WCC's Kobia Voices Concerns Over Bangladesh Christians

In the midst of his 8-day tour to Bangladesh and Thailand, the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia has met the President of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, Prof. Dr Iajjudin Ahmed on Monday 28th March. Kobia highlighted the increasing acts of religious intolerance and violation of minority rights in the country, once known for being a moderate Muslim-majority country.

Bangladesh has a population of nearly 140 million. Sunni Muslims constitute 88 percent of the population. Approximately 10 percent of the population is Hindu. The remainder of the population is mainly Christian (mostly Catholic) and Buddhist.

While citizens, by law, are generally free to practice the religion of their choice, however, police are normally ineffective in upholding law and order and are often slow to assist members of religious minorities who have been victims of crimes, according to the International Report on Religious Freedom 2004 published by the US Department of State.

Also, the Government states that acts of violence against members of religious minority groups are politically or economically motivated and cannot be solely attributed to religion, yet human rights activists reported an increase in religiously-motivated violence.

During the meeting, Kobia and President Ahmed discussed the rights of Christian minorities, increasing trends of religious intolerance, political violence, the need for strengthening of interfaith dialogue at grassroots level and Christian contributions to social development.

President Ahmed assured Kobia that terrorist activities are the responsibility of only a small group. He promised that the government is determined to prevent such activities and not to allow the extremists to have an impact.

Fighting for the right of minority Christians, Kobia asked President Ahmed to consider declaring Easter Sunday as a public holiday. The president agreed to support the proposal and suggested to Christian leaders present at the meeting to start negotiating with the government.

National Council of Churches President Sudhir Adhikari, Baptist Church President Sheila Mong Chowdhury, and Christian Development Commission Director Joyantha Adhikari were also with Kobia at the meeting.

In addition to the special meeting with the Bangladesh President, Kobia attended meetings with WCC member churches and ecumenical organisations, as well as Roman Catholic and Evangelical church leaders in the country.

While the ordinary people usually experience the negative impact of religious intolerance and violence, Kobia has highlighted the ecumenical movement needs to be engaged in dialogue between Christians and Muslims at the grassroots level.
In a seminar held at the National Council of Churches (NCC) Bangladesh headquarters on Ecumenism in the 21st Century, Kobia emphasised that, as the world becomes more and more polarised, interfaith dialogue and cooperation should be a priority of the ecumenical movement agenda.

Since the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, Kobia said the work of WCC has contributed greatly in strengthening civil society, which in turn enables justice and freedom in the society.

Currently, Kobia continues his trip to Thailand where he visits WCC member churches from 29th March to 2nd April. He will participate in the 12th General Assembly of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) at Chiang Mai started on 31st March.