THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 9, 1996 TAG: 9609070002
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 61 lines
A cartoon published years ago in a popular magazine depicted an Episcopal bishop, seated in an imposing chair behind his desk, advising a freshly minted curate: ``I have found that the best way to get ahead in this profession is to avoid two topics of conversation - politics and religion.''
The just-established Center for the Study of Religious Freedom at Virginia Wesleyan College won't be able to avoid or evade either. Its mission statement asserts:
``The Center's academic programs and other undertakings are interdisciplinary and interfaith in nature. They are primarily designed to give Virginia Wesleyan students abundant opportunity to learn the founding principle of religious liberty, that every person, protected by disinterested government vigilance, has the right to believe and practice any religion, or to refrain from belief and practice. (The center's emphasis.) This principle is fundamental to human freedom and essential to the foundation of human rights throughout the world.''
Virginia Wesleyan is linked with the United Methodist Church. Bishop Joe E. Pennel Jr., the new bishop of the denomination's Virginia Conference, could not be present for the ceremony heralding the center's advent; the occasion coincided with his first day on the job. Representing Pennel, retired Bishop H. Masbrouck Hughes Jr. read a message calling the vision for the center ``consistent with the (United Methodist Church's) Social Principles which state, in part, `We urge policies and practices that ensure the right of every religious group to exercise its faith free from legal, political, or economic restrictions.'''
The message also noted: ``With world tensions often rooted in religious differences, and incidents of religious intolerance sometimes leading to violence and discrimination, any effort which seeks to achieve understanding across religious lines, and provides a forum in which to work toward ensuring religious liberty, is to be applauded.''
Amen to that.
And what better setting for the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom than Virginia, where Thomas Jefferson, author of the 1786 ``Statute for Religious Freedom,'' was in the vanguard of forces insisting that the free exercise of religion is a fundamental right of humankind, and where disputes touching upon religion, politics and government seemingly arouse as much passion as quarrels over these matters did in the Colonial and immediate post-Colonial periods?
An anonymous million-dollar gift and a $250,000 grant from the Alison J. and Ella W. Parsons Foundation of Norfolk are providing the seed money for the center.
College President William T. Greer Jr. reported that Virginia Wesleyan faculty and administrators met with members of Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist and Hindu faiths - yes, all of these faiths and more are practiced in Virginia these days - in planning the center.
And Jane P. Batten, who chairs the college board of trustees, said the center ``will help to provide the education and foundation needed to counteract prejudice and promote the principles of spiritual coexistence and understanding.''
The fruits of religious bigotry are ever poisonous, as we are constantly reminded. The cure for bigotry is enlightenment. Look to the center to foster lively discussion. Look to it also to foster sorely needed concord. by CNB