AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (ABP) — Christians and Muslims should speak with each other rather than about each other, a prominent European Baptist leader told reporters prior to a celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Baptist movement July 24.
Tony Peck, the general secretary of the European Baptist Federation (EBF), spoke at a July 24 press conference prior to the beginning of the “Amsterdam 400” conference in the Netherlands, scheduled for July 24-26. The EBF-hosted meeting commemorates the founding of the world’s first Baptist congregation, composed of English dissenters exiled to Holland, in the back room of an Amsterdam bakery in 1609.
Peck expressed the conviction that Christian-Muslim dialogue would awaken greater understanding for each group. He noted that the founders of the Baptist movement had already struggled for religious liberty — not only for themselves, but also for Muslims.
Nothing has changed on that question since 1609, he said. The original Baptist congregation included Thomas Helwys (1550-1616), who published the paper, “A Short Declaration of the Mistery of Iniquity,” calling for complete religious freedom for all.
Peck gave the journalists present a photocopy of that document. He said Christians and Muslims could discover that they indeed have many joint concerns — for example, in providing a good education for their children. But, he contended, it is not helpful to cast aspersions on Islam’s highest prophet, Muhammad, in such joint discussions.
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Peck criticized far-right European political parties that are resisting the social integration of Muslims in Europe. “We must learn to live together with Muslims and are also capable of doing so,” he said.
He also spoke positively about an initiative by 138 Muslim scholars and intellectuals that began in 2007. In a paper addressed to Christian leaders, titled “A Common Word Between Us and You,” the group appealed for better understanding and more peaceful relations between the two faiths. The Muslims pointed out that global survival is also dependent on peace between believers in the two traditions.
Both the Baptist World Alliance and the EBF have officially greeted the Muslim overture as a “hopeful sign.” Official discussions between leading Baptists and representatives from the Muslim side have already taken place, including a January meeting in the United States.
Also at the press conference Lauran Bethell, an American Baptist Churches USA missionary and active opponent of forced prostitution and human trafficking, thanked European Baptists. To date, she said, they have been the sole denomination struggling on a Europe-wide level to combat the scourge of human trafficking.
Eighty percent of Europe’s 52 Baptist unions have sent delegates to information sessions sponsored by a four-year-old-network set up to deal with the problem. Its objective is that each Baptist union tap a person to work on the issue in its own nation or region.
Human trafficking is particularly a problem in Eastern Europe, Bethell said, because many non-voluntary prostitutes are taken from former Soviet bloc countries. In many of those nations, Baptist organizations are striving to keep as many female orphans as possible from ending up in prostitution. These groups are attempting to provide such girls with educational and job-training options.
Albrecht Boerrigter, general secretary of the Dutch Baptist Union, noted that Baptists in the Netherlands consist of 82 congregations with approximately 12,000 members and play only a minor role in their society. He expressed the hope that the anniversary conference might help make his church better known nationally.
The union has recently been involved in church-planting efforts. He said two Dutch Baptist workers are charged with increasing awareness among the union’s congregations about church-planting efforts directed at new social groups.
The EBF is made up of 52 Baptist unions consisting of 13,000 congregations with 800,000 members located in nearly all European countries as well as the Middle East.
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Klaus Rösler is editor of the European Baptist Press Service. ABP Managing Editor Robert Marus contributed to this story.
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