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ILC World Seminaries Conference: Church and State in times of persecution

Participants in the ILC’s 2024 World Seminaries Conference.

ARGENTINA – The third day of the International Lutheran Council’s 2024 World Seminaries Conference saw participants consider the theme of state and church in nations where Christians are the victims of hostility and violence.

The day began with a service of Matins, with Rev. Dr. P. R. Selvaraj preaching. Dr. Selvaraj, who is  Principal of India’s Concordia Theological Seminary, Nagercoil, also served as the first speaker of the day, discussing the challenges facing Christianity in India. “India is a secular country,” Dr. Selvaraj explained, and India’s Constitution “guarantees freedom of religion to all persons in India”—including “freedom of conscience and the right to ‘profess, practice, and propagate’ religion.” But beginning in the 1980s, there arose an ideological movement known as Hindutva, which encourages “the cultural justification of Hindu nationalism and the belief in establishing Hindu hegemony within India.” Proponents of Hindutva desire “to create a Hindu nation” and “eliminate all those factions that do not fit in its grand design.”

For this reason, Hindutva strongly opposes conversion. “The policy of the State is to prevent by law forced or induced religious conversions,” Dr. Selvaraj explained. And “the connotation of ‘inducement for this purpose is quite large.” Measures to prevent conversion from Hinduism to Christianity include anti-conversion laws in a number of states, re-conversion movements, and even violent persecution. “Mobs have vandalized churches, attacked missionary schools, disrupted prayer meetings, and assaulted pastors and practicing Christians, accusing them of forced conversions,” Dr. Selvaraj noted. “Survivors and activists say authorities have failed to investigate these incidents, often filing charges against the victims themselves, turning a blind eye to the violence.”

Rev. Dr. P. R. Selvaraj speaks at the World Seminaries Conference.

Hindutva also takes issue with Christianity for its theological exclusivism… [in contrast to] the notion of a pluralistic and all-inclusive Hinduism,” Dr. Selvaraj said. But even liberal Christianity, which has shifted its articulation to be more inclusive, is still rejected. “To Hindutva proponents, Christianity—with its exclusive claims—falls short of a superior and more tolerant ‘pluralistic Hinduism.’” As such, it is treated as “a threat to communal harmony and peaceful coexistence.”

Ironically, it is Hindutva which truly poses a threat to India’s multicultural society, Dr. Selvaraj suggested, since it seeks “to create a corporate identity” in India “by assimilating or excluding minorities in order to form a monolithic, homogenous Hindu culture.”

Minority groups often bear the brunt of the violence. For example, state laws against the killing of cows—which are sacred in Hinduism—lead to violence against “people working in the cattle trade and people belonging to minority groups, including Muslims, Dalits, or Adivasi communities.” And false claims of forced conversion under duress are frequently used “as a pretext for violence” against Christians, Dr. Selvaraj noted—“particularly against those of vulnerable groups like Dalits, Adivasis, and women.”

“Any Christian who does convert from Hinduism is most likely to come under intense pressure, or even violence,” Dr. Selvaraj continued. “They can face constant pressure to renounce their new faith, face job loss/discrimination, endure physical assaults, and even be murdered. Church leaders are also in danger in many parts of India as extremists target them (along with their families) to create fear and chaos in the Christian community.”

Several Christian groups have suggested responses to political Hinduism, but Dr. Selvaraj suggested it is best to consider these challenges from a Lutheran understanding of church and state. Christians in India should focus on the church “primarily not as an institution but as a communion of saints brought by Word and Sacraments.” This “equips the Church with a unique vision for its mission,” Dr. Selvaraj said. “It provides a vision to transcend narrow particularisms and embrace multiplicity, differences and plurality both within the Church, and to extend the scope of its vision beyond the boundaries of the Church even to reach out to those who hatch hatred against the Church.”

“The Church should not engage in retaliatory ethics in face of Hindutva violence nor aspire for temporal power,” he continued. But “informed by Luther’s two kingdom theory, the Church while maintaining the proper distinction between the state and spiritual authority, should not be silent but offer a critical voice in the midst of injustice, brokenness and oppression.”

“Luther’s Two Realms doctrine would provide a rich resource in this regard, to further strengthen and refine Indian Christian theological voices in responding to the challenges raised by the Hindutva,” he concluded. “Luther’s understanding of God’s left-hand realm and God’s activity in this realm as our Creator God under whom entire human beings, with all their plurality and heterogeneity, share a common humanity is a good starting point.”

Plenary discussion followed the presentation.

Accreditation and ILC Churches

Dr. Cynthia Lumley speaks.
ILC General Secretary Klaus Detlev Schulz speaks.

The rest of the morning was devoted to a discussion of accreditation and its relevance for theological institutions in the International Lutheran Council, a subject upon which delegates had earlier received a written report. Dr. Cynthia Lumley of Westfield House, Cambridge and ILC General Secretary Klaus Detlev Schulz gave brief presentations as a preface to subsequent small-group discussion.

Dr. Lumley introduced the subject, noting that the subject of accreditation was raised during the previous ILC World Seminaries Conference in the Philippines in 2019. In her remarks, Dr. Lumley highlighted the importance of self-evaluation—an important aspect of accreditation processes—as a way of ensuring the continued health of an educational institution. Dr. Lumley went on to sketch what such self-evaluation should look like, explaining how it touches not only on academic matters but also practical aspects of an institution’s operations.

