"We are very grateful for the assistance from the Adventist church and from ADRA [Adventist Development and Relief Agency] when we were shut off by sanctions and war, when we really needed it.
“We are very grateful for the assistance from the Adventist church and from ADRA [Adventist Development and Relief Agency] when we were shut off by sanctions and war, when we really needed it. This helped people survive in those terrible times,” said Dr. Ivan Vujacic, Ambassador of Serbia and Montenegro to the United States of America during a visit to the Seventh-day Adventist Church world headquarters Sept. 30.
Dr. Vujacic was welcomed by the Adventist Church President, Dr. Jan Paulsen, who said that the Adventist Church’s “engagement with society is very deliberate, since we believe to be a Christian you have to take a direct interest in the well-being of others and to be committed to providing the best for people,” he said.
“We hope that the various services we provide are seen by nations as demonstrating our commitment to be good partners in society,” Paulsen stated.
Referring to an April attack on Josip Tikvicki, an Adventist pastor in the town of Zrenjanin [see ANN, April 29, 2003], the ambassador expressed regrets about the incident. “I am so sorry for that incident. Sadly some are still infested with hatred and intolerance, and there remain groups that have not given up their extreme policies,” he said to a group of Adventist Church leaders at the luncheon hosted by the church’s office of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty.
Vujacic also said that “in our struggle for democracy, human rights and freedom were our highest goals, and we remain very committed to live up to these standards. We have moved a long way in a short time, but this is an area that takes time to change attitudes, to work for religious tolerance both in law and for the local population.”
Pastor Radivoj Vladislavljevic, president of the church’s South-East European region with headquarters in Belgrade, commented that the Serbian government recognized the Josip Tikvicki “incident as an attack on religious liberty and condemned it. The situation is now improving,” Vladislavljevic added.
