Welcome to The Liberty Insider.
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This is the program that
brings you up-to-date news,
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views, discussion and
opinions on religious liberty.
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My name is Lincoln Steed,
editor of Liberty Magazine
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and my guest on the
program is Dr. John Graz.
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Well, Director
for Religious Liberty
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for the
Seventh-day Adventist Church.
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Welcome John. Thank
you for inviting me--
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And this is not the first
time and I hope not the last.
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No it's always a
pleasure to be here.
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There is a lot of
things that we can talk about.
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I know--even though our
offices are not far apart
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you're hardly ever
there traveling the world
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and there so
many things going on.
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But there was
one recent event that
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I want spend some
time discussing with you.
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I was there and
it was your event.
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And--and I characterized
by the working title
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of this program on the beach.
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Yeah.
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That--that was the
Seventh World Congress.
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And it was not
holiday or vacation
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for me and for our team too.
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But a nice a
place to be working?
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Oh, yeah fabulous place.
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Tell--tell us
little bit about it.
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About the place
or about the event.
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Place. You know
the place was the,
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resort, beach resort
and the fabulous place
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to spend some-- some days
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but really that
was not--gave us,
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did not give us a
time to stay on the beach,
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because we have to
lot of things to do.
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And that was the
Seventh World Congress
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of the International
Religious Liberty Association.
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The seventh it mean you
know we have already a story.
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And seven is a perfect number.
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Seven is a perfect number
and I wanted really to have
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really a big
congress, something different
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and I think that we reach
our goal and thanks the Lord,
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you know, that was
probably the largest event about
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religious freedom
in term of congress.
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It means you know
people who are invited
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our expert of religious freedom,
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about religious
freedom, religious leaders
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people involved in NGOs,
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it means
non-governmental association
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defending religious freedom.
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It was really a world
event not just for those
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who are close to the association
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but for all people interested
about religious freedom.
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How many people attended?
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About you know,
we were very close
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to nine hundred
and I think we may--
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we may have been
more because you know
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I am not sure that all
people where registered.
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Well, I wrote this
up for Liberty Magazine
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and I remarked on something,
I thought it was good hook
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for the article but I
didn't just make it up.
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I've been to other conferences
and there is standard pattern
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whether it's a
medical conference
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or something for
metal workers or whatever,
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you see them as
you traveled the world,
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lot of big
hotels-- big conference.
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But invariably they
have the first assembly,
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a few presentations. Yeah right.
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And then from there
on there's hardly anyone
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there they are all out
by the pool or on the beach.
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Exactly. And that
didn't happen here.
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No, no, and I thought
the same thing you know,
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because you know
when I build the program,
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I thought that
may be let see may be
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we should not have
meeting in the evening.
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And after you know
I thought that people,
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some people are really
here because they want to speak
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about religious freedom
and they are some topics
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like the state of
religious freedom in the world.
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We need to have a
kind of workshop about.
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And we decided to
put in the evening,
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it means several workshops
and of course I thought
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that you know 20 people,
25 people but it was full.
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It was full and we have a
problem because we did not
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plan to have a translation
from English into Spanish.
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And we had to improvise
that because people were there
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and they were very interested.
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And as you remember, you know,
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when we start the
program in the afternoon at two,
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two beautiful
whether, beaches and resorts.
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We thought that
nobody will be here,
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but you know what 2:15
the room was almost full.
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That's all
right. I think that's,
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I mean that's some
testimony to how well
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this organization,
this event was run.
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But I in a larger sense,
I think religious liberty
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as catching the
attention of professionals
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and there were many
government leaders there.
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People want to know
because this is a hot topic now.
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Yeah that's, as you
said, that's a hot topic and,
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you know, we had a
privilege to know so many people
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we invite 50
religious leaders but you know,
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university professors
from the best universities.
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It--it means that,
that was really an event
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where the best
expert on religious freedom
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and some famous religious
leaders like the sacred age
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of all of the
Baptist World Alliance,
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sacred age in all of
the Christian global forum
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and our president
Dr. Ted Winson was with,
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they were all together.
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Absolutely. No this is
a very high profile event.
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We need to talk at
some length about many
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of the presentations
but one that got my interest
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though was government
representative from Cuba.
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Yeah. In the United States,
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you don't often hear
directly from Cuba but--
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You- you know, he
want also when we had
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the first congress I organize,
was in Rio, it was in 1997.
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And they send also
the deputy director
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of religious affairs from Cuba.
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And it means we
know more or less
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what kind of
speech they will give
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and we we're not disappointed
this time too. Yeah.
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Well, I maybe I should
comment on it, you know
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it's a free forum, you don't--
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you can't tell people what they?
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They should say and I was
interested in the woman for the,
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representing the
Cuban government.
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She gave very
optimistic presentation,
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in my view it was what
they would like it to be
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or at least like us
to think its, it is.
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But to me the value was
that they've been called
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to high expectations
and just in front of people
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that are standing
for a religious liberty
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and for them to sort of put
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a good construct
on their situation.
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I think it's very
likely to actually
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improve
religious liberty in Cuba.
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Exactly and first, you
know, we have to remember that
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when you represent a government,
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you cannot say
everything. You have too...
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No, its not a
critique, its an observation.
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You have just to explain
the policy of the government
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that was also true for the
other officials we had invited,
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except the one from Honduras,
but he had been just dismissed.
