wfn.org | Yugoslavia: Some blame faith groups for NATO action

["Christian B. Schäffler" <APD_Info_Schweiz@compuserve.com>]

May 1, 1999
Adventist Press Service(APD)
Christian B. Schäffler, Editor-in-chief
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
http://www.stanet.ch/APD
CH-4003 Basel, Schweiz

Religion and war in Yugoslavia: 
Some blame faith groups for NATO action 

Basel/Switzerland   (APD/EBPS)  The television image  
of Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexei II visiting with 
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was a 
visual reminder that war conditions can spotlight 
the ongoing allegiances of religion and politics.

In the propaganda war in Yugoslavia,  the so-called 
religious affiliations of NATO officials or leaders 
of the NATO-aligned countries are being used by the 
Yugoslav media to give the impression that non-
Orthodox groups are fuelling the war against 
Orthodox Yugoslavia.

Avram Dega, President of the Union of Baptist 
Churches in Serbia reported April 18 that mass 
media in Yugoslavia are seeking to "explain to the 
public who are Southern Baptists" because so many 
United States senators and representatives belong 
to that denomination as does President Bill Clinton 
and Vice President Al Gore. However, they also 
erroneously reported that First Lady  Hillary 
Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright 
were also Baptists. The media conclusion was that 
Southern Baptists started the war against Eastern 
Orthodoxy and therefore this is a religious war. 
"Can you imagine where such foolish explanations 
and statements can lead? It could be a call for 
lynching," says Dega, according to the European
Baptist Press Service (EBPS).

Adventist Press Service (APD) reported April 20 
that the evening national newspaper, "Vecernje 
Novosti", in Belgrade published an article April 18 
stating that General Wesley Clark, NATO Supreme 
Commander of the air strikes against Yugoslavia, 
"was and perhaps still is" a member of the Seventh-
day Adventist Church.  "General Clark is not nor 
has he ever been a member of the Seventh-day 
Adventist Church," writes Miodrag Zivanovic, 
communication director and spokesperson  for the 
Church in Yugoslavia in his faxed response to the 
newspaper's editor. "We are loyal citizens of our 
country and believers in Jesus Christ, pursuing 
biblical values - to love everybody and to live in 
peace.  Therefore, no one can be an aggressor and 
an Adventist Christian at the same time," he 
writes.  "We are already victims of this war.  Why 
do we have to be victims of lies in our country 
from our own people?"

As a result of the Adventist reaction to the 
article, "Vecernje Novosti" published an article on 
April 19 entitled "Adventist Church Denies Clark as 
Member" rejecting  General Clark's affiliation with 
the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

"With such false information in the newspaper 
during this time of war, Adventists are at great 
risk of being targets of hostility and physical 
assaults in their neighbourhoods," says Radisa 
Antic, president of the Seventh-day Adventist 
Church in Yugoslavia quoted by APD. "We are afraid 
that our church buildings will be attacked by the 
local people as a result of this article."

Some churches have already faced tensions in their 
neighbourhoods and one, KEK (Christian Evangelism 
Centre) in Backi Petrovac reported having its 
building stoned.

Avram Dega calls on Baptists in the West to use 
caution and to make clear that churches are not 
behind the NATO action. "This is very important not 
only because of possible persecution against the 
2,500 Baptists here, but also for the sake of 
future Baptist work here. It (is) already hard to 
share the gospel and reach the lost people. Would 
the evil one succeed in blaming the Christians 
again because Rome is on fire?"