Participants:
Series Code: LI
Program Code: LI000308A
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00:23 Welcome to the Liberty Insider.
00:25 This is the program bringing you up-to-date news, views, 00:27 discussion, analysis and information 00:31 that you may not know on religious liberty concerns. 00:34 My name is Lincoln Steed, Editor of Liberty Magazine 00:38 and my guest on the program is Dr. Ganoune Diop. 00:41 Welcome, Ganoune. Thank you. 00:43 You are the Director of Public Affairs in Religious Liberty 00:47 for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 00:49 also Secretary 00:51 of the Christian-willed communions. 00:53 And-- Secretary-- 00:55 I know you've got the International-- 00:57 Secretary General 00:58 of the International Religious Liberty Association. 00:59 Religious Liberty Association. Yes. 01:01 One of the oldest religious liberty organizations 01:05 charted in 1893, you know. 01:07 So the Adventist Church 01:09 initially supported this organization 01:12 but then it became an interdenominational, 01:15 international organization and even... 01:17 Had some wonderful activities. 01:20 You and I have been to some recent events. 01:23 I remember the one in Punta Cana. 01:26 That was the-- The Dominican Republic. 01:28 The Seventh World-- Were they, 800 people there? 01:30 Yes, 800 people. From all over the world. 01:33 Seventh World Congress 01:35 and actually there's one coming. 01:36 I was going to ask you. Where is the next one? 01:40 Well, the next one would be in Hollywood, Florida. 01:44 Actually in... That's really Fort Lauderdale. 01:46 I was just down. Yeah, Fort Lauderdale. 01:49 I mean, area and this will be in August 2017. 01:56 Yeah, we are working on it 01:58 and we'll have a lot of people coming from all over the world 02:01 precisely to look into religious freedom issue. 02:05 You know, this organization, 02:09 the International Religious Liberty Association 02:13 is involved in several activities, several functions, 02:18 again, for the promotion of religious liberty. 02:21 You mentioned the congresses 02:23 but there are festivals all over the world. 02:25 Do you have any festivals coming up? 02:27 I know you are predecessor to Dr. John Graz.. 02:29 Well, yes. 02:31 So why he is full of excitement and that the latest festival 02:33 were there were bigger and bigger crowd. 02:35 The largest, well, I think was about 80,000, wasn't it? 02:38 Yes. I know that was 10, 20, 30. 02:40 In Angola. Yes. 02:42 And but-- It's in Africa so-- 02:44 Mozambique, right there. 02:45 But there is one coming in Mexico City, 02:48 in January for example, 02:50 and there are others all over the world. 02:52 But there are also symposiums and interestingly 02:56 what it's called also meeting of experts. 02:57 Why? 02:59 Because the International Religious Liberty Association 03:01 would like to develop a culture of freedom of religion. 03:06 And it'd be a catalyst 03:07 for a religious liberty discussion and action. 03:10 And given what we said in one of the program 03:13 that religious liberty is really central 03:15 to all other freedom. 03:17 When you touch religious liberty, 03:19 it's so core that you touch other freedoms also. 03:23 So in the large, in a global perspective 03:27 that is like contributing 03:29 to develop a culture of human rights, you know. 03:33 So this is why and we have meeting of experts every year. 03:37 Once a year we have thinkers, 03:40 scholars from all over the world 03:43 gathering together and we have journals 03:46 like Fides et Libertas. 03:49 And Liberty had evolved more at that too. 03:51 Exactly. 03:52 Then we have also what we call The World Report. 03:55 Now The World Report is also an important function 03:58 in a sense, it look at every nation of the world, 04:02 I mean, every nation of the world. 04:04 Look at the geopolitical situation, one. 04:07 Then look at what the constitution of that nation 04:10 in particular says about religious liberty, 04:13 then how the government is complying to its constitution 04:17 and then another section of that world report would be 04:21 how the popular, you know, consciousness is reacting-- 04:24 It's a fabulous report. 04:25 In fact, I think only the US State Department 04:27 puts out anything comparable. 04:29 Yeah, and even though ours is more focused on Christians 04:33 and in particular, Seventh-day Adventist is like. 04:36 You can look at any nation in the world and see that, 04:41 "Ah, this is what the constitution say, 04:45 this is how the government is behaving, this is--" 04:49 Because sometimes you have government restrictions 04:51 but you also have popular hostility. 04:55 And so sometimes of course, 04:57 the combination of both and so forth, 04:59 so this really help us to better understand our world 05:03 and what people would like to do during this quinquennium. 05:07 Clearly this-- Five years. 05:10 Is to really allow every of course-- 05:13 Now and then plenty of it is important to you and even to me 05:17 because every five years our church re-elects the leaders. 05:21 Absolutely and since I was just elected so I can, 05:24 you know, speak about our vision 05:26 and mission statement and so forth 05:28 for the next five years 05:30 and one of which would be to empower, to enable every, 05:34 of course, Adventist but beyond the, 05:36 you know, beyond the church every person of good will, 05:40 who'd like to know more about religious freedom 05:43 and who'd like to join us actually 05:45 in promoting a culture of human rights, 05:48 in particular, scented on religious liberty 05:51 because it is a compound freedom, 05:54 it is central freedom, it is of course, as you know, 05:56 a constitutional provision and so forth and so on. 05:59 Particularly in the United States 06:00 where the constitution is not just giving a nod to what it is 06:04 as we said in another program. 06:06 Every constitution by and large in around the world, 06:10 even repressive countries gives a nod toward it. 06:12 But the United States is the one 06:14 I think is a very enabling constitution. 