The Community of Protestant Churches in Europe has called on churches to work to defend religious freedom as a fundamental human right.
In a statement to mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Wednesday, the CPCE said that human rights should not be curtailed on the grounds of religion.
“Even 60 years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, all over the world there are people who are denied their fundamental rights,” said the group of 105 European churches.
“The CPCE notes with concern that increasingly religious arguments are brought forward as [a] basis for restricting human rights.”
The CPCE said that the churches of Europe must unite to ensure religious freedom is safeguarded.
“The protection of human dignity, human rights and especially religious freedom forms a common task of the churches gathered together in the ecumenical world.”
The church body said that human rights served “to protect the dignity given to all human beings by God, regardless of their religion or worldview”.
“Just as they are not given by any authority in this world, so they cannot be denied by any authority either; they are unassailable, inalienable and indivisible,” the statement said.
The right to the free practice of religion was, the group added, “one of the roots of human rights”.
“In the Protestant understanding, when men and women live together in a democratic society they should not be restricted by cultural traditions and legal views which violate the principle of equality,” the CPCE said.
