such discrimination including consistently denying the rights of Jews and Pentecostals to practice their faith; subjecting Jews and Pentecostals to physical and psychological harassment, such as imprisonment, beatings, confinement in mental institutions, and separation of family members; and decreasing Jewish emigration significantly and nearly completely; and Whereas the right to freedom of religion is guaranteed by international law and custom, as acknowledged by nations adhering to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki, 1975): Now, therefore, be it 1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 2 concurring), That (a) the Congress, in accordance with our 3 own history and national traditions of opposition to religious 4 persecution and bigotry, as well as in full respect for interna5 tional law and custom, condemns and opposes religious per6 secution and bigotry wherever practiced, encouraged, or tol7 erated by national governments. 8 (b) It is the sense of the Congress that the President and 9 other official representatives of the United States should at 10 every opportunity before international and regional forums 11 reiterate and emphasize the opposition of the United States 12 to religious persecution and bigotry, in whatever form, as a 13 policy or practice of national governments. 14 (c) The appropriate committees in the Senate and the 15 House of Representatives should hold prompt hearings to de 1 termine United States policy and actions, including sanctions 3 ternational law guaranteeing freedom from religious persecu 4 tion and bigotry. Mr. BONKER. Thank you, Mr. Porter, both for your testimony and for offering a resolution. Be assured that the subcommittee will be taking up such legislation at a later date. I have a comment with respect to the Pentecostals who have taken refuge at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. The House today will be considering House Concurrent Resolution 100, which calls on the President to allow the "Siberian Seven" to reside at our Embassy until such time as the Government of the Soviet Union authorizes their emigration. It is an honor to have you here, Mr. Jack. Please proceed. STATEMENT OF HOMER A. JACK, SECRETARY-GENERAL, WORLD CONFERENCE ON RELIGION AND PEACE Mr. JACK. Thank you, Congressman. I think you have before you a much longer statement. I will adhere to the ground rules on time and give some oral excerpts from it, if that is agreeable. Mr. BONKER. That would be desirable. Mr. JACK. Perhaps I can begin with the first paragraph. Intolerance, prejudice, and discrimination based on religion or belief are, unfortunately, probably as old as the rise of organized religion. While all religions aim at bringing out the best in human nature, one byproduct of the development of almost all religions in almost all times is bigotry. Some people tend to use any means to advocate their own religion and, in a multireligious society, to downgrade that of the other person. In any final moral reckoning, organized religion has undoubtedly been useful to society and to individuals; but it has also been harmful and sometimes suicidal and even genocidal. I learned in theological school that "God has no special concern with the churches." That statement is a reflection of religious history. Religion can be ungodly sometimes toward other religions. Wars have been fought in the name of religion. Yet some of the progress in the evolution of secular democracy has been painfully achieved often over battles involving the freedom of religion. Certainly that is the history of the West. The occasion of this hearing is neither the time nor the place to give a seminar on the history of religious bigotry; in any case, I am not the person to give one. However, I do want to recall one hinge in modern history which made possible a higher degree of tolerance of all world religions. That was in 1893 when the World Columbian Exposition was held in Chicago. The sponsors decided to convene, in connection with that exposition, a World Parliament of Religions. Invitations were sent worldwide; and representatives of many world religions came to Chicago. However, when they arrived they found themselves all seated together; there was no high chair for representatives of Christianity or of any other religion. The Hindu sat on the same level as the Jew, the Buddhist as the Christian. This historic conference did not eliminate religious discrimintion and it did not automatically place all world religions on the same level with each other. Yet it did set the stage for a greater freedom of religion. After the Parliament was held, no religion, and no adherent of any religion, need feel inferior-or superior. No missionary could make conversions without the object of his or her attention having the right to assert that his or her own religion was every bit as good-for him or her-as the religion purveyed by the missionary. Some Christians in the late 19th century dreamt that the 20th century would be the Christian Century. It has not been. Indeed, it has continued to be a bloody century as human rights continue to be violated, as people were massacred in the name of religion, as the Jewish Holocaust by the Nazis took place. As what is called modern "progress" continues, the means of human extermination also seem to continue and progress. Evolution is not automatic. In some ways, the higher humanity rises, the deeper it falls. Thus the past decade has been no exception in the history of religious discrimination. Let me make an inventory of religious discrimination on a rapid tour of many parts of the contemporary world. I have been privileged to make investigations of religious discrimination, especially in Asia. We might begin anywhere, but let us try the southern Philippines. While Muslims constitute only 10 percent of the only Christian country in Asia, they have been discriminated against for centuries. The Catholics of Mindanao are attempting to squeeze the Muslims out of their land. The Muslims call for autonomy and bloody battles continue. The solution remains more in the hands of the Christians in the Philippines than of Muslims. I saw this conflict with my own eyes in 1975 and it may not be improving. In all four other ASEAN States, there are also religious problems except in Singapore, which is a true multireligious society. (Fiji, Hong Kong, and Japan in that part of the world are also relatively tolerant multireligious societies.) The Confucianists of predominantly Muslim Indonesia experience difficulties, partly because they are of Chinese ancestry. The Buddhists in Muslim Malaysia, again mostly Chinese, also complain of bias. The Muslims in Buddhist