re: "11 named in temple frauds" (BP, March 5, 2020)
Dear editor,
One part of a solution to the abuse of religion's good name is obvious: the state should not be supporting a religion, any religion, especially not by giving tax money to religious people for claimed religious purposes.
A healthy separation of religion from the state would also be in the best interests of religion, especially of Thai Buddhism, save of course the secular interests of those decidedly worldly types who abuse the religious convictions of sincere believers to further their own lusts for undeserved and unearned power, property and prestige.
Religion, whatever its merits or demerits, is and should be a strictly personal matter free both of state establishment or prohibition. History, certainly Thai history, shows that religion has too often served as a tool of a self-serving status quo.
Religions and religious sentiments deserve to be freed of the traditional abuse by the corrupt, by scoundrels seeking refuge from justice, by abusers preying on the trusting and innocent, and by politicians who, whilst falsely claiming to honour them, in practice and in law reject the wise teachings of the Buddha and other spiritual leaders.
Felix Qui
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The above letter to the editor is the text as submitted by Felix Qui to the Bangkok Post.
The text as edited was published in PostBag on March 7, 2020, under the title "Temple divide" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1873504/in-the-face-of-danger
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