World faces historic challenges to religious freedom, says former Commonwealth head

‘In our world today, we are being taught to disrespect the other, to be frightened of the other, to make sure that the other does not thrive. As Christians, that is a fundamental desecration of what we believe.’

There are more conflicts in the world today than in any other period since religious freedom was first enshrined by the United Nations at the end of the Second World War, Baroness Scotland, Labour peer and former secretary-general of the Commonwealth of Nations, warned on a panel hosted by Aid to the Church in Need at Farm Street Church on 19 April.

The meeting, titled “Dare to Believe – Is Religious Freedom under growing threat around the world?”, focused on Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which guarantees the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.

Fr Dominic Robinson, chair of the Westminster Justice and Peace Commission, opened the meeting with a prayer written by Pope Leo XIV: “May the madness of war cease and the earth be cared for and cultivated by those who still know how to bring forth, protect, and love life. Hear us, Lord of life.”

 “Two thirds live in countries without religious freedom, yet is a fundamental tenet for our human rights,” said Baroness Scotland, in reference to ACN’s Religious Freedom in the World report which states 5.4bn people live in countries where serious religious freedom violations occur.

 “And it’s a right that each of us should fight for, because if one of us does not have the right to believe or not to believe, then none of us are safe. And each of us in our own way, wherever we are and whatever we do, has the responsibility to see that the right enshrined in Article 18 is not just an aspiration but a reality.”

Dr Karen Singarayer, ACN UK ambassador said that ACN is working on its first global advocacy campaign, a petition to call on governments throughout the world and the United Nations to do more to “stamp out persecution and uphold religious freedom”.

“ACN invites each of us to sign this special petition calling for the full enforcement of Article 18 of the United Nations of the United Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” said Dr Singarayer. “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.”

Dr Singarayer quoted the permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, who issued a statement last month highlighting “how the growing instances of intolerance, discrimination, and hostility targeting Muslims, Jews, Christians, and followers of traditional religions” are a result of failure to “acknowledge and defend the right to freedom of religion or belief”.

Christian and Muslim survivors of persecution in Pakistan also shared their testimonies at the gathering. Farhan Saleem, a leader of the Ahmadiyya Community, a persecuted minority Muslim movement, described how he witnessed his father Malik Saleem being gunned down by extremists.

Saleem said, “We need to raise awareness that religious freedom is the only solution for real peace and we should work together.”

“It is difficult for us to grasp that what we are doing here this afternoon on this beautiful spring day in London is something which others are often denied,” Baroness Scotland said. “We’re able to talk. We’re able to challenge. We’re able to discuss.

“And we come together as a community of peoples, those of faith and those of none, free to speak and express ourselves in any way we choose. We do this in this sacred space and in relative safety. And this privilege is precious because it is not one which we should take lightly.”

 “I grew up being taught that you look for what joins you as opposed to what separates you,” Baroness Scotland continued. “In our world today, we are being taught to disrespect the other, to be frightened of the other, to make sure that the other does not thrive.

“We know that, as Christians, that is a fundamental desecration of what we believe, because we believe every individual is made in the image of God. And I’ll never forget what my mother once told me.

“She said, ‘Every single person you see, you have to speak to them as if you’re speaking to Christ. And you must put Christ’s face on every face you see, particularly those you despise and you really, really do not like because if you would not say it to Christ, do not say it to them.’

“What joins us, all people of faith and those of none, is far greater than what separated us. It’s like our DNA: 99.9% of our DNA is exactly the same. Every human being, what divides us is 0.1%. And yet we don’t concentrate on the 99% which makes us human. We concentrate on the 0.1% which makes us different.

“What I found in working in the Commonwealth and indeed as a minister was that if we concentrated on the 99%, we could do anything, because most of our faiths are the same. Whether you’re a humanist, a Hindu, a Jew, a Catholic, a Muslim, the tenets of what we believe are very much the same.

“The fight that’s on to make Article 18 real for everyone is a fight that we must all be part of. And if I look back at the things that we have achieved for the religious and the non, it has been remarkable because we’ve been able to engage everyone.

“I think about our faith in the Commonwealth. We brought people of all races, all religions together, not to talk about the difference which separated us, but the things in the world that we had to do: delivering the sustainable development goals, delivering our Paris agenda, delivering laws that would enforce Article 18.

“We had to find the practical ways of making sure that people touch it, taste it, feel it, sense it, and we succeeded because we worked together.

“I think this is a real moment of challenge for each of us: challenge as to whether we truly believe in the tenets of our respective faiths and whether we are willing to come together with one voice and to be able to say ‘not in our name’. It is down to each of us.

“If we’re silent, nothing will change. If we’re silent, the injustices of our world will continue. But there is a power in the collective that many have forgotten. I think, as we face this challenge, we have to understand that that which we aspire to do is possible if we have the courage to hold each other’s hand and deliver it.”

Stay updated — add us as a preferred news source on Google: