Following his release after three months in jail on charges of "supporting Protestants and the West, and preaching radicalism," among other offenses, Muslim Imam Ilgar Ibragimoglu of Azerbaijan knew where he had to go: an international conference on "Reli
Following his release after three months in jail on charges of “supporting Protestants and the West, and preaching radicalism,” among other offenses, Muslim Imam Ilgar Ibragimoglu of Azerbaijan knew where he had to go: an international conference on “Religious Freedom: Transition and Globalization” held in Kiev, Ukraine, May 25 to 28.
Gaining special permission to travel, the Imam, who is secretary-general of the International Religious Liberty Association’s (IRLA) affiliate organization in Baku, the Azeri capital, was able to attend the event, which was a joint effort of the IRLA and the International Academy for Freedom of Religion and Belief, with the assistance of the State Committee of Ukraine on Religious Affairs and the Brigham Young University (BYU) International Center for Law and Religious Studies, among other groups.
“The presence of Imam Ilgar, who had just spent three months in prison, was a good illustration of the volatility of religious freedom in Central Asia,” said Dr. John Graz, secretary-general of the IRLA.
Social scientists, public figures and representatives of governmental religious affairs institutions of post-socialist countries, gathered together from 22 different countries to discuss important themes for the emerging world scene, with a particular focus on topics such as: religious freedom and public religion in the modern world; religious freedom law: recent developments; religious freedom versus religious/ethnic identity; and challenges of extremism and fundamentalism to a globalizing world.
“Ukraine was chosen as a place for the conference as a country which is known for its historical tolerance, normal attitudes towards other nations, religions and cultures,” said Lyudmyla Filipovych, of the Religious Studies Department of Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences. “After the collapse of Communism, Ukraine more or less democratically [departed] from the [ethos] of state atheism. [This] created good conditions for the development of different churches, [and] for the religious renaissance of Ukrainians and those [ethnic groups] who live in Ukraine.”
“The aim of the conference,” said W. Cole Durham, director of the BYU Center and vice president of the International Academy for Freedom of Religion and Belief, “was to bring together leading government officials and experts dealing with freedom of religion, to reflect on the transition that began 15 years ago with the collapse of the Berlin Wall and to address emerging trends.”
Durham added, “The conference has turned out to be even more fruitful than expected, identifying emerging legislation in at least 10 of the 22 countries represented and countless concrete recommendations for progress.”
“These contacts are vital as we work to expand the reach of the gospel principle of religious freedom,” said James Standish, legislative affairs director for the Seventh-day Adventist Church world headquarters.
Dr. Graz explained that the proper use of freedom is to create an “open space”—a space that allows tension, competition and reactions.
“In this environment, adaptation and communication become important factors,” he said. “The religious organization that feels challenged must communicate with the public; provide an answer to its needs, and express an interest in it. This means it must answer the public’s questions, accept its comments, and take the risk of winning or losing the peoples’ support. Freedom has its exigencies, its tensions, its advantages and disadvantages. It can jeopardize dialogue and peace. But everything depends on the way we conceive and practice it.”
Globalization, said David Little, president of the International Academy for Freedom of Religion and Belief, “brings both benefits and liabilities. It creates wealth and economic development along with inequality and exploitation. Perhaps its greatest asset is the potential for self-correction. International standards, like human rights, which have the capacity to rectify many of the accompanying grievances and injustices, are themselves the product of globalization.”
The IRLA, organized by members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and chartered in 1893, is a non-denominational organization, established to promote and defend religious freedom for all groups and people around the world. For more information about the group, visit www.irla.org.
