Lawyers gather to discuss religious freedom
Joe Hagan from Accra, Ghana
Lawyers and religious liberty experts from around the world gathered in Toronto on Tuesday, June 27, to discuss their responsibility in the face of growing levels of religious persecution throughout the world.
The convention, one of a number of events being held in Toronto prior to the Seventh-day Adventist World Session 2000 from June 29-July 8, provided a networking opportunity for attorneys concerned about religious liberty issues. “The main purpose of this event was to facilitate a dialogue between legal professionals wanting to actively promote freedom of faith around the world,” says conference organizer and attorney Barry Bussey, an Adventist Church leader based in Oshawa, Canada.
Citing the bulldozing of an Adventist Church in Turkmenistan by government authorities in November, 1999, as an example, Bussey says that there is “a growing chorus echoing throughout the world” of people who have been, and continue to be, affected by religious persecution.
In his introductory remarks, Bussey told participants that “we are becoming acutely aware that we have a responsibility” to people of faith around the world who are facing religious persecution.
John Graz, religious liberty director for the Adventist Church worldwide, reported on the state of religious freedom around the globe, using material researched and compiled for the Adventist Church’s annual report to the United Nations. Local Toronto lawyer Dr. Janet Epp-Buckingham, focused on ways lawyers can use their voices more effectively in fighting religious persecution both at home and abroad, calling for lawyers to be “vigilant against disinformation and discrimination” even in countries that profess religious freedom..
Other speakers and participants included Steve McFarland, executive director for the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom; Dr. Derek Davis, of the J.M. Dawson Institute at Baylor University in Texas; and Dr. Clarence Hodges, religious liberty director for the Adventist Church in North America.