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March 31, 2001
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
http://www.stanet.ch/APD

Religious Freedom Conference in Bermuda Draws Support
from International Leaders

Hamilton, Bermuda, 25.03.2001/APD       The Premier
of Bermuda inaugurated the International Religious
Liberty Association's Bermuda Conference March 15,
commending the Association for its contributions to
religious freedom around the world.

"Your conference addresses an issue that is close to
the heart of the government of Bermuda," said Premier
Jennifer Smith to the 120-strong delegation. "That
issue is discrimination and how to overcome it." She
added that "religious liberty is threatened when
small minds close themselves off to the variety of
beliefs, traditions and races that make up many
modern multi-cultural societies."

"The experts you have brought together have come from
different religious, ethnic and social backgrounds,"
said Smith, "but they are united to defend the
principle of religious freedom."

United Nations Ambassador Joseph Verner Reed also
addressed the conference, saying that the conference
"touched on a burning issue."

"As you take up, at this conference, the important
issue of 'Religious Freedom: An Answer to
Discrimination and Intolerance,' you touch upon a
burning issue in today's interdependent world, an
issue that increasingly defines the framework in
which global civilization interacts," said
Reed, who is U.N. Under-Secretary General.

The international line-up of speakers at the
conference included: Dr. Rosa Guerreiro, UNESCO
Director of Inter-religious Dialogue; Dr. Rosa Maria
Martinez de Codes, Department of Religious Affairs,
Spain; Dr. Tad Stahnke, United States Commission on
International Religious Freedom; Dr. Arthur Fletcher,
former chair, United States Commission on Civil
Rights; Anatoly Krasikov, Russian Academy of
Sciences; and Professor Cole Durham, J. Reuben Clark
Law School, United States.