RELIGIOUS OPPRESSION AROUND THE WORLD

Religious Freedom Now Possible in Serbia

Wednesday, November 29, 2000

    A new day is coming for religious freedom in Serbia, a government official says. "For 30 years, the attitude of the former godless authorities toward churches was hypocritical, just window-dressing," Gordana Anicic, newly appointed minister for faiths in Serbia's transitional government, told Ecumenical News International. "Churches and religious communities have been treated as second-rate institutions." That will change now that Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic has been replaced by Vojislav Kostunica, Anicic told ENI. She promised full rights to members of all denominations. New elections have been called for Dec. 23, pitting communists against democratic reformers.
    Minority denominations, including Protestants, were restricted under Milosevic. The predominant Orthodox Church enjoyed preferential treatment in the media, but the government refused to restore church property confiscated in World War II or introduce religious instruction in schools. The Orthodox Church also wants the right to appoint chaplains to hospitals, prisons, and army units.
    Leaders of Serbia's small evangelical community say they have been assured they will be given equal rights, ENI reported. "With a new democratic spirit being born, more people may be interested in what's written in the Bible, and we may gain new friends," Pentecostal leader Slobodan Andjelic said.
    Serbia is moving toward democracy, but "there are still many communists here, and the mentality and structure of society have not changed," said Franc Perko, the head of Yugoslavia's 550,000-member Roman Catholic Church. "Although Serbia cannot go back, its people must also mature toward democracy."

--Used by permission of Religion Today