First Festival of Religious Freedom Held in Israel

The International Religious Liberty Association in Israel (Haamutah Habenleumit Lechirut Hadat BeIsrael), in cooperation with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, organized the First Festival of Religious Freedom to be held in Israel, on Sunday, July 26, 2009 in the YMCA auditorium in Jerusalem. The Festival, attended by nearly 300 people, was a great success. The event holds special significance because it was held in the city of Jerusalem, considered to be a holy city by the three monotheistic world religions—Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The International Religious Liberty Association in Israel was established in 1998 at the time of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  Its objective is to promote, defend and protect religious liberty in Israel.  "Israel is not a bad country for religious liberty," says Richard Elofer, president of the International Religious Liberty Association in Israel.   "We have freedom to worship, freedom to run our organization, and freedom to hold all kinds of meetings." 

Surprisingly, some say that Jews have fewer rights than Christians in Israel.  One of the speakers at the Festival, Rabbi Yaacov Lebeau, Director of the United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism in Israel, noted that the Orthodox Jewish community in Israel holds a monopoly on Judaism.  Even though he is a rabbi, when he performed the marriage of two Jews, their marriage was not recognized by the Ministry of the Interior because he is a Conservative Jew, not an Orthodox Jew.  However, Christians in Israel have the right to perform baptisms and marriages that are recognized.

Left to right: Dr. Eugene Hsu King-Yi, Vice-President of the International Religious Liberty Association; Dr. John Graz, Secretary-General of the International Religious Liberty Association; Pastor Richard Elofer, President of the International Religious Liberty Association in Israel (Haamutah Habenleumit Lechirut Hadat BeIsrael); Rabbi Ya’acov Lebeau, Director of the Fushberg Center for Conservative Judaism in Israel; and Pastor Harald Wollan, General Secretary of the European office of the International Religious Liberty Association.

Speakers at the Festival of Religious Freedom included Dr. JohnGraz, Secretary-General of the International Religious Liberty Association, based in Washington, DC; Dr. Eugene Hsu King-Yi, Vice-President of the International Religious Liberty Association and expert on religious liberty in China; Pastor Richard Elofer, President of the International Religious Liberty Association in Israel; Rabbi Ya’acov Lebeau, Director of the Fushberg Center for Conservative Judaism in Israel; and Pastor Harald Wollan, General Secretary of the European office of the International Religious Liberty Association, based in London, England.

The Festival receive the attention of the press; journalists were present from the French and English newspapers and from the Jerusalem Post.