WEF calls
for 'Golden Rule' approach to persecution
By Dan Wooding
WEF, which was granted
special consultative status to the Economic and Social Council of the United
Nations in 1997, made its statement to the UN in Geneva, Switzerland March
28th.
Its report began: "Human
rights and religious freedom are now at the centre of discourse in
international affairs. The notion that certain rights are inherent to the human
experience is reflected in the universal principle most often referred to as
'the Golden Rule' that is present in various forms in every society and
religion."
The WEF report pointed out
that some of the major religious traditions articulate this principle as
follows:
Buddhism
Hurt not others in ways
that you yourself would find hurtful. (Udana-Varga 5:18)
Christianity
So in everything, do to
others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the
Prophets. (Matthew 7:12)
Confucianism
Surely it is the maxim of
loving-kindness: Do not unto others what you would not have done unto you.
(Analects 15:23)
Hinduism
This is the sum of duty:
Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you. (Mahabharata
5:1517)
Islam
No one of you is a
believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself.
(Sunnah)
Judaism
What is hateful to you, do
not to your fellow man. That is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary.
(Talmud, Shabbat 31a)
Taoism
Regard your neighbour's
gain as your own gain and your neighbour's loss as your own loss. (T'ai Shang
Kan Ying P'ien)
The report continued,
"The Golden Rule is applied to religious freedom when the powerful and
dominant religious and philosophical traditions, government leaders, and the elite
in a society ask how they would want to be treated if they were the powerless
and minority faith. All minority groups, whether they are religious, ethnic,
political, racial or gender-based, want equal and fair treatment before the
law, and every group is a minority somewhere in the world.
"The temptation
facing those in power is to seek preferential treatment for themselves at the
expense of those who have little or no power. The Golden Rule counsels the
powerful to be sensitive to the powerless by treating them with the same care
and respect that they seek for themselves in their country and in places where
they are themselves the powerless.
"At the beginning of
the new millennium, religion remains a deeply relevant and central aspect of
human life and behaviour despite the view of some skeptics who echo Nietzsche's
timeworn claim that 'God is dead.' Yet of the world's six billion inhabitants
only three percent (150 million) identify themselves as atheists. With varying
degrees of commitment, two billion Christians, 1.2 billion Muslims, 786 million
Hindus, and 362 million Buddhists, not to mention adherents of hundreds of
smaller religions, affirm the relevance and importance of a spiritual dimension
in life and society. In fact, the trend over the past few decades has been an
increase in religious commitment and activity in the face of growing
secularization."
The report went on to say
that religious freedom is the "lynchpin" or litmus test for all other
human rights because where there is no freedom of religion other fundamental
rights are always missing.
The WEF report then said,
"Some of the rights most often compromised where religious freedom is
lacking are freedom of speech and press, freedom of association and movement,
equality before the law, the right to life, liberty and security of person,
freedom from torture and other cruel and inhuman treatment or punishment, and
the right to work. Recently, Norway's former Prime Minister Kjell Magne
Bondevik stated: 'Religious freedom and belief is one of the fundamental human
rights.'
"Actually, it is more
than that. . . . Without freedom to worship, there can be no real political
freedom -- nor freedom of thought and freedom of conscience. These are
interrelated.
"For people with
deeply held religious beliefs, religion is the essence of their very being. It
defines the terms of their existence and determines the values they bring to
bear daily in relationships and decisions."
The WEF report stated that
Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides, perhaps, the
best summation of the scope of religious freedom in the international arena:
"Everyone has the
right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes
freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in
community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or
belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance."
It continued, "The
World Evangelical Fellowship (WEF) believes that its communities must not only
seek to protect their own constituents, but should also assist others who
suffer for their beliefs. It recognizes that the first act of violence recorded
in the Christian Scriptures, the killing by Cain of his brother Abel, was the
ill fruit of religious intolerance. Cain refused to accept Abel's mode of
worship and therefore chose to kill him. WEF believes that in the religious
freedom arena we are indeed 'our brother's keeper' and should proactively speak
on behalf of others who suffer persecution.
"At the same time WEF
believes that it is necessary to pay particular attention to the suffering
faced by Christians globally due to its sheer magnitude. No doubt, many people
would find it surprising, even unbelievable that at the beginning of the 21st
century the largest faith group being persecuted is the Christian faith. It has
been estimated that over 200 million Christians in at least 60 countries are
denied fundamental human rights solely because of their faith. Moreover,
persecution of Christians often serves as an indicator of the status of religious
freedom for other minorities since where Christians are persecuted other
religions tend also to suffer. Discrimination and persecution have been found
to follow a distinct pattern regardless of who is being persecuted. Thus,
although the focus and examples used in this report relate primarily to the
Christian community, the same analysis could be applied to other faiths.
"With respect to
religious freedom, the ideal society seeks to reach a place where all faith
traditions enjoy 'equal justice under law.' Even though religious tolerance is
clearly preferred over intolerance, the notion of 'tolerance' suggests that
those in dominance simply tolerate or allow other faiths to exist on a
more-or-less equal footing. Tolerance is not synonymous with freedom but infers
a top-down mindset rather than one of equality. It is our hope that those
nations where tolerance is embraced would continue to move towards full and
complete equality before the law for all faiths."
