Rev. Dr. Henriette Hutabarat Lebang, a pastor of Toraja Church in Indonesia, is chair of the advisory board of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia and one of the presidents of the World Council of Churches, representing Asian churches. The following post is based on her remarks during the panel “Religious Perspectives on Religious Freedom and Peace” at the ICLRS 31st Annual International Law and Religion Symposium, 7 October 2024.

Can we experience religious freedom and peace in these challenging times of our modern age? This is the question that is often raised, especially in the midst of war, escalating conflicts, and violence in the world today. These conflicts are rampant, not only in the relationship between or among countries but also between different communities within one country, which, more often than not, are triggered by our failure to respect the pluralistic backgrounds of our people in the communities or regions in which we live.

For instance, in Asia, the prejudice against people of different ethnic backgrounds or religions has intensified communal conflicts, leading to further discrimination based on ethnicity, culture, religion, and gender. Suppression of religious freedom forms a major part of discriminatory attitudes. We cannot ignore the fact that tension and violence in the family—the fundamental unit of our society—is also a reality of our life. In many instances, women and children are the victims of violence. The root cause of family or communal conflicts is due to our inability to respect differences.

Moreover, we often fail to see others as created by God in His image, just as our own self. I will share the Christian perspective on this matter. The Bible emphasizes in the Book of Genesis that all people—regardless of their differences in culture, ethnicity, religion, gender, age, or color—are created in the image of God; therefore, we need to remember that human dignity is the gift of God that must be respected and protected. The writer of Psalm chapter eight praises God when he says, “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are humans that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor” (Psalm 8:3–5).[1]

Human beings are special in the eyes of God. Each person is the image of God in the sense that he or she has the power and capacity to choose. Human beings are not robots, but they are equipped with the capacity to choose and to be responsible for their decisions. The encounter of Joshua and the Israelites in the book of Joshua describes this system of agency when Joshua said to them,

Now therefore revere the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt and serve the Lord. Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:14).

God gives human beings the freedom to choose their religion and their future but reminds them to be responsible for the consequences of their choice.

When people in Indonesia meet, each greets the other with the word Salama or Salam, which means “Peace of God be with you,” similar to the word Shalom in Hebrew or As-salamu alaykum in Arabic. We hear similar words of greeting by many people around the world in their own languages, such as Namaste, Horas, and others. This exchange of greetings actually indicates that we are all longing for peace, irrespective of religion, language, or culture.

The word Shalom in the Bible does not always mean the absence of difficulty, challenges, or even conflict or war. As Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid” (John 14:27). The peace that Jesus promised is qualitatively different from the peace that is commonly perceived by the world, such as the condition of being free from problems or replete with material goods that enable people to live comfortably. Rather, it is a situation in which the will of God manifests itself in the totality of life of all creation, when truth and justice become important components. As the prophet Micah reminds us, “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8).

Concern for justice and peace and the protection of human dignity are rooted in our spirituality, in our relationship with God or the Almighty. The same idea is demonstrated in the teaching and life of Jesus. As he said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). The peace that Jesus offers is not personal; rather it has to be demonstrated in the life of the community, in relationship with other fellow human beings and with all creation. The peace that Jesus gives us is not different from the freedom that he also grants us. As Apostle Paul reminds us, “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. . . . For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’” (Galatians 5:1, 13–14).

Just as with our common understanding of peace, Jesus also challenged our conventional understanding of freedom. According to Jesus, teaching freedom does not mean a permissive life without restrictions or a life in which one pursues only one’s personal desire. The freedom that Jesus gives us is not the freedom in which one will not face difficulty and problems, nor is it freedom for self-indulgence. Trust in God is the key attitude to become agents of peace and freedom. This will be our guiding attribute in enhancing the freedom of people from the different yokes that enslave them—a liberation that is rooted in truth and unconditional love, justice, and humility, leading to a holistic transformation of oneself, a transformation that will enable us to transcend all challenging circumstances surrounding us.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) invites churches and all people of good will to work together in a pilgrimage of justice and peace inspired by the bountiful love of God. We are journeying together and working together to fulfill the Shalom, which is the gift of God, in which human dignity is respected, and peace with freedom and justice is enhanced for the fullness and wholeness of life of all God’s creations. Since the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, to which the WCC’s Commission of Churches on International Affairs contributed language on freedom of religion or belief, the WCC has played an ongoing role in developing and protecting the rights of all individuals. Through ecumenical advocacy, the WCC human rights program encourages and supports the engagement of member churches and their partners in the reporting mechanisms of the United Nations human rights system, speaking out against injustice and discrimination, being a voice for the voiceless, and amplifying unheard voices.

The WCC also works to defend human dignity by addressing human rights from an ethical and theological perspective. It responds to requests from churches to support their work when human dignity is threatened, accompanying churches and strengthening their advocacy work for human rights. This requires a holistic approach in which civil and political rights, as well as economic, cultural, and social rights, are addressed in an integrated way. Project priorities include developing the interreligious dimension of rights; focusing on victims’ and minority rights, impunity, and religious freedom; and providing churches with a space in which they can discuss the relationship between justice and human rights.

Reference:

[1] All Bible quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA).