wfn.org | ABCUSA: Leaders Commend Shevardnadze for Stance on Religious Freedom

["SCHRAMM, Richard" <Richard.Schramm@abc-usa.org>]

American Baptist News Service (Valley Forge, Pa. 4/3/03)--In letters sent
within the past week, American Baptist Churches USA leaders have expressed
appreciation to Eduarde Shevardnadze, president of the Republic of Georgia,
for his outspoken commitment to religious freedom in that country.

Shevardnadze joined hundreds of worshipers at the Cathedral Baptist Church
in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, on March 14 for an ecumenical service that
celebrated unity in defiance of recent actions by religious extremists.
Shevardnadze spoke at the service, attended by numerous Christian and state
dignitaries from across Europe.  

A mob led by defrocked ultrafundamentalist Orthodox priest Basil
Mkalavishvili had disrupted a previous attempt to hold such a service in
January, smashing windows and beating some participants. 

In their letter sent March 29, President David G. Hunt and General Secretary
the Rev. Dr. A. Roy Medley noted: "...We thank you for your courageous
stance for religious freedom and your personal commitment as President of
the Republic of Georgia 'to recognize and at the same time protect our
common faith and common citizenship.'  Baptists around the world receive
these words with deep gratitude.  We have long prayed for the right of our
brothers and sisters in Georgia to worship and serve Christ in freedom
according to the dictates of their conscience.	 

"Over the past several years we have received with great sadness and
apprehension reports of acts of lawless oppression by a few against our
beloved brothers and sisters in Georgia.  We were especially saddened as we
recently viewed pictures of Bibles being burned by fellow Christians simply
because they were owned by Baptists.  Your expression of sorrow and anger at
'the fact that our unity, mutual respect, and liberty of faith have been
violated by some aggressors,' was a powerful statement when coupled with
your promise as President to 'safeguard full freedom for the individual to
express his or her faith.'  Surely this will stand in the decades to come as
a defining moment in the life of your country.

"As American Baptists we have been in the forefront of both the world and
U.S. ecumenical movements because we are compelled by our Lord Jesus to seek
the unity of his body.	We rejoice that, in the face of religious strife,
representatives of many Christian traditions came together on March 14 in a
demonstration of the unity which we share in Christ Jesus..."

In a letter sent to Shevardnadze March 31, International Ministries
Executive Director the Rev. Dr. John A. Sundquist noted: "It is with great
joy that I read of your participation in the recent ecumenical service...in
Tibilisi.  I commend you for taking this initiative and for your excellent
leadership in seeking to bring reconciliation and peace within your great
nation."

Sundquist, who also is a vice president of the Baptist World Alliance,
added: "Your statement at the ecumenical service was impressive not only for
your unequivocal call to pray and work for peace across all divisions which
tend to separate humankind, but for your unashamed witness as a believer to
our common faith as Christians...." 

K/2003ABNS/03ABN52

American Baptist News Service: Office of Communication, American Baptist
Churches USA, P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851; (800)ABC-3USA x2077
/ (610)768-2077; fax: (610)768-2320; www.abc-usa.org;
richard.schramm@abc-usa.org