Ethics · Society · Theology · Mission · Sociology of Religions
Freedom of religion is a fundamental human right. Where it is violated, other human rights are also in a bad state. This view was proposed by Thomas Schirrmacher (Bonn), Associate Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance, on November 1st in Wuppertal.
The president of the International Council of the ISHR and Director of the IIRF, Professor Thomas Schirrmacher, thanked the 40.000 participants of the Ahmadiyya Jalsa Salana in Karlsruhe for not only enjoying religious freedom in Germany after having fled death threats in Pakistan, but in turn loud and insisting called for religious freedom and against any violence or compulsion in religion.
Discussion at Global Media Forum 2018 with Prof. James D. Bindenagel, Dr. Ahmed Shaheed and Prof. Dr. theol. Dr. phil. Thomas Schirrmacher
My article on „Christian Witness in a multi-religious World“ (2011) in the magazine of the Protestant Association of Germany (Evangelischer Bund) is currently only available in German.
Thomas Schirrmacher published his speech at the opening of the religious freedom chair at the Gießen School of Theology. In it he thanks Hermann Gröhe for the “most momentous rebuke in all my life”.
A professorship dedicated to the topic of “religious freedom and research on persecution of Christians” is a novelty in German speaking areas. At the inauguration special emphasis was placed on the universality of the human right to freedom of religion or belief and its positive implications.
On April 7th, the “Stephanus-Prize for Persecuted Christians” was awarded in Bonn to Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, the former bishop of Hongkong, for his courage and his persistence in decades of strong engagement for the rights of freedom, notably of religious freedom.