"Freedom of Religion Gets More Attention Worldwide"
Conference Held by Aid to the Church in Need
("Zenit," November 7, 2002)
Worldwide public opinion is discovering an age-old human rights
issue: religious liberty.
According to a congress of experts organized by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN)
last week, "the topic of religious liberty, which in past years seemed to
be almost exclusively reserved to John Paul II's unheeded appeals, is beginning
to awaken a certain interest in public opinion."
This view, voiced over Vatican Radio by ACN's president in Italy, Attilio
Tamburrini, was supported by experts who spoke at the congress. Among the
experts were Archbishop Attilio Nicora, new president of the Administration of
the Patrimony of the Holy See; Giorgio Filibeck, official of the Pontifical
Council for Justice and Peace; and Massimo Introvigne, director of the European
Center of Studies on the New Religions.
ACN, an association of pontifical right, funds projects in countries where the
Church is in difficulty. Since 1998, ACN has published an "Annual Report
on Religious Liberty in the World," a detailed document that has become a
point of reference for human-rights organizations, journalists and
missionaries, among others.
This year's meeting, held at the Domus Carmelitana of Rome, highlighted the
critical importance of religious liberty, the "test of the observance of
all other rights," as John Paul II has stated on various occasions.
"Where there is religious liberty, other human rights may be respected;
where it is lacking, all others will be violated," Tamburrini said.
"For this reason, many are beginning to realize that attention to this
problem not only affects the believer, but implicates man as man."
The congress heard how, in addition to countries where Communism still survives
-- such as China, Vietnam, North Korea and Cuba -- religious liberty is
regarded today as an "ancillary right" in two other key sectors: in
certain Muslim and post-Communist countries.
In some Muslim countries, "the Shariah [Islamic law] is the supreme law of
the state," Tamburrini continued. This ostracizes believers of other
religions.
A new issue regards erstwhile republics and satellites of the former Soviet
Union, "where a mentality persists that considers the right to religious
liberty as a concession, namely, that [government] authorization is necessary to
exercise religious liberty."
The fundamental question posed by the congress was: What to do, in the face of
countries that violate this fundamental right?
Tamburrini suggested that ordinary citizens should urge their representatives
to examine respect for religious liberty in partner nations before stipulating
trade agreements with such nations. "But the man on the street has another
fundamental weapon -- the vote. We should demand this commitment directly from
candidates," he stressed.
"However, I think that the most important weapon is information,"
Tamburrini added. "Criticism of [religious oppression] produces a clear
effect. Most governments in most countries want to show world public opinion
that they are not the 'bad guys.'"
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