Post 98—Long on Freedom Talk

An International Multifaith Conference

Some time ago the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Vatican held a joint conference to find a common code for religious conversions.  First, a word of identification. I believe we all know that the Vatican is the Rome-based headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church (RCC).  You may not be familiar with WCC. It is a group of nearly 350 denominations that include Reformed, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical churches and only God and WCC know who else. 27 persons attended the conference, including adherents of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Animism as represented by the Yoruba tradition. So, a small group as far as world conferences go, with the Christian organizers having a mere scant majority.

As I understand it, they made two major decisions. The first, is freedom of religion, officially already a recognized a non-negotiable throughout the world, though the practice falls far short of the official. The second, to go easy on converting others. As the report put it, “All should heal themselves from the obsession of converting others.” 

Freedom of Religion?

          Non-Christian Persecution of Christians

As to the first, insisting on freedom of religion is great. It is virtually a global mantra. But then what do you do in a world where Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims in particular deny Christians their freedom in scores of countries?  Buddhism and Hinduism are traditional tolerant religions that in the past gave Christians and Muslims freedom to practice their religion. But recently they have become increasingly intolerant of especially Christians and Muslims.  One of these days I will devote a few posts to illustrate the truth of this last sentence. In general, wherever these traditionally tolerant religions find themselves threatened by either Christians or Muslims, they become intolerant and oppressive; they even begin to persecute, destroy and kill.

As to persecution of Christians by Muslims, do you even need to be made aware of that?  It’s all over the map, not only in the Muslim-dominant countries, regions and societies, but even in the West, though sometimes there indirectly through their willing lackeys, some of whom are very powerful, but politically correct  people who glad hand Muslims and refuse to face the Muslim reality in their own Western countries. Geert Wilders is perhaps the most (in)famous Westerner who tries to awake sleeping secular Europeans to this reality. The fact that he often does this in a totally blunt and politically incorrect manner does not mean he is totally wrong in his major concern. In Canada we have our own Ezra Levant.

          Christians Persecuting Christians

And then I have not even mentioned the freedom that Christians in some countries deny other Christians! This takes place in some Orthodox societies, where the dominant church resists the incursion of Evangelical Christians—in Greece and Russia in particular. Now there maybe some semi-legitimate reasons for such resistance, such as Evangelical, often American, disrespect for local deep-rooted historical churches and their leaders. Nevertheless, the principal of freedom of religion stands and may not be undermined by perhaps disgusting or insulting behaviour on the part of outside challengers.  I can well imagine that fundamentalist foreign missionaries can present a serious problem among these Orthodox churches, but that must be solved within the range of religious freedom, not by curtailing it.

A parallel situation obtains in Roman Catholic Latin America, where all strands of Protestants have established missions, churches and institutions, especially Charismatics.  The members of these new churches mostly are drawn from the RCC. So, no wonder the RCC resists them, sometimes in whatever way they can.

We can even make the same point about secular countries and quite a few of my posts speak of secular resistance to full-orbed Christians. However, secularists were not invited to this conference. So, in this post I will leave them alone. 

 

A Grain of Salt

So, here sit these religious leaders with all their wisdom and pomposity, robes and mitres and hats and staffs and all. Very impressive. All of them piously affirming and insisting on religious freedom for all their people, while at home they support and possibly even engineer intolerance and persecution of the very faiths with whom they have signed for tolerance in this conference.

I always take the declarations and communiqués  of such conferences with less than a grain of salt, knowing that many of the signers do so hypocritically. I have taken part in similar conferences between Christians and Muslim in Nigeria and understand the dynamic. The participants use the same language but interpret it in terms of their own religion and, often secretly, exercise the right to hold the declaration they signed in reserve.

The next post will deal with the alleged obsession.

The website of the WCC is  www.oikoumene.org/