Religious Freedom and Human Rights Are Focus of Conference in Romania

Adventist leaders give scientific presentations to highlight advocacy opportunities.

December 27, 2023 | Andreas Mazza, Inter-European Division, and Adventist Review

An International Scientific Conference held in Bucharest, Romania, November 22-23, sought to highlight the connection between religious liberty and human rights. The theme of the International Scientific Conference was “Affirming Freedom and Human Rights in the Context of Global Crises — Education and Digitalization.”

The main purpose of the conference was to discuss the importance of freedom of religion and conscience, education, and human rights in the context of global crises, as well as social security and democracy in connection with freedom of religion and conscience. These issues have become a major theme of scientific approaches.

The conference aimed to bring together leading researchers, religious leaders, and academics from diverse cultural, religious, and political backgrounds as well as from the IT world to share experiences and exchange research results on these current topics that have a major impact on society.

Freedom of Conscience Journal

In honor of the release of the Journal of Freedom of Conscience’s 11th volume, which is published by Asociația Conștiință și Libertate (Conscience and Liberty Association) in Romania, participants of the International Scientific Conference presented scientific papers in Romanian, English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. The abstract and keywords of the papers were given in English. Presentations were based on research papers that were integrated into the Journal of Freedom of Conscience.

Publishing and launch of 11th volume of the Journal of Freedom of Conscience was achieved in collaboration with Romania’s State Secretariat for Religious Affairs, the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA, based in the USA), the Association Internationale pour la Défense de la Liberté Religieuse (AIDLR, Switzerland), and the Institute for Peace Studies in Eastern Christianity (USA). The purpose of this edition of the journal was to bring together the ideas presented on the notion of respect and its application to human rights, religious leaders explained.

According to scholars and experts behind the publication, the next step is to disseminate a considerable number of copies of this work “of scientific and social value.” Leaders expect to distribute the journal to communities, central and local government institutions, higher education institutions, libraries, and the Romanian diaspora.

“From an AIDLR perspective, the work of the Conscience and Liberty Association is outstanding in Romania,” AIDLR secretary-general Paulo Macedo said. “The extent, depth, and quality of the journal, and also the length of its existence, is an impressive contribution to the studies on the topic on religious liberty.”

Macedo added that the events promoted by the association in the Romanian Parliament and in universities are always a timely and relevant meeting point for authorities, academics, clerics, students, and other personalities. “AIDLR recognizes and fully supports this excellent work,” Macedo said.

The original version of this story was posted on the Inter-European Division news site.