Prayer gatherings honour freedom of religion

As the 25th anniversary approaches of the adoption of a key United Nations document on freedom of religion, members of Bah’ communities across Canada will be joining people of other faiths at open prayer gatherings Nov. 25 to reflect on the freedoms enshrined in the document.

The Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1981. Its tenets include the right to choose one's religion and the right of parents to raise their children according to the religion of their choosing.

The Bah’s want these prayer gatherings to celebrate the advances that the document has helped forge, but also to recognize the progress that has yet to be made in many parts of the world.

For the Bah’s, the UN Declaration has personal significance from both a theoretical and a practical standpoint. The freedom to investigate and choose one's religion is a core principle of the Bah’ faith. And since the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1981, the Bah’ community there has struggled to be able to practice its religion freely and without severe interference from the government, a hope thus far unrealized.

While the UN document was a milestone in international agreements when it was adopted 25 years ago, getting all of its signatories to commit to implementing its provisions has been one of the international community's greatest challenges. The Bah’ International Community released a statement in October of last year proposing measures to strengthen the Declaration's authority. Among the proposals are making explicit the right to change one's religion, as affirmed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and guaranteeing the rights of peacefully organized minority religious communities.