Sri Lanka's Extremist Monks: When Buddhism Spreads Hate | In Bad Faith - Part 3 | CNA Documentary

Overview

We investigate how the scars of Buddhist strongholds like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Indonesia into Muslim-majority countries, has resulted in this pacificist religion becoming weaponised across Sri Lanka. Backed by politicians and incited by a powerful network of extremist monks, the rise of the Bodu Bala Sena or Buddhist Force aims to sow seeds of religious and ethnic divisions to gain political power. These deep divisions in Sri Lankan society were exploited by ISIS as they radicalised Islamist groups to plot, plan and execute bloodshed on Easter Sunday, spurring the rise of anti-Muslim pogroms, who must defend their faith against an outside force – Islam and Hinduism. On this journey, we also understand how Sri Lanka’s purist Theravada strain of Buddhism has driven new connections with extremist monks in Myanmar who h ave used Facebook as a radicalising tool in their Islamophobic genocide against Rohingya Muslims.