OPEN LETTER – Religious freedom:
a worrying drift
On 28 May 2019, the UN adopted a resolution designating 22 August as the International Day of Commemoration of Persons Victims of Violence because of their Religion or Belief. The COVID-19 pandemic having relegated to the shadows the holding of this day in 2020 and 2021, a reflection is necessary on the theme it proposes on the occasion of this anniversary.
The religious freedom highlighted by the observance of this Day is expressed in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which reads as follows: "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; This right includes freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom, alone or in community with others or in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. »
In the latest report of the Pontifical Society Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), José Luis Bazan expresses his concern about the interpretation of this article of the UDHR. This text is partly inspired by this. For the sake of analysis, we will first look at the statement of this right, and then at what it implies.
One right or three?As soon as the UDHR was adopted by the UN in 1948, there was a debate on the wording of Article 18 between some countries recognized for their atheistic political regimes, including the USSR and China, and Western democracies. The former sought to divide this freedom (singular in the wording of Article 18!) into three: freedom of thought, freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, seeking to give less importance to the latter. But this did not respect the vision of the drafting team of the Declaration, for whom this freedom forms a single block.
In recent years, we have witnessed a return of the pendulum where the same attempt to deconstruct religious freedom resurfaces. Perhaps because our time is less sensitive to religion and considers it to be supposedly less rational, it seems that this tendency has manifested itself even within the United Nations, through its special rapporteur who is supposed to defend this right.
In 2000, a change in the title of this special rapporteur already denotes the drift mentioned in the title of this text. The man who had previously been called Special Rapporteur on religious intolerance became Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief. Its mandate to monitor the implementation of Article 18 of the UDHR extended to Articles 19 and 20, which protect freedom of opinion and expression and freedom of peaceful association, respectively. Although an intimate link between these freedoms and that of article 18 must be acknowledged, the Rapporteur's mandate to monitor religious freedom has been diluted compared to what it was before the year 2000.
It is exactly with this in mind that in 2021, Ahmed Shaheed, Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, delivered a report in which, although he describes his various approaches to religious freedom, focuses his analysis solely on issues of freedom of thought (Article 19). This is a telling way of relegating Article 18 of the UDHR to the background.
Implications and Requirements of Religious FreedomThe religious freedom formulated in Article 18 implies those mentioned after the wording. Just as freedom of thought, conscience and religion form only one block in the spirit of the text, to attack only one of the freedoms it implies is to flout the whole of article 18.
It would take too long to list here the infringements of these freedoms. The Internet provides excellent documents for this purpose, including the aforementioned report of Aid to the Church in Need. To take a look at it is already to take a step to meet the persecuted of this world.
Richard Guay, retired teacher, Quebec
Co-signatories
Demanya Kofi Akoussah, President of the United Church of Canada's French Ministries Table Michèle Barnabé, Quebec François Delorme, Quebec Jean Desbiens, member of the Dominican Missionary Adoring Fraternity, Quebec Gérald Doré,
retired pastor of the United Church of Canada, Quebec
Jean Fahmy, PhD. Ottawa
Denis Fortin, United Church of Canada pastor, Quebec Claire Fréchette, Quebec Loyola Gagné, Religious of the Blessed Sacrament, Quebec Paul-André Giguère, theologian, Quebec Pierre Goldberger, Pastor United Church of Canada, Montreal
Nicole Hamel, Quebec
André Jacob, retired professor at the School of Social Work, Université du Québec à Montréal
Roger Labbé, Quebec Martine Lacroix, artist and activist, Montreal
Marie-Claude Lalonde, National Director ACN Canada
Line Lemieux, Quebec Jean Loignon, United Protestant Church of France, Saint-Nazaire, France
Mario Marchand, D. Th. P., Quebec
Louise-Marie-Pelletier
, President of Pueri Cantores Canada, Quebec Jean Picher, priest, Quebec Darla Sloan, pastor, Quebec
Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Tehindrazanarivelo, Head of French Ministries of the United Church of Canada, Toronto
Gabriel Villemure, priest, founder of ACAT Canada, Montreal
The religious freedom highlighted by the observance of this Day is expressed in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which reads as follows: "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; This right includes freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom, alone or in community with others or in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. »
In the latest report of the Pontifical Society Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), José Luis Bazan expresses his concern about the interpretation of this article of the UDHR. This text is partly inspired by this. For the sake of analysis, we will first look at the statement of this right, and then at what it implies.