The report then laid out
the pattern of religious persecution by saying, "There is a discernible
pattern in the societal evolution leading down the slope from tolerance to
intolerance and eventual persecution of minorities.
The first slippery step is
disinformation that often leads to the second step, discrimination, which can
finally end in a slide into persecution. At each step, the role of the state
and its agencies may be passive or active."
The WEF report then
continued with what it saw as the steps to persecution:
Step 1: Passive
disinformation
Passive disinformation
occurs when a minority group is slandered, vilified or unfairly attacked
through the private, or not state-operated, media. The attacked group rarely
has access to make an adequate response to these attacks and its opportunities
for redress may be limited.
Step 2: Active
disinformation
Active disinformation
occurs when the state uses its agencies, particularly the state-run media, to
poison the well of public opinion against a minority faith. In so doing, the
state creates a nearly insurmountable barrier for a minority faith that has few
options to reply.
Step 3: Passive
discrimination
Disinformation prepares
the ground of public opinion for the next stage: discrimination. Here again the
state may be a passive or active party. The state passively discriminates
against minority faiths when it turns a b lind eye to discrimination taking
place against unpopular religious groups by private actors.
Step 4: Active
discrimination
The state is engaged in
active discrimination when it adopts policies and practices, through
legislation or rules and regulations, that effectively deny members of minority
religions opportunities to practice their faith with the same freedom as that
enjoyed by the dominant or accepted faiths.
Step 5: Passive persecution
When the state has
discriminated actively or passively against minority faith groups, the ground
is fertile for persecution to take root and produce its evil fruit. Persecution
carried out by private actors, such as religious extremists or fanatics acting
singly or as a mob, can range from the destruction of property to torture and
murder. Where the state stands by and does nothing to stop the law-breakers,
the state becomes an accomplice to the perpetrated evil. A primary function of
the state is to protect its citizens from lawlessness and when it fails to do
so, it also falls short of the acceptable international standards of
governance.
Step 6: Active persecution
The slide toward
persecution hits bottom when the state and its agencies become active
participants in destroying or confiscating property, arresting or incarcerating
religious minorities, torturing or executing believers because of their faith
tradition. At this point, the offending state not only violates the
long-standing universal principle of human behaviour as seen in the Golden
Rule, but is in direct violation of international standards as expressed in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Charter and
elsewhere.
WEF then made its
recommendations to deal with the situation.
"It is unrealistic to
expect any country to change overnight from a situation where abuse of human
rights has been the rule to one where religious freedom is fully embraced and
nurtured," said the report. "Our hope in publishing this report is to
encourage countries to begin to take steps to move "up the slope"
towards tolerance and religious freedom and away from disinformation,
discrimination and persecution.
"When it comes to
religious freedom, there is no country in the world today that is free from
problems. Thus, the recommendations put forth in this report apply to all
nations. It is incumbent upon every state to affirmatively guarantee respect
for religious freedom and all human rights within its borders and also to
remain vigilant in holding other states accountable to the broader
international community of nations."
The report then laid out
the following:
• The primary
responsibility of each state is to ensure proper safeguards for the protection
of religious freedom and related human rights to its own citizens. Thus, each
state should:
• Cease passive or active
disinformation, discrimination or persecution of members of any faith
tradition;
• Review, repeal or revise
legislation impacting religious freedom to ensure that they meet international
standards;
• Focus on the need for
openness and transparency of its legislative, judicial, and law enforcement
system;
• Evaluate enforcement
policies and practices to make sure they conform to international standards;
• Provide training for the
police and the judiciary focusing on religious freedom;
• Encourage dialogue
between dominant religious institutions and minority traditions in order to
reduce tensions and increase understanding;
• Establish communication
liaison with religious groups operating within the nation;
• Enc ourage and
facilitate dialogue with non-governmental organizations on religious freedom;
• Educate citizens about
the importance of freedom, human rights, tolerance, and respect for other
religions.
WEF then said that there
are practical measures that nations can take to help promote religious liberty
globally:
• Work multilaterally to
strengthen international religious freedom laws;
• Establish a special
Rapporteur or commission to monitor the development of religious liberty in
other countries in the region and globally;
• Issue instructions to
diplomatic posts to give more attention to religious freedom issues;
• Train diplomats in
religious liberty issues to increase their awareness of the problems and enable
them to be more effective and creative in finding soluti ons;
• Take into account the
increasing role of religion in internal conflicts by asking their ambassadors
and ministries of foreign affairs to report on developments regarding religious
rights in other countries;
• Inform international
trade delegations of the positive role they can play in raising religious
liberty constructive measures; and,
• Maintain a liaison with
international non-governmental organizations specializing in monitoring
religious liberty and human rights organizations.
For further information
contact:
World Evangelical
Fellowship Box WEF, Wheaton, IL 60189, USA Phone: 630-668-0440 Web:
www.worldevangelical.org Johan Candelin, Director WEF Religious Liberty
Commission
The complete report is located at www.worldevangelical.org