06:15 And not only that, concretely even, you know, 06:20 Congress has also, I mean, nominated commission 06:24 that looks more clearly, more intentionally 06:29 I must say about religious liberty which is good 06:33 and I wish that every country will have this kind of, 06:36 you know, commission that will help promote-- 06:39 And the US commission that was primarily concerned 06:42 with other the countries-- 06:43 Yes, but we know that this is-- 06:45 They don't self criticize very much so-- 06:47 But you know, this is a global phenomenon. 06:48 There's no country that has an absolute clean record 06:52 in terms of religious freedom. 06:54 But again, this is why and I come back to that 06:59 when you don't wait until things are perfect 07:01 in order to work for the good, you know, 07:04 this is extremely important. 07:06 And this is a good chance for me to interject a comment 07:08 that occurred to me when we were 07:10 talking about the festivals of religious freedom. 07:13 A numbers of those were held in countries 07:15 that were not sort of perfect on granting it, 07:18 but that's not the point. 07:20 It's to raise their awareness and to thank them 07:23 for what considerations the government has applied 07:27 and to encourage them to be more, 07:30 I'm trying to think not liberal, but more open 07:32 and accurate in administering religious practice. 07:36 And this is why some criticism against the UN 07:39 are unfounded to a lot degree, again, 07:42 I represent the Seventh-day church, 07:43 I'm not representing the UN, right? 07:46 But when it comes to truth telling, 07:48 I think this is something that 07:50 we should share with all and it is important. 07:53 There are nations at the UN with some functions 07:55 that seem to contradict their national record. 07:59 So shall we shame and blame and say, 08:01 "See, you know, how can you be a part of this commission. 08:04 Look at your record in your nation." 08:07 But actually there's a synergy, a dynamic at the UN. 08:11 These ought to be allowed so that by mingling with others 08:15 those same country 08:17 violating other people's rights and so forth, 08:19 may join the human family and learn, you know-- 08:23 It's true and I'll tell you one area 08:25 that I have noticed this at work. 08:26 You know, every year for the last was it 14 years 08:29 we had our Liberty dinner in Washington 08:31 and we, Liberty Magazine 08:33 and one of your predecessor's associate-- 08:36 I think you founded it-- 08:37 I was with Liberty mainly 08:39 but working with the General Conference liaison. 08:41 We started this Liberty dinner. 08:44 And we wish more came but we've got 08:47 reasonable representation from Congressmen and Senators 08:50 and the from the Diplomatic community. 08:53 And I've noticed every year we have a good sprinkling 08:56 of either ambassadors or top officials 09:00 from the different embassies from precisely the countries 09:03 that you and I would think of "where the worst problem is?" 09:06 And yet they are attracted to come along-- 09:07 No question. 09:09 To find out more about religious liberty 09:11 and to show by their presence 09:12 that they are interested, that they want it. 09:14 So we shouldn't describe 09:16 the worst of motives to these countries. 09:18 Sometimes they sort of reflexly act the way they do 09:21 because of their political ideology or their societies, 09:26 say, if it's a Buddhist society, 09:27 it's not open immediate to another religion 09:30 but they want to change 09:32 and I think the United Nations has done a lot to creating-- 09:35 No question and I-- 09:36 This liberalizing human rights approach. 09:41 And a space had to be created where no paternalism exist 09:48 because sometimes, some nations think that, 09:49 "Okay, the others are less advanced on this and that." 09:52 That is totally unacceptable. 09:54 I think equality should be the basis of an interaction. 09:59 Speaking together, respecting other people's value 10:03 and dignities and of course, talking. 10:05 That is the foundation for democracy 10:07 where people can speak up and out and you know, 10:11 sharing their values without coercion, you know, 10:14 without patronizing or being paternalistic or the you know-- 10:17 Right. 10:19 And even a lot of the events that you hold and isn't there-- 10:23 next year you have a dialogue, one day dialogue 10:27 at the museum in Washington, DC. 10:29 Correct, correct. 10:31 And this I believe what we characterize 10:32 what you just said, where we bring in together 10:34 a bunch of experts in different views on religion liberty, 10:38 all of them won't to exemplify what you and I directly hold 10:41 but there will be encouraged toward our view. 10:44 It will give us a vehicle to present how we see it. 10:47 And people may-- 10:49 Moving people in the right direction. 10:50 Absolutely and people may not even have 10:52 the same moral foundations 10:55 about the same values that they defend. 10:58 But this is where by talking to each other 11:01 on some things you would differ 11:03 but some others they are intersection 11:05 so you work on that, this is like bridge building. 11:08 It is important that people start 11:10 where they have some common values in order, 11:14 again, the goal is to make this world a better place for many. 11:17 Even though we Adventists are people of hope, 11:20 we are waiting for a better world, you know, 11:22 and this is why we-- 11:25 Even Jesus said, "Occupy till I come." 11:28 In the meantime we shouldn't throw up our hands and say, 11:30 "The world is hopeless, there's nothing we can do." 11:32 And there's a beautiful-- 11:34 We need to work for the knowledge of God 11:35 and free values that honor God by their very existence. 11:40 There's a beautiful statement of a Rabbi who say that, 11:43 "If he knew the world would end tomorrow he would build, 11:46 he would plant a tree today." 11:49 You see, so that means that 11:50 you do good for the sake of doing good. 11:53 Regardless of, you know, 11:55 what tomorrow could bring and so forth. 11:58 Let's take a break now and come back after the break. 12:01 I want to move the discussion 12:04 to something quite contemporary. 12:06 Stay with us. |
Revised 2015-10-15