Religious Freedom in the World 2014...Scottish Event's

Scottish launch of:  ‘Religious Freedom in the World Report 2014 

A new Aid to the Church in Need report entitled ‘Religious Freedom in the World Report 2014′ was launched in Scotland on Wednesday the 5^th November, which included a video message from the His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.

The evening was hosted by Archbishop Leo Cushley of St Andrews and Edinburgh, who was joined by Roseanna Cunningham MSP (Minister for Communities and Legal Affairs)  Rabbi Rose of the Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation, Janice Oliver, Administrator of Edinburgh Mosque and members of other Scottish faith groups. Also in attendance were high school pupils from St Augustine’s RC School and Holyrood RC High School. 

Archbshop Leo Cushley of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Lorraine McMahon, Aid to the Church in Need’s Head of Operations in Scotland, ACN’s John Pontifex ( Editor-in-Chief of the report) and Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria 

In total, there were 120 guests to mark the launch.

Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria and John Pontifex (Editor-in-Chief of the report) were the speakers at the event. Archbishop Kaigama spoke frankly about the inter-faith violence and the price paid by his community at the hands of religious extremists, Boko Haram, who in the nearby Borno State have driven out entire Christian communities.

The Archbishop called on the Scottish Government and politicians of every party to recognise the extent of religious intolerance today and take action to address the causes.

Before the launch event, Roseanna Cunningham MSP and Minister of the Scottish Government gave a statement to Aid to the Church in Need reconfirming her personal and Government support to Religious Freedom.

Similarly, Archbishop Cushley welcomed the launch by saying the report was: “objective, well researched and impressive… I found it quite chilling that in today’s world it is still possible to be maltreated and persecuted and even put to death on the scale that we found in this report."

John Pontifex gave a fantastic presentation which  introduced and presented the main findings of the report. The report, which looks at 196 countries around the world examines the state of religious freedom for all people of faith. The report found that in nearly 60 percent of countries worldwide religious freedom was compromised. 

Yours,

Michael

P.S. If you have any questions about the report please do get in touch (michael.robinson@acnuk.org).