Defending Freedom of Conscience By Matt Cherry

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A Christian, a Jew, a Hindu, and a Humanist walk into a room together. This sounds like the beginning of a joke, but it is actually a description of what I do at the United Nations headquarters in New York twice a month. In May 2002 I was elected Secretary of the NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief. The committee works within the United Nations system to monitor, defend, and promote the fundamental human right to freedom of conscience.

 

I have worked on two broad goals within the committee: to improve the committee’s effectiveness in advancing freedom of religion or belief, and to raise awareness within the human rights field of the rights of Humanists.

 

Humanists support the full panoply of human rights declared by the United Nations. But the only human right that protects Humanists as Humanists is the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRoB.) This was first stated in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (see box overleaf). It requires all governments to allow people to practice and promote their life-stance and to suffer no disadvantage because of their beliefs. In practice, FoRoB is often invoked to support the work of Humanist groups and to defend the freedom and lives of individual Humanists.

 

Unfortunately, ‘freedom of religion or belief ’ is all too often converted to ‘religious freedom’. This linguistic contraction frequently reflects the practice of ignoring or denying the rights of the non-religious. Human rights campaigners, as well as governments, need constant reminding that, in the words of the UN Commission on Human Rights, ‘Article 18 protects theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs, as well as the right not to profess any religion or belief ’.

 

Working in Partnership

The NGO Committee on FoRoB is made up of over thirty NGOs in consultative status with the United Nations. These members elect a bureau of seven officers to run the committee. In addition to me, the current bureau membership includes representatives of the International Association for Religious Freedom, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocesan Council, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the United Methodist Church, the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Although these organizations have radically divergent positions on many issues, when it comes to freedom of conscience we all work very effectively in partnership together.

 

The committee holds an average of eight speaker meetings a year in which political, religious and human rights leaders explore issues surrounding freedom of belief. Its biggest event is the Annual Day for Freedom of Religion or Belief held every November.

While the public meetings are valuable, I feel the most important work of the committee is networking and lobbying. The committee is developing its role as a clearing-house and advocate for freedom of conscience within the UN and across the world. We work closely with the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, suggesting issues and contacts when he visits countries to examine their respect for freedom of conscience. We are also increasing our efforts to work with other committees within the UN, and with non-UN groups dedicated to advancing freedom of religion or belief around the world.

 

These two aspects – the organizational networking and the public events – came together in the 2003 Annual Day for Freedom of Religion or Belief. The meeting was titled ‘Partners for Progress on Freedom of Religion or Belief ’ and brought together key organizations working for FoRoB around the world.

 

The two keynote speakers for the event were David Young, Executive Director of the United States State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom, and Babu Gogineni, Executive Director of IHEU. The audience included not only NGO representatives and UN officials, but also several national ambassadors to the UN, plus the ambassadors from the Vatican and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

 

Defending the Non-Religious

The 2003 Annual Day for Freedom of Religion or Belief provided an ideal platform to promote IHEU’s new campaign for the separation of religion and state. It also gave an opportunity to emphasize that the rights of Humanists and the non-religious require equal protection to the rights of the religious.

 

The United States government, through the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom and also the quasi-autonomous US Commission on International Religious Freedom, has made ‘religious freedom’ its primary human rights focus in international affairs. The remit of these agencies is based on the various UN declarations of freedom of religion or belief. Unfortunately, as their titles indicate, these bodies tend to focus on ‘religious freedom’ to the exclusion of the non-religious.

 

In his talk at the Annual Day for Freedom of Religion or Belief, David Young focused almost exclusively on the importance of religious faith and religious freedom. Abandoning his prepared speech, Babu Gogineni responded to Mr Young’s presentation with a passionate defence of the Humanist viewpoint and the right of the non-religious and non-theistic to enjoy the same freedoms and protections as the religious. In the question-and-answer session, David Young responded positively to Babu’s arguments for the rights of Humanists and the non-religious.

 

“Broadly, in the field of Freedom of Religion or Belief, the challenge in the modern world, as Humanists see it, is to establish a tolerant environment for free inquiry where all life stances, whether secular or religious, can find room for flourishing and peaceful competition. For Humanists to preserve the equal freedoms and liberties they are entitled to along with the religious, freedom from religion in the public sphere is crucial...because what Humanists reject, they do not want to be imposed on them either by the State or by individuals in society.”

 

From Babu Gogineni’s speech at the UN NGO Committee Meeting