Faiths Join to End Persecution - Reversing the 'ism' Schism

As the State Department report makes clear, religious persecution affects people in many countries. The NCC has stood up time and time again for attacked believers in places as diverse as Burma and the former Yugoslavia, Colombia and Indonesia, to name only a few.

We also support those who are working for change. For example, the NCC relates to both Coptic Orthodox and Coptic Evangelical Christians in Egypt. We work in partnership with the Coptic Evangelical Association for Social Service to support rural development committees that include both Christians and Muslims. Participants say that addressing common problems has brought the two communities closer together.

Here are other implications, for me, of the word "together":

The persecution of Christians must be seen in the broad context of religious persecution and human rights abuses. Those of us who are Christians are, of course, concerned in a special way about the persecution of Christians. But because our Lord called us to see every person as our neighbor, we must extend concern to all who suffer, often at the same hand.

Right to practice religion

We need to hold all governments to the whole Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which includes the right to profess and practice one's religion.

Americans must work in close partnership with people of faith in countries where persecution is occurring. How do they say we and our government can best be helpful? Would economic sanctions help, or hurt? What other channels exist for pressure and protest?

We believe the federal office charged with primary responsibility for addressing religious persecution should be insulated, so far as possible, from partisan political pressure. So we oppose the proposal that those who monitor religious persecution be appointed by Congress and located in the White House.

Praying together for persecuted Christian brothers and sisters, and others who suffer religious persecution and human rights abuses, is essential. That is why the National Council of Churches supports the World Day of Prayer Against Religious Persecution, sponsored by the World Evangelical Fellowship.

The US State Department's report and the ongoing work of the Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom Abroad place the issue of religious persecution front and center on our nation's agenda, and rightfully so. These initiatives put countries around the world on notice that the United States cares about people of faith and the way they are treated. Our hope for ending religious persecution can be realized - if we continue to act together.

* The Rev. Dr. Joan B. Campbell, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and American Baptist Churches.

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