January 18, 2007 Silver Spring, Maryland, United States …. [ANN Staff]
An increase in radicalism that has led to a surge in religious intolerance will be among the themes considered by a congress on religious freedom planned for the continent of Africa–an area of the world that until recently seemed to have relatively few religious liberty concerns.
“Africa has long been very open to many kinds of religions but there is more recent evidence of a surge in religious intolerance,” says Dr. John Graz, secretary-general of the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA).The organization is planning its sixth world congress, which will be held in Capetown, South Africa, next month.
The Feb. 27 to March 1 meeting is themed Combating Religious Hatred Through Freedom to Believe and will highlight instances of religious persecution in many world regions. It also aims to equip participants to effectively advocate for change in their respective nations and organizations. There will be 15 workshops with some of the following themes: Religious Freedom in Africa: New Challenges; Combating Religious Intolerance; Religious Symbols in Public Schools and Church and State Separation in the USA.
“In the Northern part of Africa, it is very difficult to have religious freedom,” Graz said. “In some countries like Algeria,” he explained, “there is legislation against conversion and everything that can encourage one to change their religion. Eritrea is a very difficult place for religious minorities. In Somalia you can be persecuted for following certain religious teachings. In parts of Nigeria the non-Muslim citizens are under the Muslim Sharia law.”
Organizers expect at least 500 participants from all continents, and attendees will include government officials, ambassadors, church leaders, lay leaders and religious freedom experts. It is expected that top South African leaders will attend the congress. Organizers said they chose South Africa as a venue to recognize the country's recent political changes and human rights' victories. In Cape Town, the congress organizers plan to visit Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was held prisoner for 25 years.
Graz noted that including government representatives in the congress is key to bringing religious freedom to the fore because they learn what “they can do to improve the state of religious freedom in their country,” Graz explained.
“The way for us to make a change is by including speakers and experts from various religious backgrounds defending religious freedom,” Graz added. “They all have different approaches but all [are] in favor of religious freedom. It's also a great example for the public because they can see that people from different backgrounds are together in a peaceful environment talking about something that can be very sensitive.”
“Most persecutions happen in secret. By having a congress like this we are turning a blazing searchlight on places where religious intolerance exist so people can see that this is unacceptable,” Jonathan Gallagher, IRLA deputy secretary general, said.
The IRLA was originally organized by the Seventh-day Adventist Church more than 113 years ago. It is a non-denominational organization, established to promote and defend religious freedom for all groups and people around the world. The IRLA holds a world congress every five years in various parts of the world. For more information on the congress see www.irla.org.
Copyright (c) 2007 by Adventist News Network.