One right or three?As soon as the UDHR was adopted by the UN in 1948, there was a debate on the wording of Article 18 between some countries recognized for their atheistic political regimes, including the USSR and China, and Western democracies. The former sought to divide this freedom (singular in the wording of Article 18!) into three: freedom of thought, freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, seeking to give less importance to the latter. But this did not respect the vision of the drafting team of the Declaration, for whom this freedom forms a single block.
In recent years, we have witnessed a return of the pendulum where the same attempt to deconstruct religious freedom resurfaces. Perhaps because our time is less sensitive to religion and considers it to be supposedly less rational, it seems that this tendency has manifested itself even within the United Nations, through its special rapporteur who is supposed to defend this right.
In 2000, a change in the title of this special rapporteur already denotes the drift mentioned in the title of this text. The man who had previously been called Special Rapporteur on religious intolerance became Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief. Its mandate to monitor the implementation of Article 18 of the UDHR extended to Articles 19 and 20, which protect freedom of opinion and expression and freedom of peaceful association, respectively. Although an intimate link between these freedoms and that of article 18 must be acknowledged, the Rapporteur's mandate to monitor religious freedom has been diluted compared to what it was before the year 2000.
It is exactly with this in mind that in 2021, Ahmed Shaheed, Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, delivered a report in which, although he describes his various approaches to religious freedom, focuses his analysis solely on issues of freedom of thought (Article 19). This is a telling way of relegating Article 18 of the UDHR to the background.
Implications and Requirements of Religious FreedomThe religious freedom formulated in Article 18 implies those mentioned after the wording. Just as freedom of thought, conscience and religion form only one block in the spirit of the text, to attack only one of the freedoms it implies is to flout the whole of article 18.
It would take too long to list here the infringements of these freedoms. The Internet provides excellent documents for this purpose, including the aforementioned report of Aid to the Church in Need. To take a look at it is already to take a step to meet the persecuted of this world.
Richard Guay, retired teacher, Quebec
Co-signatories
Demanya Kofi Akoussah, President of the United Church of Canada's French Ministries Table Michèle Barnabé, Quebec François Delorme, Quebec Jean Desbiens, member of the Dominican Missionary Adoring Fraternity, Quebec Gérald Doré,
retired pastor of the United Church of Canada, Quebec
Jean Fahmy, PhD. Ottawa
Denis Fortin, United Church of Canada pastor, Quebec Claire Fréchette, Quebec Loyola Gagné, Religious of the Blessed Sacrament, Quebec Paul-André Giguère, theologian, Quebec Pierre Goldberger, Pastor United Church of Canada, Montreal
Nicole Hamel, Quebec
André Jacob, retired professor at the School of Social Work, Université du Québec à Montréal
Roger Labbé, Quebec Martine Lacroix, artist and activist, Montreal
Marie-Claude Lalonde, National Director ACN Canada
Line Lemieux, Quebec Jean Loignon, United Protestant Church of France, Saint-Nazaire, France
Mario Marchand, D. Th. P., Quebec
Louise-Marie-Pelletier
, President of Pueri Cantores Canada, Quebec Jean Picher, priest, Quebec Darla Sloan, pastor, Quebec
Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Tehindrazanarivelo, Head of French Ministries of the United Church of Canada, Toronto
Gabriel Villemure, priest, founder of ACAT Canada, Montreal
