Protection of religious freedom is common task for churches

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.

“This carries with it the danger that in future any social group could limit the universal application of human rights on the basis of its specific interests.”

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed into being by world leaders in Paris on 10 December 1948. It was the first document to enshrine fundamental rights for all people everywhere.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Release International and the Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of Baha’is are also marking the 60th anniversary with a call to Prime Minister Gordon Brown to improve international efforts to protect freedom of religion and belief, specifically through the appointment of an Ambassador-at-Large for Freedom of Religion and Belief.

In a letter to Mr Brown, the three groups affirmed Article 18 of the human rights declaration - the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion and "a freedom which allows us all to define who we are and what we believe", the groups said.

"Sixty years on, international mechanisms and government action to uphold freedom of religion and belief do not reflect the centrality of this right," they said.

The letter challenges the British Government to “redouble” its efforts in promoting freedom of religion and specifically recommends the appointment of an Ambassador-at-Large for Freedom of Religion and Belief, the provision of adequate training within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on freedom of religion issues, and the allocation of international financial and technical support to enable the better protection of freedom of religion and belief.

CSW’s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said: “The anniversary of the adoption of the UDHR reminds us of the distance the international community still needs to go to protect and uphold human rights.

"Freedom of religion is in many senses a 'first among freedoms’, a cornerstone for a number of other rights and freedoms within the UDHR. This freedom is marginalised at best and is even now attacked, including at the UN itself.

"CSW and our partners call on the British government to implement the recommendations outlined in the letter and to accord freedom of religion and belief the importance it deserves.”

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, meanwhile, presented awards to people who have defended human rights and addressed hundreds of school children from the Yorkshire region.

“The temptation which we suffer from is to see our rights as more important than other people’s. We then start to see other people as slightly less than human. Very soon, we start treating them accordingly,” he told them at an event organised by the Born Free and Equal charity.

He added: “Start with the golden rule. The golden rule is that we treat others as we wish them to treat us. If I do things which diminish my neighbour, I am making myself less than human in the process”.