national, and Mr. and Mrs. Hruby, executive director and deputy director of Religion in Communist Dominated Areas.

We will hear first from Rev. Roger Arnold, executive director of Christian Solidarity International and then from the Hrubys. I am indebted to staff who told me that it is pronounced with an "H" so I would not have to stumble trying to pronounce it with an “R”. Mrs. HRUBY. That is correct. It is pronounced with the "H”. Mr. BONKER. Thank you.

Mrs. HRUBY. Yes, sir.

Mr. BONKER. Reverend Arnold, you may begin.

STATEMENT OF REV. ROGER ARNOLD, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CHRISTIAN SOLIDARITY INTERNATIONAL

Reverend ARNOLD. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and the subcommittee, on behalf of the Christian Solidarity International, and for the opportunity to testify on religious persecution.

My name is Rev. Roger K. Arnold, and I direct the activities of Christian Solidarity International in the United States under the name of CSI-Zurich, 12000 Old Georgetown Road in Rockville, Md., working on behalf of those who are religiously persecuted around the world.

CSI was founded in 1977 in Zurich, Switzerland, by Europeans and Americans as an international Christian campaign for freedom of religion. Its purpose is to inform, and then to bring to action help to those who are suffering for their faith. CSI presently has national committees in 12 countries other than the U.S. office.

I have worked with Christian Solidarity International for 3 years, having come into this unique type of ministry from the pastorate for 62 years. It was during my time of service at Wheaton Woods Baptist Church, Rockville, Md., that my interest began, developed, and increased for persecuted Christians who suffer because of their faith. CSI became the vehicle to help fulfill that desire.

The main office for Christian Solidarity International is in Zurich, Switzerland, is constantly receiving information about the subject of persecution, as well as sifting through it, and at the same time researching and confirming the reports being received. It is from these files, together with available current data, that we are able to formulate the basis of this report.

It has been requested by the subcommittee that my remarks concern themselves primarily with the plight of Christians in Eastern Europe, since testimony will be given with reference to the believers in the Soviet Union by another witness. However, overall, more Christians have been persecuted in this century than in any other. The reason is due to the intolerance of totalitarian regimes and, as a result, Christians in many countries are ruthlessly persecuted and cruelly tortured.

In the prisons and concentration camps of many dictatorial countries thousands of people suffer for the only reason that they are not prepared to betray their faith. Moreover, millions of people are hindered in practicing their religion and are discriminated against at work and in society. In addition, those who have died as a result

of these cruelties are innumerable, because no one knows the number of those missing.

International law, concerning the freedom of religion and conscience, within the Charter of the United Nations, under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, tells us this according to article 18:

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

The problem is that not all member nations are adhering to this article in good faith. And because of continual violations, individuals suffer religious persecution in countries where this article is not respected or kept.

Specifically in my testimony, I will briefly cover the restrictive situations in five Eastern European countries, namely; Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Romania.

The ancient name for Albania was Illyricum, a place where the Biblical apostle Paul "fully preached the Gospel of Christ." And it is certain that the Gospel was accepted. And from reliable reports, at the end of the first century, the church had given itself a hierarchical structure.

In 1385, the Turks conquered the country and introduced Islam, reigning there until 1912, the year of its declaration of independence. At the end of the Turkish rule, approximately two-thirds of the population was Muslim, 19 percent were Orthodox, and 13 percent Catholic.

After their takeover in 1945, the Communists under the direction of Enver Hoxha left nothing undone to completely eradicate any signs of religious life, be it Christian or Muslim, so 2,168 churches, mosques, and monasteries were closed, pulled down, or used for other purposes. Almost all the priests who survived are now in prison camps or prisons. Laws were made which allow arbitrary deportations into the prison camps, for example, of persons who are in possession of religious literature or ritual objects.

The prison term can be shortened or prolonged by a special commission without a court's judgment. These measures are applied to young people from the age of 14 onward. The constitution places religion "outside the law" and "any kind of religious activities and propaganda is forbidden." Obviously, one is particularly afraid that people might flee from the atheistic paradise. Therefore, relatives and even other people who lived in the same house with the one who fled, or those dependent on him, are made liable. Not without pride, Albania proclaimed in 1967 to be the world's first atheistic state.

