Weekly Blog - 27 November 2023 - Freedom of Religion Summit
Freedom of Religion Summit
This week the International Ministerial Conference on Freedom of Religion and Belief is being held in Prague from Tuesday 28 – Thursday 30 November. This is a high-level meeting of government ministers from the nations of the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance, a group of 37 countries taking a stand against religious persecution. The theme of the conference is Freedom of Religion or Belief under Authoritarian Regimes.
More than 50 governments around the world significantly restrict religious freedom.[1] Whilst wider social harassment, discrimination and persecution from some parts of society takes place in more than 90% of countries.[2] For us as Christians this should be a particular concern, for Christians are one of the groups most targeted for such appalling crimes. More than 360 million Christians around the world suffer persecution and discrimination because of their faith.[3] Christians like Joseph, a friend of Arise from Pakistan. Islamic extremist gunmen targeted his church in the North East of Pakistan. One Sunday during a morning service they burst into the church and shot and killed the pastor and 4 members of the congregation before fleeing. After some half-hearted efforts, the police failed to find the culprits or make any arrests. Joseph, his family, friends and the whole congregation were left mourning their friends and relatives after this tragic and senseless attack.
How should Christians respond?
As Christians we know that God hates all violence and persecution against any community, anywhere. We should do all we can to stand in solidarity with those who suffer from such violence. As the prophet Isaiah says “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? … If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.” (Isa 58: 6 – 10) We might outwork this through supporting brilliant human rights organisations like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch or International Justice Mission.
In addition to this wider support for the rights of all, as Christians we should also stand in particular solidarity with fellow Christians, where they are persecuted. We should support them in every possible way as our family. Thus, speaking of the church Paul says “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it” (1 Cor 12: 26) and the Hebrews are commended because “Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You suffered along with those in prison” (Hebs 10: 33 – 34). We might outwork this through supporting amazing Christian organisations like Barnabas Fund, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Open Doors and Release International who help Christian communities suffering from persecution. Christians are called both to radically love all who suffer from injustice, and to have a particular care for Christian brothers and sisters who suffer in this way, just as we should act with radical love and justice for all people, but also have a particular obligation to our immediate family of spouse, children, siblings, parents etc. The two commitments don’t contradict, they reinforce and strengthen each other.
Reform Movements
But how can we best help those who are persecuted for their faith? As the theme for the Ministerial Conference on Freedom of Religion and Belief recognises, it is under ‘Authoritarian Regimes’ that the worst cases of religious persecution occur. The key factor that marks the difference between those who face religious persecution and those who do not, is having a government that is democratic and supports universal human rights for all. Where dramatic improvements in democracy and human rights have occurred, they have overwhelmingly been driven by mass peaceful reform movements of ordinary people demanding change. This is a key conclusion from a major report from Arise, the Arise Manifesto. In recent decades peaceful reform movements have had dramatic success in Serbia, Madagascar, Georgia, Ukraine, Lebanon, Nepal, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, East Germany, Slovenia, Mali, Bolivia, the Philippines, Zambia, South Korea, Chile, Argentina, Haiti, Brazil, Uruguay, Malawi, Thailand, Bulgaria, Hungary, Nigeria, and many other countries.
Such peaceful bottom-up reform movements avoid playing into the hands of regimes by confronting them in the area of physical force, where the regime is strong. Instead they peacefully refuse to cooperate with the regime, and continually expand the numbers involved, increasingly isolating the regime until it is forced to concede. Where such reform movements have been successful, they have seized the initiative with a clear strategy and tactics that continually evolve, to keep the regime off balance and reactive. They have built ever larger coalitions and attracted mass numbers of people who have demonstrated peacefully in visible city centres. They have also used non-violent direct action like strikes, sit ins and occupying areas. Where governments have responded with force, they have turned that against them, using the outrage it sparks to gather ever greater support. Successful reform movements have made good use of inspirational leaders, and used social media and other communications routes well, to get their message out. They have captured the sympathy of the international community, the media, and more and more sectors of society, increasingly isolating the regime, until the regime is forced to concede and reform (Arise Manifesto, pg 86 – 88, 108 – 119).
Of course such movements also require great courage and perseverance from those involved. They are not guaranteed to succeed every time. But overwhelmingly the power of ordinary people peacefully refusing to submit is remarkable, and has continually proved the most successful way to improve democracy, human rights and good governance in nations around the world. Christians and churches have played a hugely important central role in such reform movements (Arise Manifesto, pg 283 – 303). They have worked well alongside journalists, academics, activists, students, trades unions and others in the movement. Supporting such bottom-up Reform Movements in countries around the world (and the Christians that are so often at the heart of them) is one of three key focus campaigns for Arise.
Conclusion
As governments meet this week to discuss the need for urgent scaled up action to address freedom of religion and belief, they must remember that the most effective way they can do this is by supporting peaceful bottom-up democratic reform movements in countries around the world. Indeed, we should all get behind such courageous movements. They deserve our support.
Find out more
Find out more about how God is at work in the world, and the role we all have to play in that work, in the Arise Manifesto. This report is Arise’s big picture, researched, Biblical, holistic and practical vision for a better world. It looks at what the Bible says, and what we can learn from the best data and the world’s leading experts on the five major areas of evangelism, discipleship, social justice, development and the environment. It then draws these lessons together into a practical road map for the changes we need to see in our world, which the Arise movement campaigns to achieve.
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[1] A Closer Look at How Religious Restrictions Have Risen Around the World, Pew Research Center, (15 Jul 2019), https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2019/07/15/a-closer-look-at-how-religious-restrictions-have-risen-around-the-world/
[2] Harassment of religious groups continues to be reported in more than 90% of countries, Pew Research Center, (10 Nov 2020), https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2020/11/10/harassment-of-religious-groups-continues-to-be-reported-in-more-than-90-of-countries/
[3] World Watch List 2023, Open Doors, https://www.opendoorsuk.org/persecution/