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2000 - A Year in Review: Religious Liberty Developments and Challenges
Turkmenistan continues to be a challenge to members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and several other religious denominations. In early January, members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church reacted with shock and grief at the deliberate destruction by the government authorities of the only Adventist Church in Turkmenistan. In March, ANN reported that despite all the legal requirements, the application submitted by representatives of four church organizations to register a local Bible Society was refused by the government of Turkmenistan. Jailed for holding "illegal religious meetings" in Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan, Pavel Fedotov, a Seventh-day Adventist pastor, was arrested on October 21 and released three days later.

In Ambon, Maluku, Indonesians continue to endure religious strife. The violent conflict between Islamic militants and Christians flared in the first days of June, leaving more than 100 people dead and many more wounded. Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders in the area said that the increase in street fighting and stealth raids have caused many church members in the Maluku region to flee the ongoing religious unrest. The unrest continued throughout the year with violence in the streets, churches, homes, and businesses burned and destroyed, and with more than 3,000 people perishing in religious violence since January 1999.

Two Seventh-day Adventists were killed in the two days of religious violence in Kaduna, Nigeria in February. More than 300 people were killed, and dozens of churches, mosques, and homes were destroyed over proposals to introduce Islamic law, or Sharia, in the region. Following two years in prison, Anthony Aleksander, a Sri Lankan pastor was released just a few weeks ahead of the World Church Session.

A growing climate of hostility towards religious minorities in Europe is out of keeping with the democratic ideal of religious freedom, said Adventist pastor Malton Braff in a statement before the United Nations Human Rights Commission on April 6.

The U.S. State Department reported in September that there had been little progress in stemming religious persecution worldwide. Only two countries out of 194 had any significant improvement.

In Strasbourg, France, the European Union drafted a Charter of Fundamental Human Rights which may play an important role in ensuring justice and freedom within member countries of the European Union.
Source:...ANN Silver Spring, Maryland, USA -- Entered January 6, 2001

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