JPIC Corner July 2009

Saturday, 27 June 2009 19:43

Coordinator’s Note
Brother Warren Perrotto, MSC
JPIC Coordinator
Missionaries of the Sacred Heart

Unfortunately, religious intolerance is alive and well in our world today. It is manifested either openly on the public scene or is practiced through subtle manipulation. In some nations, religious persecution not only denies freedom to worship, but also denies civil rights because of one’s religious beliefs. In the Islamic State of Saudi Arabia, Christians are not permitted to wear crosses. Nor may they build churches. Additionally, bibles may not be brought into the country.¹ In some Islamic States Christians must pay a tax.² Religious intolerance against Christians may include forms of slavery, acts of violence, torture, expulsion, food deprivation, denial of humanitarian aid, long-term detentions, destruction or confiscation of property, little or no legal representation and restricted places of worship. Often Christians face death threats and execution if they do not convert to Islam. Likewise converts to Christianity may experience the same fate.

By the same token, Christians cannot be exempt from their own intolerance of other Christians and non-Christian religions. Recent history shows the hostility between Protestant and Catholic Christians in Northern Ireland. Serbian Orthodox Christians continue to clash with Muslims in Kosovo. There is also conflict in some parts of India among Hindus and Christians and Muslims.

Religious Freedom is a fundamental human right. It is grounded in the nature of a human being. It is a freedom and duty which men and women are to express without coercion
and includes the freedom to seek the truth. Religious freedom essentially means that

all men [women] are to be immune from coercion on the part of individuals or of social groups and of any human power, in such wise that in matters religious no one is to be forced to act in a manner contrary to his own beliefs. Nor is anyone to be restrained from acting in accordance with his own beliefs, whether privately or publicly, whether alone or in association with others, within due limits.³

Solutions to religious intolerance must primarily rest upon acknowledging the dignity and worth of each human being. It is “our common human dignity which gives rise to universal human rights, they hold equally for every man and woman, irrespective of his or her religious, social or ethnic group.”⁴ This fundamental principle naturally carves a path to respect, acceptance and dialogue with each other. In this way the human community will be able to share similarities and differences among their creeds.

Daniel Ali & Robert Spencer, Inside Islam: A Guide for Catholics. West Chester, PA, Ascension Press,
2003, p. 129.
Ibid.
Declaration on Religious Freedom, 2
Pope Benedict, XVI, Meeting With. . . May 8, 2009.