BWA Executive Committee Resolution 1967-08.1
This statement was not in the form of a resolution. Copies of a suggested communication to the World Council of Churches were distributed. The Resolutions Committee suggested that a similar statement go also to the European Council of Churches, to be presented by Goulding, and that Tuller and Payne present the one to the World Council of Churches at the forthcoming meeting of its Central Committee in Crete.
MOTION was made, seconded, and carried, that by unanimous consent the General Secretary be authorized to transmit the following communication with covering letters to the World Council of Churches and the European Council of Churches:
The claim of the Roumanian Government that there is religious liberty in that country is supported from time to time by statements made through World Council of Churches publications in which it is declared that there is religious freedom for all Christian people in Roumania.
On two accounts, particularly, the Executive Committee of the Baptist World Alliance would point out that the above statement is not in accordance with the facts of the prevailing situation.
- Baptists in Roumania are restricted in the use of many of their church buildings to certain hours on Saturday evening and Sunday morning. This restriction is in contrast to the freedom granted to other Christian churches in that country in the free use of their buildings.
- The Baptist Union of Roumania is a member of the Baptist World Alliance and the European Baptist Federation. For a number of years permission has not been granted for Roumanian Baptists to be represented at Alliance or Federation meetings outside of their country. This appears as an act of religious discrimination against our people in view of the fact that representatives of other Christian churches in Roumania are regularly represented at international assemblies.
In order that the claim of religious liberty in Roumania might be made fact the Executive Committee of the Baptist World Alliance would ask the prayers, advocacy and influence of the World Council of Churches in redressing the acts of discrimination and restriction against Baptist people in that country.
Beasley-Murray urged that the BWA representatives make it clear that these were only two of the restrictions suffered by Baptists in Roumania.
Keywords
BWA; Religious Liberty; Roumania; World Council of Churches.
Citations
Original Source Bibliography: Nordenhaug, Josef, editor. Baptist World Alliance: Minutes of the Meeting of the Executive Committee Held at Nashville, Tennessee July 31-August 3, 1967. Washington, D.C.: Baptist World Alliance, 1967.
Original Source Footnote/Endnote: Josef Nordenhaug, ed., Baptist World Alliance: Minutes of the Meeting of the Executive Committee Held at Nashville, Tennessee July 31-August 3, 1967 (Washington, D.C.: Baptist World Alliance, 1967), p. 55.
Online Document Full Citation: BWA Executive Committee Resolution 1967-08.1 Statement to the World Council of Churches; https://baptistworld.org/resolutions.
In-text Online Document Citation: (BWA Executive Committee Resolution 1967-08.1).