Right to Convert

Upholding Our Right to Convert

By John Taylor; 2007 January 19

"Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance." (Article 18, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1947)

In April of 2005 the Baha'i International Community (BIC), the NGO representing the Baha'is at the UN, wrote a paper responding to the United Nations Development Programme's report for the previous year. The BIC’s paper called "Freedom to Believe" is available on the BIC website (Document 05-0401). Our Dunnville World Religion Day committee has asked my daughter Silvie to read a seven minute talk on the Baha’i position on the right to convert (or, using loaded language, to apostatize), a talk to be written by yours truly. As part of my preparation, I want to summarize most of what this BIC paper covered on the Badi Blog today.

The BIC start their “Freedom to Believe” paper off by pointing out that it is increasingly recognized by sciences like psychology and sociology, and by political bodies on all levels that religion and the free exercise of the conscience are essential to the development of the human psyche. But in spite of that, "the promise of freedom of religion or belief for all remains one of the most contested and pressing human rights of our time." The BIC also notes that the previous year's Human Development report to the UN had concentrated on outer cultural expressions and steered away from what should be considered by all the fundamental of fundamentals, the right of individuals to an inner life, to think as they wish and believe as they decide. The BIC wrote:

"As a worldwide religious community, which regards the human conscience as sacred and believes in the independent search for truth, we urge the UNDP to give serious consideration to four critical issues..."

These four were,
(1) the right to change one's religion or beliefs
(2) the right to share one's beliefs with others
(3) governments have a responsibility to protect marginalized and peacefully organized religious communities
(4) religious leaders are responsible to promote and protect the right to freedom of religion or belief.

Since we are limited in time and space, let us go through only numbers one and four of these.

Right to change religion or beliefs

Under the right to convert the BIC states that there are compelling reasons to give this right concrete protections. For one thing, it safeguards the dignity of the human being. We all need to seek out the truth for ourselves, using our own eyes and brains. We do not do this once in a while but at all levels of our development, from cradle to grave and in fact if we fail in our quest we cannot progress or for that matter help the world progress. It therefore should be universally recognized as no ordinary right but a non-derogable one, that is, one protected unconditionally, at no time subject to government regulation, even in times of a national emergency.

Unfortunately, this is not happening. The broad, clear and unambiguous language of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (see the opening quote of this essay) marks a high point that has not been matched but which has been broadened to some extent by subsequent resolutions. A footnote gives several examples from past international documents showing that the resolution has not been forgotten. The 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights allows the freedom "to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice." In the same year,

"The International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights" guarantees that the rights in the Covenant "will be exercised without discrimination of any kind as to religion"; the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979) calls on States Parties to take all appropriate measures to guarantee women "the exercise and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms on a basis of equality with men"; the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) affirms the "right of the child to freedom of thought, conscience and religion"; the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948) includes in its definition of genocide, "acts committed with intent to destroy a national, ethnical, racial or religious group". Notably, regional treaties such as the American Convention on Human Rights (1969) and the European Convention on Human Rights (1950) explicitly provide for the freedom to change one's religion or belief."

Other documents, though, use weaker language. Most notably, the UN General Assembly in 1981 issued a "Declaration on the Elimination of All forms of Intolerance and Discrimination based on Religion and Belief," which did not explicitly mention the right to convert. It affirms the right to keep the religion you have but not to change it. Even watered down as it was this paper did not make it through the hoops that would have made it a legally binding covenant.

In spite of such setbacks there is near universal recognition that this is a right universally upheld. The UN's Human Rights Committee in particular has comprehensively identified the freedom to change religion or belief, freedom to manifest beliefs, non-coercion in matters of religion, and non-discrimination on the basis of religion as core components of the right provided for in the Declaration. There can be no doubt that upholding the right to convert is a prime responsibility of every government.

Responsibilities of Religious Leaders

Not only government is called upon to uphold the conversion right; religious leaders bear a heavy responsibility as well. In fact I think that we see here to some extent the reverse of the climate crisis situation. With climate the experts concerned, scientists, are united in their conclusion that humans have screwed up the weather, and that we can reverse the situation with resolute action. The problem is persuading government and industry to act. Nobody in their right mind, though, would put the blame on scientists themselves, at least not climate scientists. In the case of religious belief, that is just the case. The problem we are looking at was caused almost exclusively by the experts themselves. The BIC states:

"Too often, those acting in the name of religion have fanned the flames of hatred and fanaticism, themselves serving as the greatest obstacles in the path of peace."

Instead of provoking and inciting to violence, these spiritual leaders should be guiding their charges into the ways of peace, teaching how to promote mutual understanding with people of all beliefs. It would take more than legislation or law enforcement to reverse these entrenched hatreds and suspicions between religious leaders. Somehow they need to create a culture of peaceful co-existence by thinking of themselves as partners -- in word and deed -- in a common endeavor to create respect for human dignity and freedom of conscience, religion, or belief. The BIC then concludes,

"The forces of history now challenge every person of faith to identify spiritual principles within his or her own scriptures and traditions that answer the difficult questions posed by an age hungering for unity and justice in human affairs. In this common undertaking, based on an understanding of the inherent dignity, reason and conscience of every human being, religious leaders must uphold the sacred nature of the human conscience and unreservedly accord each individual the freedom to search for truth."