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, in the United States, on Friday, 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 cited several Baptist leaders and scholars, including James Leo Garrett Jr., a noted author who has held membership in several BWA committees and commissions. Garrett identified several “biblical motifs” that justify the BWA stance on religious liberty, such as inherent freewill given to all persons by God as Creator; the church as a reconciled and reconciling community; limitations of nation states; and the Lordship of Christ.

The BWA general secretary also made reference to James Wood, who authored a 1997 BWA-published book on human rights. Wood said that the biblical and theological bases for the support and defense of religious liberty are grounded in the nature of God and God’s dealings with human beings; the sacredness of human personality and human conscience; the sinful nature of human beings; and the limitations of civil authority in matters of religious belief and practice.

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 BWA’s willingness to place the defense of human rights at the center of its mission and ministry, Callam said, was shown by the decision of the General Council in July, 2008, to create the Division of Freedom and Justice, a new entity with full time staff that places direct focus on human rights issues and abuses around the world.

Other speakers at the symposium, held October 1-3, were Nancy Ammerman, professor of the sociology of religion at Boston University; Fisher Humphreys, professor emeritus of theology, Samford University; and Randall Balmer, an Episcopal priest and professor of American religious history at Columbia University.

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

(October 7, 2009)

© Baptist World Alliance