1997 NCC General Assembly, Nov. 11-14, 1997, Washington, D.C.
1997 NCC General Assembly, Nov. 11-14, 1997, Washington, D.C.
Excerpts from the National Council of Churches
April 28, 1998, News Conference
With International Religious Leaders
On Religious Persecution Legislation
Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.): "(T)he concern we come with is that the U.S. Government, as it does move forward in a process of responding to concerns of religious persecution, do that in a context of support for universal human rights; do that with the kind of flexibility that does not, if you would, throw the baby out with the bath water, of offering and imposing solutions that might create deeper problems; do that in a multinational context, with others around the world.
"But most of all, design whatever legislation might be designed in consultation with those who are the leaders of the churches and of other faith communities around the world that are indeed dealing with the front lines of these issues. It has been a deep concern to us that often the debate has tended to deal much more with American politics or even American religious issues than the opportunity to hear firsthand from friends and colleagues who have really tested their own life and the firm commitment to their faith, at times against great odds, and out of a deep commitment for the well-being of the church and other faith communities."
Dr. Amien Rais, Chairman of Muhamadiyah, a Muslim community of 28 million Indonesians: "I believe if it is viewed from the morality of rhetoric that bill is very inspiring, very gladdening. But I am very doubtful whether it is easy to implement and whether the result of the implementation is as good as expected by those gentlemen, the Congress members, who initiated this bill. The reason why I quoted the distinction between morality of results and morality of rhetoric, I believe that when it is implemented, suppose the bill is approved and then implemented by the administration, what will take place in developing countries is even more tension."
The Rev. Dr. Joseph Pattiasina, General Secretary of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia: "Our consideration is that bill -- if the bill will be approved, then it will jeopardize the relationship between the Christians and Islam in Indonesia. because Islam is 87.5 percent from the 202 million, and the Protestant is 4.5 percent, and the Catholics is 3.5 percent. Ten percent of the total population is the Christian....And also the Buddhists and the Hindus is 1-1.5 percent. Although we face the probolem about the burning and destroying the church -- since 1947 until February of this year about 400 churches burned and destroyed -- we see that the burning of the churches and destroying of the churches is not based on the conflict of Islam and Christian in Indonesia, but based on the political problem that is facing the gap between the rich and the poor."So we believe that this bill that will be passed by the Congress is not helpful for us. Because we are looking for how to face these challenges as the churches in Indonesia. We are responsible and we have the responsibility of how to take care and how we have to look for to keep the relationship between Islam and Christian in dealing as one nation...That is why we believe that if this bill has to be approved, then it jeopardize, in effect, the economic and the monetary problem that we face. You see that we have only poor people and if the bill has to be passed, or would have to be approved, then many people have to suffer for it, from the economic problem, from the monetary problem."
The Rev. Dr. Soritua Nababan, Batak Protestant Christian Church; Former General Secretary, Communion of Churches in Indonesia; Member, Central Committee, World Council of Churches: "I would like to express my appreciation to the American people, through Congress, that took initiative to introduce legislation to make sure that religious liberty everywhere will be safeguarded and that religious persecution anywhere should be given up. I do sincerely mean it. The problem comes when it is somehow related to the political and economic interests of the American people. That the sanctions affect many countries around the world. The good intention of the American people to make sure that everybody in the world can enjoy religious freedom, religious liberty, may, at the end, produce more suffering for the people. And that is why we would like to appeal for that part of the legislation, that it be restudied again." Dr. Riad Jarjour, General Secretary, Middle East Council of Churches: "The U.S. campaign, the proposed legislation and the finger pointing to countries and communities, is frequently depicted as a crusade. And, more often than not, we activate historical memories, with their many unhealed wounds. We have strong reasons, as the Middle East Council of Churches and as a group of Christians and Muslims who work together, to fear that it is increasingly provoking general mistrust between Christians and Muslims, Arabs and Americans, as well."We have equally strong reasons to express our anxiety in seeing the crusade impact negatively on Christian-Muslim relations in many countries, and especially in the Middle East and Asia, notwishstanding all efforts in these countries that uphold core citizenship and common national identity between people of different faiths. It would be naive to overlook the serious risks of a recurring Muslim perception of the Christian as aliens at home, local extensions of Christendom, minorities protected and used by the West in line with the old pattern of divide et impera, divide and you will dominate....Dialogue and cooperation between Muslims and Christians at various levels of shared living needs to be intensified in order to address the problem. Any impediment of such relationship impairs the chances of improving the situation of the Christians.
"There are situations where Christians are targets of sectarian violence. Yes, there are many of these situations. And also non-Christians, too. In some other situations, Christians are victims of fanaticism and bigotry. But this is much less a consequence of discriminatory government policies than an expression of social prejudice or political strategies of radical opposition. And I would like to emphasize the last point, that we call for a logic of empowerment of the victims, for a strategy of prevention through consciousness-raising dialogue and inter-religious cooperation, which, in my opinion, is more effective."
Bishop Sammy Azariah, Moderator, Church of Pakistan: "We admire the democratic principles of this land and the concern (that) this country it is showing towards human rights in other jparts of the world. However, the bill in question, though (it) may have very good intentions in this city, will definitely be misread in other lands of the world....Persecution of a religious nature or persecution of any nature is not welcome, is not acceptable. but our concern is that the economic and the trade sanctions, which is being proposed in this bill, cannot be the best way of dealing with situations where there is persecution."Because it will definitely create obstacles for the United States and for other international human rights organizations to be able to get into deep situations of discovering the causes of difficulties in that country or in that land. It will cut off a relation with those countries. As I said earlier, the U.S. has been a symbol of tolerance and understanding. And I believe and feel that this image should not be damaged. And the very essence of the bill, in my opinion, is very un-Christian. It is against the basis of Christian belief and Christian proclamation, stopping the milk of the children and the food of the poor people.""
Dr. Anatoly Krasikov, International Religious Liberty Association -- Russian Chapter: "(T)he religious situation in Russia is complicated. That is why, after the adoption of a new law, some important changes were produced in the attitude of the state, (in) respect of religious organizations. In the new law … [i]t is not possible to give special advantage to one religion or disadvantage to one religion. I represent here the International Association for Religious Liberty, our Russian branch. This organization, in our country, was created by all religious organizations together, and the scientists and public persons, and supported by the Orthodox Church, Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Catholics -- practically all organizations. Many organizations finally have supported the law for different reasons."(T)he first part of the law is excellent, the part [that] confirmed the constitutional principle of equality before the law of all organizations. But we must not forget that for 1,000 years our country had no real liberty of religion. For nine centuries we had one religious organization, which was an organization of the state. Then we had a century of atheism of state. And only seven years of real religious liberty. And for over 80 years, we had, as you know, a … dictatorship, Communist dictatorship.
"[But] with the changes, the people are the same. [T]he mentality of many people is the same. That is why we, as an organization, we follow all case of violation of human rights … And sure, we need your solidarity. How to express this solidarity is another question. (E)ach dictatorship needs to have enemies. [Without] enemies exterior and interior, it is not a dictatorship. So the United States had, I believe, had a very good position during, for example, the Helsinki processes, during the preparation of the Helsinki agreements. And the example of the past, a good example of the past, have to be used by all of us. I have not the counsel to give to the American, to the United States, up to decide how to express this solidarity. But I would like if we must be together in this important moment of our life."
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