations into the Easter Sunday carnage and catestrophe.   

But there is no gainsaying the fact that backbones apart, the Cardinal must even now realize that the Pulpit must not be used to spew out cheap political rhetoric but rather, the Pulpit should be from which must be preached and taught the Word of God.