wfn.org | Polish Police React to Charges of Discriminatory Training Material

[BeckettJ@gc.adventist.org]

ANN Bulletin
Adventist News Network
Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters
December 5, 2000
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Polish Police React to Charges of Discriminatory Training Material
Warsaw, Poland ... [ANN]

Warsaw police have deflected concerns raised by Seventh-day Adventist Church
leaders about police training material that presents a distorted picture of
religious minorities.  (See ANN's October 31 story, "Anti-sect Police
Training Challenged by Adventists in Poland.") Police spokesperson Pawel
Biedziak told  Keston News Service that it is true that the Roman Catholic
Church has provided training materials for the police's anti-sect units, but
he said that police  were more often accused of being "too careful" rather
than too severe with new religious groups.

Biedziak said that local police received training focused on potential
criminal activities of religious sects, rather than their "world view or
moral  position."

Adventist leaders expressed concern about police anti-sect training at an
October 13 meeting with General Jan Michna, Poland's police chief. They
cited  examples of derogatory language and misinformation repeated by police
trainers that could increase discriminatory attitudes towards minority
religious  groups.  At the meeting, Michna assured church leaders that all
law-abiding church groups would be considered "valued and respected"
organizations.

In a country where only 5 percent of the almost 40 million citizens claim
non-Catholic religious affiliation, religious minorities--including Baptist
and  Pentecostal groups--have reported instances of misunderstanding and
discrimination. According to Adventist Church administrators, an Adventist
pastor in the city of Zamosc has been turned away from schools because of
education ministry literature that calls the Adventist Church a "threatening
sect." [Bettina  Krause]
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