SUBMISSION TO DIALOGUE SEMINAR WITH THE EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS ON
FREEDOM OF RELIGION AND BELIEF
The Revd Anthony Peck General Secretary, European Baptist Federation
I am here today to represent The European Baptist Federation that brings together
Baptist churches which are found in almost every country of the EU and beyond.
Baptists are a minority church in each country and therefore I also represent the
minority churches of Europe in this Dialogue Seminar.
1. 400 years ago in the year 1612 one of the English founders of the Baptists
movement published a book which contained within it the first plea for universal
religious freedom in the English language. Baptists have continued this tradition
as part of their distinctive identity, arguing for the religious freedom not just for
themselves, or minority churches, and not only for Christians, but for all
expressions of religion or belief. Therefore we see Article 9 of the European
Convention of Human Rights on Freedom of religion and belief as resonating
with our own historic commitment to universal religious freedom.
2. It follows from this that Baptists and some other minority churches have been
among those who have argued for the essential separation of church and state,
with the secular state guaranteeing religious freedom for all. At the same time
this does not mean that religion should be relegated to the individual’s private
sphere. Churches and other religious groups are part of civil society and
therefore should have their contribution to make in the public square, and not
only those designated as ‘State Churches’. For minority churches, especially, we
are clear that we do this not from a position of power or privilege but alongside
others whose beliefs may be very different but whose concerns for some of the
big issues we face in European society is the same. We can at least agree on the
starting point which is expressed by The Charter of the European Union that
‘Human dignity is inviolable. It must be respected and protected’ and Article 22
that ‘the union shall respect cultural, religious and linguistic diversity’. For
minority churches, just being minorities gives us a strong commitment to a
genuinely plural society. The vision of a society committed to religious pluralism
is also behind some of the judgments of the European Court of Human rights
regarding religious freedom.
3. This commitment to argue for freedom of religious belief for all and not just
ourselves raises issues about how people of different faiths and none live in the
same geographical ‘space’. So it also emphasises that freedom of religion and
belief cannot be seen as isolated from other fundamental rights. These include
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freedom of speech, the right to non-discrimination, the rights of children,
parental rights, property rights, security issues etc.
As minority churches committed to a plural society which practices freedom of
religion and belief, tolerance and non-discrimination we share the deep concern
in the EU, the FRA and elsewhere at the alarming growth of groups in Europe
espousing religious hatred, especially against Islam. The tragedies in Norway and
France are hopefully extreme, but my own community has raised its voice
against any idea that Europe should be seen as culturally ‘Christian’ in an
exclusive intolerant way which discriminates against those of other religions or in
any way encourages religious hatred.
Therefore it almost goes without saying that any consideration of tolerance and
non-discrimination by the European Institutions and especially the FRA cannot
be made without reference to the place of religion in contemporary Europe.
‘Almost’ because we note a strong secularist tendency to argue for the freedom
from all religion. But secularism as an ideology on its own does not explain either
the surprising persistence of faith in many traditional communities; nor the
committed faith of the many migrant communities among us whose origins are
found in Africa or Asia. Theirs are also minority churches in which religious
freedom and questions of justice and non-discrimination often go together.
Some of the migrant churches have joined our Baptist Unions and Conventions
that then find themselves addressing for the first time issues of refugees and
asylum seekers.
For all these reasons the opening up of a space for what Article 17 of the TFEU
calls ‘an open, transparent and regular dialogue’ with churches and other
religious groups is vital at all levels to promote a healthy civil society. From my
perspective this is not a forum only to articulate the concerns of Christians
themselves, but an opportunity to bring our Christian understanding of the
issues facing Europe today in order to work with others to seek the common
good of all.
So far as religious freedom is concerned, many of the questions for churches in
general, and minority churches in particular, turn on the interpretation of the
second part of Article 9 of the ECHR; that the freedom of religion proclaimed in
the first part is subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and
necessary in a democratic society, in the interest of public safety, for the
protection of public order, health or morals, or the protection of the rights and
freedoms of others. This is open to a range of interpretations
Minority churches sometimes face discrimination according to the law itself. In
some European countries that aspire to join the EU such as Serbia, some
minority churches, such as Baptists find their religious freedom limited by being
placed in a secondary legal category after what are defined as ‘traditional
churches’ and being disadvantaged in such matters as taxation. In Austria,
Baptists and some other minorities are accorded a ‘secondary’ official status as
"confessional communities" without the fiscal and educational privileges
available to fully recognised religions. We are studying carefully the recent
Report of the Venice Commission that is critical of the situation in Hungary,
where many religious minority groups have lost their registered status with the
government as a result of new legislation last year.
9. There are sometimes issues between minority and majority churches which then
become enshrined in legislation, especially in countries where there is a state
Orthodox Church. Minority churches are often accused of proselytism; when
someone who was baptised into the Orthodox Church then of their own free will
becomes a member of a minority church. The cases which have come before the
European Court of Human Rights mainly originate from Greece, the only EU
country where there is a law against proselytism. In its judgments, the Court has
consistently rejected the view that proselytism occurs by the mere fact of
someone changing their religious affiliation away from the state Orthodox
Church by moral persuasion; and instead has helped minority churches and
religious groups by defining proselytism in a more careful way as, for example,
when money or advantages is connected with faith in order to induce the person
to join a church.
10. We in the minority churches hope that the EU will continue to scrutinise
carefully the record of accession countries in human rights and religious
freedom. For example, Baptists and other evangelical Protestants have first
hand experience of legal restrictions against them in Turkey, as well as threats
and violence against churches, their leaders and members, by extremist groups.
Beyond the borders of the EU we have other serious violations of human rights
and religious freedom in our member Baptist Unions in countries such as
Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan which go together with other abuses of human rights.
11. Let me now mention another kind of difficulty which may arise for minority
churches. This occurs when for individual Christians or churches other human
rights appear to clash with their own religious freedom. It often happens where
an individual or a church has a particular stance, based on their belief system,
on a moral or ethical issue (such as same-sex marriage). I think that minority
churches have a particular perspective here. They can support the legal rights of
other minorities in society with whose values and lifestyle they may disagree;
but at the same time they claim the right to their freedom of conscience to be
true to their beliefs and convictions in their own individual lives and churches.
This affects such questions as adoption of children, marriage, and employment
legislation as it refers to church employees other than clergy. I would hope that
within the FRA and the EU there could be an understanding and a honest
recognition that when other rights appear to clash with the right to freedom of
religion and belief, there can be some mechanism to discuss this openly and,
however difficult it may seem, to seek to find a way forward which preserves the
integrity of all concerned.
12. Let me conclude by re-iterating that the minority churches of Europe on the
whole have a positive attitude born out of their very experience as minorities, to
religious freedom for all, respect for the other who is different, and to a plural
society which practises tolerance and non-discrimination for all, even and
especially with those with whom we might disagree most fundamentally. We
see those same principles enshrined in the Charter of the European Union and
would hope that the churches of Europe, through CEC, could continue to have
place at the table to represent the way in which the churches can play a key role
in the development of civil society in Europe.