December 2009

Dear IRLA Board Members and Experts:

Before 2009 is over, I would like to report on some of the activities our association has participated in during the past few months. With the return of James Standish, we have a new team and we have made significant progress in several areas. James recently served as the Executive Director of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. It is a great privilege to have him as our United Nations Liaison.

1. July 25: Festival of Religious Freedom in Jerusalem. Pastor Richard Elofer, religious liberty leader in Israel, planned a Sunday afternoon Festival of Religious Freedom at the YMCA Center in Jerusalem. It is sometimes a challenge to get people to attend a festival on Sunday, but we were pleased when 300 people participate in the program. Dr Eugene Hsu was with us, as was Pastor Harald Wollan, our European Secretary General. Rabbi Yaacov Lebeau, one of the leaders of Conservative Judaism in Israel, spoke on the need for more religious freedom. It is clear that there is space for improvement, but every country which allows a meeting on religious freedom is going in the right direction. Congratulations to Pastor Elofer for a successful festival. He is planning to have a congress or a symposium in 2011.
2. September 1-3: Washington DC, 11th IRLA Meeting of Experts and Final Statement on Defamation of Religion.
   We had an excellent three days of meetings. The great team was led by Professor Rosa Maria Martinez de Codes. IRLA President, Dr Denton Lotz, and his wife Janice were with us. Ambassador Robert Seiple, Cole Durham, Rik Torfs, Bert Beach, Mitchell Tyner, and Rajmund Dabrowski—who have been with us from the beginning—were there too. The largest delegations came from Spain, with Professors Jaime Rossell and Jaime Contreras, and from Brazil. Our founding father, Professor Alberto de la Hera, was honored for his support of the group of experts and for his commitment to religious freedom.
   
   The IRLA Panel of Experts finished its work on the excellent document called: Statement of Concern about Proposals Regarding Defamation of Religions. The experts found themselves in agreement with certain goals of the United Nations proposal, but they don’t share the methods proposed—mainly because these would limit freedom of speech and expression. The statement ends with five recommendations. Read the full statement here.
   
   On Thursday, September 3, the group went to Washington DC and met Joshua Dubois and Paul Monteiro, from President Obama’s Office of Public Engagement. Then after a visit to the White House, they had a two-hour meeting with the Director of the Office of Religious Freedom and experts at the US State Department. The excellent meetings were followed by a dinner at Silver Spring.
   
