BWA Urges Religious Freedom in Yugoslavia

by Wendy Ryan

BWA(30.01.2002) / HRWF (01.02.2002) C Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.net - In separate meetings with the Minister of Religion, Vojislav Milovanovic, and the Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia, Zharko Korac, Denton Lotz, General Secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, joined on 21 January with Serbian Baptist leaders to appeal for religious freedom and equal treatment before the law for the more than 2,600 Baptists in 68 churches in Serbia and all religions.

Two organizations belong to the BWA: the Union of Baptist Churches in Serbia and the Baptist Union of Evangelical Christian Churches in Serbia.

Earlier this year, the leaders of the Baptist Union, Avram Dega, General Secretary, and Aleksandar Birvis, President, urged the BWA to respond to a draft of a new religious law that excluded Baptists from recognized religions in that country and put them in category of sects.

During the visit to Milovanovic, Lotz said he explained to him who Baptists are. It always seems necessary to me, Lotz said, to explain who the Baptists are in these predominantly Orthodox countries because they do not know that we are part of the Reformation and they do not know of our great suffering for religious freedom and the separation of church and state.

Lotz referred to letters that he had written to Milovanovic and Korac and in which he told them that even under the old monarchy, before Yugoslavia became independent, Baptists were mentioned and were guaranteed religious freedom. However, in the new draft law, the Baptists are not listed with the seven recognized churches. Baptists feared this part of the draft law would deny them full and equal rights before the law.

Lotz said Milovanovic believes in religious freedom and he insisted that while they concentrated on the majority churches last year, this year they will focus on minority churches.

When they met with Korac, this was the first opportunity for Serbian Baptists to express their concern about the new draft law and Dega and Birvis gave a short history of their work.

Lotz reported the Deputy Prime Minister expressed his complete commitment to human rights and religious freedom and was aware of the letter he had written on the issue. However everything must be approved by the Yugoslav government which sees the law on religion as a national issue and not just a Serbian issue.

Lotz said he and the Baptist leaders left the Deputy Prime Ministers office very satisfied that here was a man who understood religious diversity and religious freedom.

Like the rest of their country, Baptists in Yugoslavia were united after World War II into the Baptist Union of Yugoslavia, when the forced unity of the Communist leader Tito brought together Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bosnia and Macedonia. With the fall of Communism and the break-up of Yugoslavia, Baptists formed separate groups along the lines of many of the former republics.

Today Yugoslavia is made up of two of the republics, Montenegro and Serbia, and there are differences to the approach of religious freedom in Serbia and the nation of Yugoslavia.