Baptists and Human Rights

From the Baptist World Alliance

Washington, DC --The Baptist World Alliance position on human rights has had three major emphases—war, racism, and religious freedom.

Stating that "the BWA has maintained constant vigilance in the area of human rights," General Secretary Neville Callam said that "the BWA has repeatedly affirmed its opposition to war," constantly "opposed racial discrimination and its parent, racism," and declared that "the very identity of the Baptist movement is inextricably bound up with the issue of religious freedom."

Speaking during the annual Pruit Memorial Symposium at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, on October 2, Callam informed the audience of mainly university faculty and students that "the BWA understanding of human rights fits well into, and is continuous with, the general human rights theory advanced within the wider ecclesial community."

Offering a sweeping overview of the BWA long tradition on human rights issues, Callam drew upon the many addresses, statements, manifestos, and resolutions of Baptist World Congresses and BWA General Council meetings over the past 104 years.

The international Baptist leader declared that the worldwide Baptist organization also paid keen attention to social, economic and political rights, especially to children and women's rights. Also affirmed were the right of disabled persons to participate in their community, the right of the sick to receive care and dignity, the rejection of torture and inhumane conditions in prisons and institutions for the mentally disturbed, as well as the right to maintain cultural identity.

Callam said that scriptural and theological understandings of creation, redemption and covenant, all help to undergird the BWA's longstanding position in defense of human rights.

The symposium theme was "Religion, Politics and Society: The Baptist Contribution." Callam spoke on the topic "Human Rights and the Baptist World Alliance."