   For the first time we had three professors from our partner association in Brazil. They invited the group to visit Brazil next year:
   Date: September 7-10, 2010 Venue: Rio de Janeiro? Sao Paulo? It is still open.
3. September 9: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Second International Symposium. Thanks to the persistence of Paul Kotanko, the IRLA representative in Mongolia, and the support of Glenn Mitchell, our regional Secretary General, the second symposium was held. Religious freedom is more and more challenged in Mongolia. We expected the participation of the government representative, but a few days before the event he declined. Fortunately, representatives of most religions and churches attended. Members of the government commission attended too, as did several Buddhist leaders. It was a good event, well covered by the media. Our IRLA team, with Dr Hsu, met the Buddhist participants in their monastery the day after the symposium. The great outcome of this second symposium was the organization of the Mongolian Association of Religious Freedom. All faiths are represented, as well as the Mongolian experts. The next project is an international congress.
4. September 11: Seoul, Korea, Forum on Religious Freedom. We arrived in Seoul at 4:00 am following our trip to Mongolia, and we presented lectures at the Seoul Forum held in the Press Club. James Standish arrived the day before, and he gave the main speech. The auditorium was full and a good number of religious representatives, scholars, and officials attended. Congratulations to Dr Lee Jong Keun for the organization. It was perfect.
5. September 12: Seoul, Korea, Festival of Religious Freedom. We initially thought that a festival would be enough, but Dr Lee wanted both a forum and a festival. The festival was held in the late afternoon in the main auditorium of the Sam Yuk University. The regional IRLA President attended, as did many guests. The organization was excellent and the festival program was fabulous. Religious freedom was celebrated by the short speeches of officials, by children, and by young people who presented a musical on Esther’s story—one hour of classical songs interpreted by four opera singers and two musicians. I wish you could all have been with us.
6. September 26: First Festival of Religious Freedom in Bogota, Colombia. It was totally unexpected that 15,000 would attend the Festival of Religious Freedom. The IRLA partner in Colombia is a federation led by Dr Charles Schultz who is also a Senator. The President of the association, called CONFELIREC, is one of the evangelical leaders. Most of the churches and faiths are represented on the board. The program of the festival was excellent. The union of Adventist churches in Colombia organized the meetings. As you can imagine, it was an impressive meeting.
7. September 28-29: Bogota, Colombia. The President of Colombia attended the Congress on Religious Freedom. Held in the Bogota Plaza Hotel, the First Congress on Religious Freedom was a great success. Organized by CONFELIREC, and supported by the IRLA and all the churches and faiths, the congress became the event in support of religious freedom. Top officials participated and the second day the President of Colombia, Dr Alvaro Uribe, came and spent more than one hour with us. After his speech, where he expressed his commitment to religious freedom, the President asked for questions from the floor. Robert Herrera and I were part of the program, as was Lee Boothby. At the end of the Congress, CONFELIREC voted an official request for partnership with the IRLA. Congratulations to our IRLA leader in Colombia, Attorney Alvaro Nino.
8. October 1-2: Caracas, Venezuela, Training Seminar. About 300 local and regional leaders of religious freedom attended the training seminar held at the Adventist Central Church of Caracas. At the end of the seminar, the delegates of the Venezuelan Association for Religious Freedom elected a new team and planned national and regional congresses.
9. October 3: First Festival of Religious Freedom in Venezuela. Congratulations to the organizers. The program was excellent. Pastor Carlos Schupnik took the initiative for both events.
10. October 7: Silver Spring, IRLA Board of Directors. All members of the Board of Directors have received the minutes. Let me share some highlights.

• Attorney James Standish was elected as Deputy Secretary-General. He will represent the IRLA at the UN meetings and OSCE, and he will also be the new Director of Development, with responsibility for IRLA promotion.
• Professor Rosa Maria Martinez de Codes was elected as IRLA Vice President, with responsibility for the Panel of Experts.
• Senator Charles Schultz, from Colombia, and Judge Daniel David Ntanda Nsereko, member of the International Criminal Court, have joined the Panel of Experts. We are honored to welcome our two new members.

NOTES:

• The 2008-2009 issue of Fides et Libertas has been published. It is a good issue focusing on Defamation of Religion. Thanks to Barry Bussey and Deborah Knott.
• James Standish attended several United Nations meetings in Geneva. He was there when the item on Defamation of Religion was voted on at the UN Human Rights Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on the Elaboration of Complementary Standards. (See news item.) The IRLA Statement of Concern was distributed to committee members and was very well received. It has become an important document in the debate. Thanks to our experts.
• The vote to ban the building of minarets in Switzerland was surprising. It was not a vote in favor of religious freedom. I was invited by an Arabic TV channel to be part of a panel discussion with three Muslims—one in Geneva, one in Istanbul, and the Imam of Georgetown University in Virginia. A few days later I gave a one-hour interview for a radio station in Tennessee and, with James’ encouragement, I wrote an article which you can read here.
• James attended the Parliament of World Religions in Melbourne, Australia. A few days ago he was in Papua New Guinea. The very good news about his trip is the possibility to organize an Australian Religious Liberty Association. Other good news is that the IRLA Meeting of Experts has been invited to hold its 2011 meeting in Australia. James will give us more information.
• Barry keeps doing good work in Washington DC, especially as one of the leaders for the Coalition for Religious Freedom in the Workplace.
• I hope you have explored our website. Deborah is responsible for the new site and you will appreciate her work.

I would like to thank all of you for your support and your work. Our cause is just and those who are persecuted or discriminated against for religious reasons need us.

I wish you a great and peaceful Christmas and holiday season and a happy New Year.

May God bless you.

Sincerely,

John Graz
Secretary-General