[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 64 (Tuesday, May 19, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E883]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E883]]



       RELIGIOUS GROUPS CHALLENGE GROWING INTOLERANCE IN BELGIUM

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 19, 1998

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, as Chairman of the Subcommittee 
on International Operations and Human Rights, and as Co-Chairman of the 
Helsinki Commission, I am alarmed at the growing religious intolerance 
toward religious minorities that we are observing in Western Europe. I 
am pleased that a coalition of religious groups is building in Europe 
to combat the rising intolerance, and in fact a legal challenge to 
these onerous actions is to be announced in Belgium on May 20.
  In the last few years, we have witnessed disturbing government 
interference in the affairs of religious communities in Western Europe 
through new religion laws, parliamentary investigations into minority 
beliefs and religious groups, and new government bureaucracies created 
to disseminate government propaganda on religious organizations. These 
new laws, parliamentary investigations and government information 
centers stigmatize as ``dangerous'' groups such as the Jehovah 
Witnesses, Baha'i, Hindus, and charismatic Catholic and Protestant 
groups. These government actions violate the religious liberty 
principles found in numerous international documents, including the 
Helsinki Final Act, particularly the commitment to ``foster a climate 
of mutual tolerance and respect between believers of different 
communities as well as between believers and non-believers'' found in 
the Vienna Concluding Document of 1989 (Paragraph 16.2).
  In January, I traveled to Moscow with my good friends and colleagues 
Representatives Frank Wolf and Tony Hall to raise our concerns with the 
1997 Russian religion law. There, we met with minority religious groups 
concerned that the new law would limit their ability to freely practice 
their faith. While it remains to be seen how this law will be 
implemented, on its face, the law clearly violates numerous Helsinki 
human rights principles.
  Also in January, another Helsinki Commission delegation led by fellow 
Commissioner Representative John Porter, raised concerns with the 
Austrian Government regarding their new law restricting religious 
freedom. The Austrian law, passed by the Austrian Parliament on 
December 10, 1997, requires that a religious group prove a 20-year 
existence in Austria, have a creed distinct from previously registered 
groups, and have a membership of at least 0.02% of the population or 
16,000 members before they are granted full rights under law. The 
premise extended by the Austrian Government for such intense regulation 
of religious groups is that the government is responsible for the 
content of belief available for public consumption, just as the 
government regulates the quality of food for public consumption. The 
Austrian Government's opinion that the government must ``approve'' 
religious belief before it is available for the public reveals a 
shocking retreat from democratic principles which encourage the free 
exchange of ideas and the freedom of the individual to choose his or 
her own religious belief.
  Several western European parliaments have or are currently 
investigating the reporting on the activities of minority religious 
groups. These parliamentary investigations have also had a chilling 
effect on religious liberty and appear to cause a public backlash 
against groups being investigated or labeled ``dangerous.'' For 
instance, the German Bundestag is currently conducting its 
investigation into ``dangerous sects'' and ``psycho-groups'' and issued 
an interim report in January 1998. At the Helsinki Commission's 
September 1997, hearing, independent evangelical church representatives 
reported a direct correlation between the harassment, vandalism and 
threats of violence they experience and the investigation by the German 
Bundestag's commission.
  The French Parliament's 1996 report contained a list of ``dangerous'' 
groups in order to warn the public against them and the Belgian 
Parliament's 1997 report had an informal appendix, which was widely 
circulated, listing 189 groups and included various allegations against 
many Protestant and Catholic groups, Quakers, Hasidic Jews, Buddhists, 
and the YWCA.
  Equally alarming has been the establishment of government information 
centers by Western European parliaments to alert the public to 
``dangerous'' groups. The Austrian and Belgian Governments have set up 
hotlines for the public and, through government sponsored advisory 
centers, distributes information on groups deemed ``dangerous.'' In 
Austrian Government literature, Jehovah's Witnesses are labeled 
``dangerous'' and members of this group report that the stigma 
associated with this government label is difficult to overcome in 
Austrian society. These information centers directly violate the 
commitments that Austria and Belgium have made as participating States 
of the OSCE to ``foster a climate of mutual tolerance and respect'' and 
excessively entangle the government in the public discussion on 
religious beliefs.
  On Wednesday (May 20), at the European Parliament, a coalition of 
religious groups, including Hasidic Jews, Baha'i, Seventh Day Adventist 
and other leaders from the evangelical Protestant community 
representing 90 per cent of Belgium's Protestant community, are holding 
a press conference. They are publishing a petition to the Belgian 
authorities, announcing the launch of a court challenge to the Belgian 
Parliamentary Report, and highlighting their concerns over the Belgian 
Government's Advice and Information Center. The premise of the legal 
challenge is that these actions by the Belgian Government violate 
Belgium's international commitments to religious liberty. I commend the 
work that these and other groups such as Human Rights Without Frontiers 
are doing to highlight and challenge the governmental actions that 
violate the Helsinki Accords and other international commitments to 
religious liberty.

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