On Saturday, December 10, 2022, to celebrate the anniversary of human rights, the International Center for Religious Liberty and Public Affairs (CILRAP) organized the seventh Human Rights Conference with a symposium entitled "What Price for Human Rights?" The symposium was the result of a collaboration with the Campus Adventiste du Salève, the International Association for the Defense of Religious Liberty (AIDLR), and the UN Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR).
Morning Program
Dr. Richard Lehmann opened the day with a spiritual meditation at the Seventh-day Adventist church on the campus in Collonges-sous-Salève. Highlighting the title, Dr. Lehmann had the audience reflect on a well-known Pauline passage:
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (Philippians 2:1–4, NIV)
Dr. Lehmann highlighted the point of the meditation as courage, the result of communion with Christ, which leads to kindness toward others. This same principle motivated John Weidner to find the courage and love that led him to save more than 1,200 lives during World War II. He was willing to sacrifice his life to save others, helping Jews cross the border into Switzerland and Spain from France.
Christians should advocate respect for the laws of the land. However, according to Dr. Lehman, Weidner demonstrated that "strict observance of the law can betray the law." God gave us a conscience to discern right from wrong and the ability to think and decide. Weidner made his decision when, one day at the train station in Lyon, France, he witnessed how a Nazi soldier, with his boot, crushed the skull of a baby, torn from the arms of his Jewish mother, simply because he was crying and bothering the soldier. Weidner could no longer stand by and watch.
Dr. Lehmann continued with the following thought: "Keeping God's commandments does not automatically mean that we are doing God's will." The parallel was presented on the spiritual level as well. Could we behave the same way when "observing God's commandments" according to our own particular interpretation of them?
When Jesus asks, "What is written in the Law? How do you understand it?" (Luke 10:26, NIRV), His question shows there is always a subjective interpretation of the law. Our interpretation of the "law" can make us inflexible toward others around us.
Ultimately, the most powerful force that drove men and women like John Weidner to stand against "monsters" and bring people to safety at the risk of their own lives was love—the love of Christ that works in every believer.
"We don't need to be heroes. We need to learn to love our neighbor," concludes Dr. Lehmann.
Afternoon Program
In the afternoon, at 3:00, the main program, the Annual Symposium, was held in the Campus aula with the following speakers: Michael Wiener (OHCHR), Paulo Macedo (AIDLR general secretary), John Graz (CILRAP director), and Jean-Philippe Lehmann (president of the Campus Adventiste du Salève).
Dr. Jean-Philippe Lehmann also presented a short biography on John Weidner, a World War II hero who saved more than 1,200 lives. He emphasized the indelible impression Weidner's father had left on him with the thought, "You never leave an unfortunate person alone."
Weidner became an "outlaw" to defend human rights. He followed his conscience after witnessing the death of the Jewish baby, mentioned above, and became an "outlaw" because the laws at that time were inhumane. "You can't help others only when you know there is no risk involved. When you see people in danger, you feel the desire to help them, no matter if you have to get your hands dirty or even at risk of your own life. At that moment, the only limits allowed are those of life itself," continued Dr. Jean-Philippe Lehmann.
Afterward, he quoted Rabbi Harold Schulweis:
Dealing with goodness can be a far more painful challenge than dealing with evil. It is one thing to study and condemn the sadism syndrome in a Klaus Barbie case, but it is quite another to study and understand the rescue syndrome in a John Weidner case. The latter holds up a merciless mirror to us. Would I be willing to rescue a pregnant woman, a starving or homeless child, a frightened elderly couple—to provide them with food and shelter, to clear away their garbage and care for them when they are sick—knowing that this might attract the attention of Nazi pursuers and their informants and bring disaster to my family? The kindness of the rescuer shakes the foundations of my claims to virtue. The behavior of flesh-and-blood rescuers forces me to think long and hard about my own goodness and to imagine my choices in similar situations.
Dr. Jean-Philippe Lehmann's final question to close his speech was, "What price are you willing to pay to defend human rights?"
Michael Wiener, a Human Rights Officer from the OHCHR, presented the project "Faith for Rights." Faith for Rights is a project with the objective to promote human rights from the bottom up. Normally, the process is in reverse when countries meet at the UN.
Paulo Macedo (secretary general of the AIDLR) presented the International Association for the Defense of Religious Freedom, underlining the need for associations next to the UN in the present to "avoid conflicts without giving up one's own opinion, because this is becoming more and more problematic in our time."
The AIDLR has ten national delegations in Europe and has been registered in Switzerland since 2021, although it was originally registered in Paris in 1948. It monitors information and social trends to raise public awareness about freedom of religion and conscience. Another goal of the AIDLR is to accompany and support those who are in need because of challenges to the freedom of conscience and religion.
The Concert
The evening program was the much anticipated Human Rights Concert featuring piano and violin renditions of works by Chopin and Rachmaninoff. The concert, performed by Richard Kogima, concertmaster, and Damianos Serefidis, violinist (Human Rights Officer—OHCHR), and Michaël Wiener, pianist (Human Rights Officer—OHCHR), in the aula magna of the Campus Adventiste du Salève, was a delight for those who were either present or followed it on the internet.
The “Walk for Rights”
The weekend continued with the "Walk for Rights," the seventh edition of the walk for human rights that starts at the entrance of the Lutheran church in Geneva.
Participants walked to the Dituria Mosque, where they were welcomed to share in and exchange dialogue on the mosque’s activities for the local community. This coincided with the mosque's midday prayer, and a small tea ceremony was set up and waiting at the exit. The walk followed the roads up to the Campus Adventiste du Salève, where sandwiches and warm drinks were waiting for the participants to warm up and regain their strength. As it is already a habit during this annual weekend, the links, friendship, and commitment of the different institutions represented were strengthened and highlighted for their activities during the next 12 months, when a new meeting will take place on the second weekend of December 2023.
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The original version of this story was posted on the Inter-European Division website.