Dr. Schulz explained how the idea of a ILC-led accreditation program was explored following the last World Seminaries Conference, with the ultimate decision made that an ILC accreditation agency should not be pursued at this time. But the process of exploration over the past few years led to the development of helpful reference material that may be used as part of the self-evaluation process by theological institutions in ILC member churches—not as a replacement for national accreditation programs but as a complement, helping to ensure the continued confessional Lutheran nature of individual schools.

The conference then broke into small groups to discuss a series of questions related to accreditation and their schools before reconvening to share their conclusions.

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Find more news on the ILC’s 2024 World Seminaries Conference here.

ILC Chairman calls on German authorities to protect Christians in refugee shelters

ILC Chairman Hans-Jörg Voigt.

ILC Chairman Hans-Jörg Voigt.

GERMANY – Minorities are repeatedly targeted by radical Muslims at refugee shelters in Germany. In addition to single mothers traveling with children, Christians are also being affected. Dr. Gottfried Martens, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church—a congregation of the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (SELK) in Berlin-Steglitz—has furnished multiple reports of radical Muslim attacks on Christians and converts to Christianity. Members of his parish, composed primarily of refugees from Iran and Afghanistan, have appealed to Dr. Martens to rescue them from such shelters. Along with violent physical attacks, Christians are regularly insulted as “Kuffar” (unbelievers); necklaces adorned with baptismal crosses are wrenched from their necks, their Bibles torn up, and access blocked to kitchens in the shelters. As recently as this past Saturday such violent attacks took place in the refugee facility located at Tempelhof Airport in Berlin.

The SELK’s national bishop, Rev. Dr. Hans-Jörg Voigt, has responded by demanding separate accommodations for Christians as long as the state cannot ensure that all refugees may freely practice their faith in asylum facilities without disturbance. “Religious freedom is a constitutionally protected right, comparable to freedom of the press,” Bishop Voigt said. “The state has the obligation and duty to permit, ensure, and protect freedom of religion.” If this is only possible in the short term by providing separate accommodations for refugees according to religion, then this is the necessary solution for the time being. “It must not be permitted that Christians are oppressed in refugee shelters because of their faith.”

The spiritual leader of the SELK added that influential groups in society, various associations, and politicians are either downplaying this abuse or silencing it completely. The problem is that Christian churches in Germany represent a majority over against Muslims and, as a result, are legitimately concerned to protect a religious minority. In refugee shelters, however, the proportions are the other way around so that the Christians form the minority. Their need for protection is urgent. As a matter of principle, Bishop Voigt stressed that integration can only succeed when the faith of other people is respected and tolerated. Despite sharp differences in faith convictions it must be the goal of everyone to shape a peaceful life within the community.

Bishop Voigt, who also serves as Chairman of the International Lutheran Council, a global association of confessional Evangelical Lutheran churches, hailed statements on religious freedom contained in the February 12 declaration of Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow and All Russia, signed at the close of their recent meeting in Cuba. Among other things, it states, “In our current context, religious leaders have the particular responsibility to educate their faithful in a spirit which is respectful of the convictions of those belonging to other religious traditions.” In response, Bishop Voigt commented: “We are committed to strengthening Christian refugees in this respectful spirit, but expect that Muslim spiritual leaders will stand up for religious freedom in the same way among their own adherents.”

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SELK News February 16, 2016
Translation: Robert Bugbee

Lithuanian Lutherans welcome Syrian refugees

Lithuania-logoLITHUANIA – By invitation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lithuania (ELCL), forty Syrian refugees arrived in Lithuania February 26, 2014. The Syrian families arrived at Zokniai Airport (near the city of Šiauliai) by means of a Spartan military transport plane Wednesday afternoon.

According to Bishop Mindaugas Sabutis, the Syrians will live in parish houses and in housing provided by private persons all over Lithuania. Fifteen of the refugees are coming from Homs, a city in Western Syria which was for a long period of time surrounded by the military forces of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

“Christians are the most vulnerable group in Syria,” Bishop Sabutis stated. “Every day, they are murdered, persecuted, and robbed.” He noted that the ELCL was encouraged to invite the Syrian refugees to Lithuania because of the refugee experience of Lithuanians themselves. “We ourselves [in Lithuania] are a minority church,” he explained. “We endured much suffering [during the Soviet era], and therefore we have to respond to the pain suffered by others.”

He continued: “We remember our refugees who found asylum in Germany and the United States. Unlike Sweden, the Germans and Americans did not send the refugees back to the Soviet Union. We understand what it is like to be in situations from which there is no way to escape, and what it means to receive help in such situation,” Bishop Sabutis stated.

Bishop Sabutis expressed his gratitude for the help provided by Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defense in this project. There have been more than 130,000 casualties in Syria’s civil war. The conflict started in March 2011. President Bashar al Assad used military force against the protests that later grew into armed resistance. Later in the civil war, fighters from abroad joined the conflict on both sides.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lithuania has 21,000 members and is a member of the Lutheran World Federation. It also has close ties to the International Lutheran Council (ILC). In 2000, the ELCL declared itself to be in full-fellowship with The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (ratified by the LCMS at its own convention in 2001). In 2013, the ELCL hosted the ILC’s 2013 World Seminary Conference in Palanga, Lithuania; the convention’s theme was “Suffering, Persecution, and Martyrdom as a Mark of the Church.”

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