News about the suffering of the church in this repressive society are very scarce, as emigrants fear the above-mentioned repressions against their families. One of them, the former seminarist Mark Ndocaj, reports that in April 1979 Bishop Ernst Coba was murdered in the prison camp of Paperr. The police learned about an Easter service which he was going to hold secretly in the camp. They forcibly entered the barracks and started beating the believers. The old and almost blind bishop was severely hurt and found

dead the next morning. The police immediately took his body away and buried him at an unknown place.

According to an earlier report of an emigrant, 2 archbishops, 3 bishops, 1 abbot, 60 diocesian priests, 30 Franciscans, 15 Jesuits, and 10 seminarists and monks were either imprisoned or executed. In 1972, Father Stefan Curti was shot because he had dared to baptize a child in the prison camp. But the seed which the martyrs spread comes up. The Albanian press as well as functionaries admit that the "eradication of religion does not show desired results."

After Albania, Bulgaria was for a long time the country of the Communist bloc which let the least information leak out to the public. One thing it was known for was its unquestioning subjection to Moscow. It was the Bulgarian head of state and party leader Todor Shivkoff who once asked leader Brezhnev to accept his country as the 16th republic of the Soviet Union.

However, recent years indicate a very careful opening to the West. One of its main reasons were the preparations and celebrations of the 1300th anniversary of the Bulgarian state in 1981. The anniversary was largely made known abroad and signifies the attempt of the state to gain status in the world. It remains to be seen whether this new approach to history, which in Bulgaria is indissolubly connected with the Orthodox Church-will result in a loosening of the strict religious policy.

Six million of the nine million Bulgarians still belong to the Orthodox Church. They are ministered to by 1,500 to 2,000 priests. But one should not forget that the church is under the total control of the state, who even decides on who can become a priest. The committee for the Orthodox Church and Religious Denominations, assigned to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, has the authority to dismiss any priest who does not seem to be acceptable to it, even against the will of the church.

The situation is even worse with regard to the Catholic Church. For her about 70,000 believers, she has not more than 60 priests, and according to some sources only 20, of whom not one is younger than 60 years. However, contacts established between the Bulgarian Government and the Vatican during the past years may be a sign of hope for a gradual improvement of the situation.

Although in terms of figures Protestantism is negligible in our country, as it represents a religion which in comparison with orthodoxy is much harder to overcome, according to a Bulgarian study on religious sociology. Approximately 20,000 Protestants are split up into Congregationalists, Methodists, Baptists, Adventists, and Pentecostalists. Beside there is the Armenian Church and a great number of Muslims.

All believers in Bulgaria suffer under stict legislation which tries to limit the exercise of one's faith to the performance of religious rites within the church walls.

As in other East European countries, Communists took drastic measures after their takeover in Czechoslovakia at the end of the forties in order to make the believers "free themselves of their own accord, voluntarily and due to their own convictions from the influence of religion." This "voluntary liberation" was considerably emphasized by the newly founded state church department, using var

ious kinds of repressions against the clergy, parents, and children. After believers of all denominations were deprived of almost all opportunities to confess their faith in public, only the "Prague spring" in 1968 revealed, partly, what the church had suffered during the previous 20 years.

Because of the short-lived thaw, little time was available to recover. Repressions against believers and churches began again with renewed vigor. They were especially caused by an opinion poll taken in the fall of 1972 which revealed that 72 percent of the population still believed in God. As a result, atheist education in schools intensified, teachers gave sworn allegiance to the MarxistLeninist ideology, and a confidential document said:

The antireligious campaign will be successful if the apostates are granted social, political and financial advantages which will have positive psychological effects.

Reactions of the churches were mixed. While the Protestant Church adjusted to the situation as far as possible, interpretating atheism as "radical humanism," a so-called "secret church" developed within the Catholic Church. Further, the import of religious literature is forbidden and, in addition, there is a wide network of informers who report anything that happens within the church.

