IRLA: EVERYBODY HAS RIGHT TO RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS

ZAGREB, Dec 16 (Hina) - An association for religious freedoms in Croatia and the IRLA (International Religious Liberty Association), which held a panel discussion on religious communities in countries in transition in Zagreb on Friday, pointed out that each human being has the right to religious liberty. According to a statement released by the Croatian association on Saturday, the Secretary-General of the IRLA's European branch, Reinder Broinsma told the panel that the present-day world was still coping with problems of religious conflicts and intolerance. He added that the religious communities and the State had their fields of activities and the Church must not manage the State or vice versa. He stressed that all religious communities must be equal before law. The international community is taking that course, but citizens must warn their governments about every case of religious discrimination or the violation of religious rights, Broinsma said. According to him, a special problem in countries in transition is that the national identity and the membership to some religion are treated as the same matter or two similar things. Broinsma maintains that all confiscated property should be given back to religious communities and that this part of Europe has learned a serious lesson from the past which can enable it to make progress towards full religious freedoms in the future. (hina) ms