Religious Liberty Day, held on Saturday, December 17, was organized by the Religious Liberty Department of the Northern France Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (FFN). The event was the result of a collaboration with the International Association for the Defense of Religious Freedom in France (AIDLR France), the Franco Belgian Union of Conferences of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and S.O.S. Chrétiens d’Orient.
The event took place at the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Créteil, a suburb of Paris. The day began with a spiritual reflection on religious freedom in the daily lives of believers, led by Pedro Torres, General Secretary of AIDLR France. The speaker directed the audience to reflect on various legal texts, including Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as Article 19 on freedom of expression.
Raising awareness about the advocacy of religious freedom is part of the activities of the AIDLR France, not only at the institutional and lobbying level but also at the level of citizens. Mr. Torres made the attendees reflect on the need to understand the basic principles of religious freedom, noting that if one is not able to apply them in daily life with the people at the immediate entourage, it will be difficult to achieve broader advocacy at other institutional levels.
Praising the audience for its commitment to the defense of human rights, including the principle of religious freedom, he reflected on how to treat close individuals, co-religionists or neighbors, and how to foster the freedom of thought, opinion and belief of other parishioners at the most intimate level, even within the same faith.
"When we show intolerance for those around us in our closest circle, whether because of the way they dress or because they don't have the same theological ideas as we do, we show that we have not understood the fundamentals of religious freedom, and this is an obstacle to defending and advocating for this principle at higher, social, institutional and even political levels," Torres said in his remarks.
The Round Table
In the afternoon, a round table with various experts was presented to respond to the general title of the day: "Religious freedom in times of crisis".
The panel was moderated by Ms. Dinah Reschid, religious freedom officer for the Northern France Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (FFN).
The first intervention was that of Mr. François-Xavier Giquel, representing the S.O.S. Chrétiens d’Orient as head of mission in Iraq and the Middle East. Mr. Giquel shared his experiences in countries as diverse as Pakistan, Iraq, Ethiopia, and Eritrea, among others. He emphasized the fact that Christians are not the only ones being persecuted in these far-flung countries. Many Muslims are also persecuted by other factions of Islam. He insisted on stopping the systematic blaming of the authorities in most countries where Christianity is not a majority religion, showing that it is the police or the local army itself that defends the rights and protects Christians in cases of persecution.
Another key idea that got the audience thinking was the need for dialogue, exchange of ideas, and collaboration between different religious bodies and organizations. This type of relationship allows us to get to know each other better and to build projects and activities that are more flexible, adaptable, and responsive to the particularities of each person in need of help, thus respecting the particular sensitivities and needs of each person's religion in a crisis.
The next speaker was Mr. Philippe Aurouze, president of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency in France (ADRA France). Mr. Aurouze explained that, as a matter of principle, ADRA France does not discriminate on the basis of gender, age, ethnicity, or religion. All the projects that ADRA manages abroad are designed to help the person as an individual, regardless of any other condition, seeking the greatest possible neutrality.
"The fact that ADRA is a Seventh-day Adventist agency means that the Adventist lifestyle and its diet, which is very close to kosher and halal, makes it even easier to serve all people without having to make great efforts, because these particularities are already taken into account at the grassroots level," Aurouze said.
Mr. Pedro Torres (AIDLR France) continued the session with an intervention attempting to explore the legal limits of a government’s or state’s ability to temporarily restrict religious freedom in a crisis, using the recent case of the COVID-19 pandemic as an example.
"Religious rights and freedom are not always 100 percent absolute," Torres said. According to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), it is the state that must guarantee the freedoms of citizens, including religious freedom. However, "a compelling public interest may empower the state to impose limits on civil rights, including the right to exercise religious freedom," Torres continued.
Restrictions on civil rights will generally be legitimate if they are necessary to meet a compelling public interest, if they are proportionate to the need and the least intrusive means of meeting that need, and if they are non-discriminatory in intent and application.
Here are the links to watch the Morning meditation and the Discussion panel .To read the original article, please go here.