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Because, you know,
that's a fabulous story.
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I was there in Honduras a few--
few days before the congress.
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And in Honduras they had a
big discussion about a new law
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and the new law should
or planned to recognize
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not just the Catholic Church
but an evangelical association.
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And the deal was, you know,
all those who are not catholic
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has to be member of
this evangelical association.
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And they will be recognize
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at the same level
of the catholic church.
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Of course, many evangelicals
including the Adventist
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and some other said no,
we don't want to be member
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of this
association, why we should?
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And they had a big discussion
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and the minister of
religious affairs, you know,
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disagree with the
president publicly.
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And of course, you
know, when I visited there
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he was waiting the telephone
call from the president
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and saying I'm
sorry but, you know,
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you know disagree with my
policy, we cannot keep you.
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And he was--he was had
to leave the government
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with his deputy director
and he came to the congress
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and he explain what
happened in Honduras.
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And actually that sort of
dynamic is being played out
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also in Latin America because
the countries are moving away
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from once was the
truly confession step,
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where Roman
Catholicism was not just favored
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by the state it was sort of.
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Then was a state religion. Yeah.
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And I mean in many countries
you know in Latin America,
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still you have still
some countries like that.
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You could not be the
president of the country,
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if you are not a catholic,
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like in
Argentina a few years ago.
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You had to be a catholic
but now you know with the growth
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of the evangelicals
and present or pluralism.
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It tends, they
tend to change the law
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and there is a strong movement
to have more religious freedom
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at least at these level.
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They have religious
freedom we cannot say that
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you don't have religious
freedom in Latin America,
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but you know they
would like also to have
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these religious
freedom in the law.
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Not just in practical.
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Well, I think they
moving in the right direction
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because they trying
to disentangle themselves
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from the pressure relationship
but at the same time
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they can't
instantly go to a situation,
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it's very difficult
to go instantly to way
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all religion including this old,
not old but the catholic church
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that they had this old
relationship with they can't
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suddenly put it
just one among many.
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One of the
problem is you know for us
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we are in favor of
separation of church and State.
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In some countries
where are you had,
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you know one religion,
or one church as recognize
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as a state church
or state religion.
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It's difficult and
what they are doing,
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they try to give the
same privilege to the others.
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But we know that--
that's not the best way
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but anyway it
may be a first step.
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That's what I was trying to say.
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I mean it's not
theoretically ideal,
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but we have to
recognize most of Latin America,
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they are moving in
the right direction.
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And their
intentions that to create
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greater and
greater freedom for or,
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an equality of
religious freedom.
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And coming back to Cuba,
you know if we compare Cuba
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with some other really communist
countries like North Korea,
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and even Vietnam
you know even China,
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Cuba has a better, better
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situation for
religious minorities.
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They, its--its not
really perfect but--
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but you know that's
still, still we can visit Cuba.
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We can have meeting in Cuba.
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There also, you know,
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we have also
evangelistic campaign in Cuba.
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Of course, you
have to be careful
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not criticize the
government but you know
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it happened in
several other countries.
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Well, it was a
great opening there
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and I often wondered
this is purely my opinion,
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but I've noticed that the,
the increased religious liberty
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in Cuba corresponds
to Fidel Castro's illness
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and remember he
was early on in Israel
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just when the first came.
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Yeah, right.
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And he started to be a more
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open and open
to religion and so.
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I don't know, I think that
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there is practical
aspect and you know when we,
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I visit Cuba 15 years ago.
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I talk with several official
and I remember having talk
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with the Baptist
pastor I need explain that
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he was invited with
all the religious leaders
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by Fidel Castro
and he explained that,
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you know, the
state and the different
00:11:07.47\00:11:09.87
religious group should
have good relations and they try
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to treat religious people in
a various, in a different way.
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You know we they are
many things we can say
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but we have also to
see the positive aspect.
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No, no. If I take...
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Should even indulge
that, but--but on--on one level
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we need to be quite
clear that in Cuba there was
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incredible persecution of
many Christians and Adventists.
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I know some people that
were imprisoned, that was real.
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But we have to face just
the historical change in Cuba
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while it is not a
perfect system but they have
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radically improved and
that there is a new openness
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that--that compared
to what it once was.
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Yeah. It's amazing.
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And we can pray that,
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that it-it
continues on like that.
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You know we had
also program in Columbia.
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We have program in
several country which was,
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which is absolutely
fabulous is you know,
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40 years ago in Latin
America, you do not have
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religious freedom in
most of the countries
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except may be the
Brazil, but--but now, you know
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they have more religious freedom
on the American Continent
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than everywhere
else around the world.
00:12:16.82\00:12:19.77
Now--and, and
within our own church,
00:12:19.78\00:12:21.63
Seventh-day
Adventist Church the increase
00:12:21.64\00:12:24.09
in membership reflects
the surplus, doesn't it.
00:12:24.10\00:12:26.54
I think things are
changing all you know
00:12:26.55\00:12:28.75
at the number of
the Evangelicals,
00:12:28.76\00:12:31.13
Pentecostal are
growing Adventist are growing,
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probably it's a positive
factor to have a more freedom.
00:12:34.47\00:12:38.25
Very good. We will
be back after the break
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to further discuss
this Seventh World Congress
00:12:40.16\00:12:43.43
of Religious
Liberty that was held
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In Punta Cana,
Dominican Republic.
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