Thailand, especially in the South, demand autonomy, often with guns. As for Indo-China, Kampuchea is now free from the genocide of the Pol Pot regime in the latter half of the 1970's, and this included the elimination of Buddhist leadership. Today Buddhism is slowly returning to Kampuchea, yet as in Vietnam and Laos, religion is of a domesticated variety and hardly prophetic. In the People's Republic of China, the severe persecution of religion which occurred during the Cultural Revolution is also history, but bitter history. The five religions of China are all emerging, and I was fortunate to witness the religious "spring" when I visited that land in June 1980. In South Korea, religion is "free," but many religious leaders are in prese år :posing the rcpressive regime. In North Cor 10 #CCW 1000t the ragous CDCD but KOM ceas Crace In Soona Ana Blodart Buma tre a pust some Muslims into Bingadest. DE VITE DE CE mace Burma take them back. Burma & Boodust State is ir 7 years id not alow Bud28 excen I eat the may even 20 Bend recus meetna The prison may save recently been had I Bangiadeat Buddass 17hg 2 the racks beyond aging allege Dar-es a peccles of sever recpons in that part of South Asa menemy Enes Masim Bangladesh sall feel that they are dosage to the mermina qually if Ioan Bangla la lada need the Mis -ce of the largest in the wond- feels somevita terminated against Certainly occa sona. Mislim Hincs nits bemor Consumatory so a serious proquem. This is primary WELL DET I becomes a religious proben when masses of acacies by to convert to Buddhism Trang alam to better ther it and are often prevented from doing so. I Fiore the Atmac778. a Mislim sect. in recent times has felt the monnued sang off scrime In Iran moderate Misims apparently have trouble, not to mention members of other religius, making Jews. Most tragic in Iran is the calmlated C-treatment of the 2000 or more Bata is. Y of whose leaders have been cled since the present revolution began in Febray At least 10 prominent Baha'is are in prison. The US Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorines adopted a rescluson September which bacated that it beard statements deary temonstrating the systemanc persecution of the Bat's a be anding summary arrest price beating executors. 12ters sinappings, sap parnices vomitters and many forms i tarassment In Syma, the Jewish community remains isolated. Israel a democracy, & an Orthodox Jewan State, with discrimination against non-Orthodox Jews and against Christians and Muslims in the Middle East generally, the wave of islamic fundamentalism has fouls for both moderate Muslims to exist and also for acrerenta of non-Muslim religions. This in Egypt the attacks on the Coptic Christians continue in Africa south of the Sahara. Jehovan Wichesses have been persecuted. In South Africa, some relipoua leaders have been denied passports to attend religious meet Catolice in Czechoslovakia feel discrimination. Christians and jews experience discrimination in other parts of Eastern Europe. except perhaps in Poland Conditions remain difficult for some Constans and most Jews in the Soviet Union. There organized reqon ta iz ago, made a pact with the authorities, but the price ixconnection is a disinclination to speak out against the injus tion of that society, while religious leaders remain free to magnify trer voice against injustices in other societies, especially Western. The violence in Northern Ireland continues. Its religious dimenwith a complicated by economic and social factors. In Western Europe and North America today, the quality of religious freedom is great. Yet our Western history of religious intolerance is recent enough that we need not exhibit any hubris. In Latin America, there are allegations of anti-Semitism in Argentina. In the West, but also worldwide, there is an added dimension: the rise of the new religions using unconventional methods. These groups include the Unification Church, Scientology, Ananda Marg, Shri Chinmoy, Hare Krishna, and others. Governments in the West especially do not always know how to deal with the religious freedom of these groups. In the United States of America at least, I believe our tradition of religious freedom applies also to them. If any group claims to be a religion, we must accept its claim and give it the historic privileges granted organized religion in our society, including tax exemption. The State can make no facile definition of normative religion to exclude them. However, individuals and organizations can investigate the methods and doctrines of these religious groups, and, if warranted, criticize them. Religious freedom is not freedom from public scrutiny or criticism. Religious freedom is not individual indifferentism. Individuals, if not society, can and should make moral and religious choices in differentiating among religious organizations. We should, however, no longer easily label certain religions “high” and, by comparison, consider other religions "low." We cannot lump for the sake of superiority all religions into Christian or "non-Christian" or into Judeo-Christian or "others." A cult in one era can be a mainstream denomination in another. There is a semantics of religious regard, but that is probably outside the realm of the present consideration. Yet nomenclature does impinge upon religious tolerance, discrimination, and freedom. THE U.N. DECLARATION AGAINST RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION A new tool to lessen religious discrimination was adopted by the U.N. last November: the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief. This effort took more than 20 years of contentious debate and drafting before it was adopted without a vote during the 36th General Assembly. This is not the place to recall the long history of the evolution of this instrument. I am appending, in addition to the text of the Declaration, two memoranda I have written on the final negotiations, in the hope that all three may be placed in the appendix of these hearings. Mr. BONKER. We would like to receive them for the record.1 Mr. JACK. I have spent a good deal of time, in fact the last 10 years, at the U.N. trying to nudge the Declaration along. I think this history is part of the record and will be important for your record. Mr. BONKER. I was in Geneva last year while the U.N. Commission on Human Rights was trying to find consensus in order to adopt this Declaration and submit it to the General Assembly. Mr. JACK. The political dimensions of this essentially religious document are clear. For 20 years some Western countries have advocated the declaration and some Eastern European States have 1 See p. 61 for copy of declaration. |