Working together on religious freedom

Religious liberty work can sometimes be disheartening. That is why so much of Europe’s Christian religious liberty community love coming together to be with their peers for a weekend – the European Religious Liberty Forum (ERLF), which Julia Doxat-Purser of EEA chairs along with Latcho Popov of Advocates Europe.  The programme of discussion and strategizing is intense but we also make sure there is time for prayer, Bible study and laughter. Europe’s religious liberty situation continues to change. Fresh news includes a draft law Greece wishes to introduce which will mean most minority religious communities will change their legal status. We hope that this may mean that the situation can improve. Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will shortly vote on a report on excesses of so-called “sects”. The report is contradictory and clearly against religious freedom.  ERLF partners will work swiftly together on both these issues. (The Spanish, French, Italian, British, Swiss & Austrian Evangelical Alliances were at ERLF. If you did not attend but wish to help on these urgent matters, please contact EEA immediately). There is encouraging news too.  The Austrian Evangelical Alliance reported how 5 Evangelical denominations have managed to merge into one official church and thus receive top tier status according to Austrian law.  Also, while many immigration officials are ill-equipped to assess whether Christian asylum seekers are genuine, the Netherlands and Sweden are doing a much better job. We can now push to get their good practice training and procedures to be copied elsewhere. EEA wishes to thank all those who worked with us to make ERLF a great success and especially friends at the Spanish Evangelical Alliance who hosted us this year.