An unseasonably humid, gray Thursday morning on Chicago’s South Side was the setting for a unique gathering of faithful souls, and one deceptively simple proposition: Religious liberty is not what its name suggests if it applies only to the familiar, the favored or the faiths that enjoy widespread approval.
In late summer, pastors and religious advocates gathered at Hillcrest Christian Church in south suburban Chicago for the local convening of the 1st Joint Assembly of World Pastors. This local event was one part of a broader international assembly, with similar gatherings hosted simultaneously in multiple locations around the world — including New York and Los Angeles — and connected across borders by a shared program and purpose.
Their most immediate concern sits many thousands of miles away in a South Korean detention center: Lee Man-hee, the 95-year-old founder and chairman of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, jailed since June while awaiting adjudication of allegations that he directed tens of thousands of church members to join South Korea’s conservative People Power Party to influence candidate-selection contests.
Lee denies any wrongdoing. South Korean authorities allege violations of the Political Parties Act and obstruction, and the court further cited concern about the possible destruction of evidence in issuing the arrest warrant. Those facts belong in any honest account, as does another: Pretrial detention is not a verdict, an accusation is not a conviction and neither controversy nor public pressure erases the presumption of innocence or the state’s responsibility to protect human dignity.
That was the moral center of the Chicago-area convening. The faith leaders were not challenged to adopt Shincheonji’s doctrine, or to share any aspects of it with their congregations. They were asked a more fundamental question: Whether continued pretrial detention remains necessary and proportionate in this particular case, especially given Lee’s advanced age and health, and whether the principles of due process and human dignity are being adequately protected while the charges remain unresolved.
The panel’s makeup reflected a broad-based Midwestern pastoral outreach. It included Senior Pastor Anthony Covington of Mt. Joy Baptist Church; Senior Pastor William Ellis of Apostolic Pentecostal Church; Senior Pastor Raynald Williams of Sons of God Ministries International; Pastor Lucilla Seaton of 3Ps Ministry and Joseph Meddy Katwala (Meddy Joe) of Christian Hope Ministry in St. Louis, Mo.
Joseph Meddy Katwala (Meddy Joe) of Christian Hope Ministry in St. Louis, Mo. (right) appears on Chicago TV station WGN to discuss the assembly.
Longtime Chicago broadcaster and journalist Naima Latif served as moderator, while Meddy Joe helped organize the gathering and coordinate pastoral participation. More than 20 pastors participated locally, both in person and online, alongside other religious and human-rights advocates. Organizers connected the Chicago-area meeting to simultaneous assemblies globally. Some 3,000 pastors participated worldwide.
The assembly gave its concern, and the issue, a formal shape. Beyond just another mere meeting punctuated by preachers sermonizing, attendees endorsed a joint statement titled “Declaration of 2,000 Global Church Leaders for Freedom of Religion and Human Dignity,” calling upon South Korea’s government and political institutions to stop using religion as an instrument of political conflict. Additionally, it urged the judiciary to resist trial by public opinion, preserve the presumption of innocence and grant Lee release on bail in light of his advanced age and health.
Chicago attendees also were invited to sign a separate appeal addressed directly to the Republic of Korea’s judiciary. These pastors committed themselves to moving beyond rhetoric — to sustained prayer, public advocacy, coalition-building and continued engagement with institutions capable of acting. A declaration can name an injustice, and a petition can place a demand before authority. But the deeper commitment made in Hazel Crest, Ill., that foggy morning was to remain tethered after the room emptied and to convert believers’ shared concern into visible, disciplined action.
“What began as concern over Lee’s detention developed into a wider effort to unite pastors around religious freedom, due process and human dignity.”
What began as concern over Lee’s detention developed into a wider effort to unite pastors around religious freedom, due process and human dignity.
International speakers developed the same argument.
Vitaly Kirillovich Vlasenko of the Russian Evangelical Alliance warned that public opinion cannot substitute for judicial judgment. Bishop Elias Elijah Changa, a Zambian pastor with prison ministry experience, urged South Korean authorities to consider lawful alternatives such as bail, residence restrictions or medical accommodation.
The coalition also was larger than Christianity.
Brian Chitambira, who called for solidarity among pastors, emphasized that while the pastors’ assembly was Christian-centered, the underlying claim is a human rights claim. Buddhist monks, Muslim leaders, Hindu participants, secular scholars and more all have joined related efforts.
Latif, who moderated the Chicago conversation, is Muslim.
“The issue was human rights,” Chitambira said. “This event happened to be centered on pastors, but actually, up until now, it’s just been global — different religious leaders.”
That interfaith reach matters. Freedom of religion is too often defended as a possession — my church, my doctrine, my right — rather than a covenant. Its real test arrives when the threatened belief is not ours. If Christians defend only Christians they recognize, Muslims only Muslims they recognize, and majorities only traditions they understand, the right itself becomes little more than a popularity contest with constitutional language wrapped around it.
The Chicago event therefore should not be remembered only as a sympathetic gathering for an elderly leader overseas. It was a rehearsal for the kind of moral coalition this fractured moment requires — local enough to confront concerns in our own communities, yet global enough to understand that repression travels, precedents migrate and silence is routinely interpreted as consent.
Ronald E. Childs is founder of OMEN Communications in Chicago.