Graz On Adventist Church's Religious Freedom History, Profile and Activism
John Graz boasts that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is one of the top promoters of religious freedom worldwide, at the same time lamenting that few organizations are providing competition.
As the Adventist Church’s director for Public Affairs and Religious Liberty, Graz explains in the following interview, among other upcoming church matters, that Adventist Church-sponsored religious freedom festivals around the world are key in the church’s efforts to raise religious liberty awareness worldwide.
A native of Switzerland, Graz also serves as secretary general of the International Religious Liberty Association, launched by the Adventist Church in 1893 to defend religious liberty for all faiths. The non-sectarian organization now has affiliated associations in some 80 countries, and is the world’s top forum on religious liberty, Graz says, with more than 600 attendees at its sixth world congress in South Africa last March.
Graz—who earned his doctorate in sociology of religion from Sorbonne University in Paris and previously served as a church spokesman on religious freedom and youth in Europe—recently told Adventist News Network about the department’s future plans, what a growing membership might mean for religious liberty, the church’s success and even some of its failures. Excerpts from an interview:
Adventist News Network: Why are Seventh-day Adventists defending religious freedom for all faiths?
Graz: “Because it is gift of love from God. Behind the principle of religious freedom you have the character of God—free choice. It’s also a gift from people who fought for freedom for all, a gift from our pioneers who believed in it.”
ANN: There are now about 15 million Adventist Church members worldwide, not including children. Do new members know of the church’s history of defending freedom of belief?
Graz: “In the church today about 80 percent of members have few roots in our history because they are new. We risk forgetting our identity of defending and promoting religious freedom. There is a real risk of missing out on making a difference.”
ANN: How do church members view religious freedom? Do they think it’s important?
Graz: “Some people in the church think religious freedom is just about persecution and end-of-the-world events. Unfortunately, so often that’s the focus. But a second approach is more focused on the principle of ‘what is religious freedom?’ Why should we work together with others? We can have more influence on society. We should play a role in challenging legislation that may limit religious freedom. Such an approach will put us on the front line of defending religious freedom because not many other people are promoting it as we do.”
ANN: In your 12 years as director, what have been some of the failures?
Graz: “Every time I learn a student missed an exam on Saturday because no one took care of him or her, I feel bad. There are many churches where no one is in charge of religious freedom and those who have problems are left alone without any support from the community. The result is we are less faithful. I felt a failure when I learn that a couple of Adventists where burnt on a public square in Dagestan, [Russia] in 1997, and we were not informed before it happened and were not able to do anything. Every time the church is pictured as a sect because of some amongst us love to attack others without any courtesy or Christian spirit, which is the spirit of love. Unfortunately a small minority amongst us can represent the church poorly before the public and cause a lot of damage.”
ANN: What about success?
Graz: “Yes, don’t forget the successes: people we saved from prison, people we helped when they were fired for keeping Sabbath, people who might have been sent back to their countries to be executed, the international congresses, symposium, awards, meeting of experts we organize. We have friends from different faiths, university professors, government officials, who have joined us in meetings of experts or symposiums on religious freedom.”
ANN: How do other denominations view Adventists?
Graz: “We are more and more recognized as a Christian Church, with particularities which, at times, put us on the margin. The excellent work of relations done for years by people like Bert Beach and others has changed the way many religious leaders used to see us. But for many people we are still seen as a sect. It is not the case in the Caribbean or in Africa and some parts of Latin America.”
ANN: Can you give us a scope of the department’s operation?
Graz: “We have a team of three. We have Jonathan [Gallagher] at the United Nations in New York and Geneva. We have a small but well-situated office in New York. We also have James [Standish] in Washington [D.C.], where he’s involved with church-state affairs on Capitol Hill. [The church’s North American region] produces Liberty magazine, the biggest magazine for religious freedom—180,000 copies published bi-monthly. We’re also constantly dialoging. Just last week we had a delegation of Ugandan parliament members here [at the Adventist Church world headquarters].”
ANN: What are some things church members can pray for?
Graz: “For those who are persecuted and have lost everything for their faith. There are millions around the world suffering discrimination and sometimes torture just because they follow the Lord. People can also pray for a visit with the Ambassador of the Philippines on July 11. Then in August we’ll have conversations with the World Evangelical Alliance to be followed by a dialogue with the Presbyterian Church in the United States.”
ANN: Your department coordinates religious freedom festivals. What do they aim to achieve?
Graz: “Promoting religious freedom has usually been done inside—church administrators going to government officials—but the festivals put it out for the public to celebrate. They’re important because this has never been done before in the history of Christianity. We are saying ‘thank you’ to more than 150 countries that allow religious freedom. They’re usually held the same time as a symposium or a meeting of experts. Last year we had 15,000 people inside an arena at a festival in Brazil with 20,000 more people outside the building. Among the most recent ones are Manila [Philippines], Kiev [Ukraine], South Africa, Trinidad, Guyana; next year there will be one in Angola with perhaps 60,000 people, and one in St. Petersburg [Russia]. We’ll also have them in Honolulu, Mexico, Venezuela, Chile, Peru and Brazil. The time has come to say ‘thank you’ for religious freedom.”