This development, of course, is a thorn in the sides of the Czechoslovakian authorities. Since the end of the seventies they are intensifying their efforts to suppress any signs of spiritual life. House searches are the order of the day, as well as interrogations and increasing arrests. These measures are mainly directed against those clergy who engage in youth work or distribute Christian literature. Among the Communist countries of the Eastern bloc, Hungary today is considered to be one of the most tolerant with regard to religious freedom. Official statements often emphasize the fact that there exists a Catholic press, that anyone can buy a Bible and that the Bible is even integrated into the literature curriculum of certain colleges. But how do things work in practice?

Now, as before, the highest church body is the state's department for religious affairs, an authority directly responsible to the Government. It is a center of a whole network allowing the state to exercise its control down to the very local parishes. Numerous spies and informers penetrate into every sphere of church life.

This system also implies that higher positions within the church are filled with persons who are willing to compromise with the regime. Thus, even the primate of the Hungarian Catholic Church, Archbishop Laszlo Lekai, rarely misses an opportunity to underline that the church contributes to "the construction of the socialist state." However, in contrast, the Deputy Prime Minister Aczel has said that "A compromise between materialist Marxism and religion is not possible."

Under these conditions, it is very difficult for the church to remain true to its proper call. Religious education of the youth is especially affected, as in 1948 all denomination schools, more than 50 percent in the nation, were placed under government control. And the very next year, religious lessons in the state schools were abolished. However, in recent years, because the Catholic Church tried to reach a prearrangement, in 1976 religious lessons were permitted in church buildings under restrictive measures. Also, some

of the Catholic schools were returned to the church, as well as allowing Catholic and Protestant theological colleges to operate. But the state defines who may be admitted.

Then in 1978, further relaxation of previous religious bans provided for a theology correspondence course for laymen, Biblican lectures in secondary girls' schools, and the Reformed Church was also allowed to open a bookshop in Budapest in 1977.

Since 1977, a new wind has been blowing in Romania. The personality cult surrounding Ceausescu is accompanied by increasingly brutal methods of torture employed by the Securitate (the Rumanian secret service) against religious and political dissidents. There is proof that the victims are beaten on the head, neck, and abdomen with fists, rubber truncheons, wet sandbags, et cetera. Also, the forcible treatment in psychiatric clinics where several hundred dissidents are being held, is especially cruel. Various drugs induce anxiety, unconsciousness, apathy, insomnia, acute pain in the muscles or paralysis of the neck, eyes, and extremities. Often the result is serious damage to organs of the body and complete disequilibrium of the mind.

In order to defeat the growing religious movement, the Government has intensified its methods of repression and, as a result, very often believers are hit with exorbitant fines. Often the father of a family is dismissed from his job and given a fine at the same time. This results in great hardship to him and his dependents. Children who go to church are rarely admitted to higher education. Many are even beaten by their teacher.

One case in point that is still not solved involves Father Georghe Calciu, a Romanian Orthodox priest. In 1948 he was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Following his release he studied philosophy and theology. He soon became popular as a priest and teacher at the Orthodox Theological Seminary in Bucharest. He protested courageously against the destruction of churches, evacuation of the monasteries, and discrimination against other Christian denominations. In August of 1977 Calciu was dismissed by the church. On March 10, 1979, he was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He is in poor health and still is being held under government supervision.

The question is, what can be done to help alleviate the continual suffering of Christians because of religious persecution, which is a violation of human rights?

One Biblical answer is found in the book of Hebrews 13:3, which says, "Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body," which means we will show an identity with those who need our help. And this is done through strong world public opinion to bear against violations wherever they occur.

In closing, I would like to share a quote from Abraham Lincoln that he spoke on April 6, 1859:

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and, under a just God, cannot long retain it.

Thank you very much.

Mr. BONKER. Thank you, Reverend Arnold, for that excellent statement. We have another meeting at 5:15 so we are running into