Visitors from Serbia

On May 19, 2011 a group of religious leaders from Serbia met with a small group of members of the Interfaith Council of Thanksgiving Square.  They were traveling under the auspices of the US Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program.  The visitors were the Imam and Head, Council of the Islamic Community, Presevo; Supreme Rabbi, Federation of Jewish Communities in Serbia; a journalist who is a member of the Church of Christ, Belgrade; Mufti, Islamic Community of Serbia; Secretary, Office of His Holiness Patriarch Irinej, Serbian Orthodox Church, Belgrade.  Here are my notes from that meeting.

Just seeing this group together was interesting.  The Mufti, very tall in a black caftan and white hat; the tall Secretary in gray caftan; the short Rabbi with black yarmulke; the Imam similar in appearance to the rabbi; and the journalist - the last three all in casual clothing.

The Rabbi commented that in Exodus it says:  "You are a nation of priests."  Historically priests were the educated class, but now education is democratized and available to everyone.

In the 1950's all property was nationalized.  For Jews in the early 1940's and earlier, property was the source of independence.  Now there is discussion of restitution of seized property.  Now the Jewish and Islamic communities are working together now that religion is not suppressed in Serbia.

The religious groups are conservative forces.  Many of the NGO's are former Communists and oppose religious activism.  The religions are working cooperatively with each other.  The Rabbi and the Mufti put on a joint poetry event that was very successful.  They read classical poems in Hebrew and Arabic and translated into Serbian. 

In Serbia about 95% of people say they are believers, but most don't practice and don't really know about their religions.

There is a state Ministry of Religions.  When the State returns property to religious groups the groups must pay taxes on the property as if they had bought or built it.  None of the religious institutions have financial resources, so this is a challenge.  Lack of funds prevents the religions from providing social welfare programs that would attract more congregants.
 
As recently as the 1980's it was forbidden for people serving in the army to have a bible in their position.

644,000 Serbs were killed in the Jasovenic concentration camps because they were Christian Orthodox.  Later people were told to convert to Roman Catholicism or be killed.  Two groups of Serbs fought the Nazis and also against each other.  Some were Communists, some were not.  The largest number of Serbs killed in World War II were killed by Serbs.

One of the visitors lived in the US for four years (2003-2007).  He said that a person "cannot understand what it is like to live in a foreign, repressed nation without living there. You must listen to the people living there when making decisions."

In Turkish "bal" means honey, and "kan" means blood.  That describes the Balkans area.

A few years ago the government started to give religions rights, but the country has no money and social problems are growing because of a lack of jobs.  Serbian farmers can grow a lot of food, enough to feed the country and much of Europe, but they don't have markets.  They lost their trade partners during the Balkan war.  For example, they used to grow tomatoes but now hybrid tomatoes are sold in the markets and they don't have seeds to grow new crops.

There are a lot of people that think the economy was better under Milosevic and when it was Yugoslavia.  It will take time to adjust, probably a new generation.

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After their visit I sent them a note telling them that I hope that the goodwill that exists among them and their congregations today continues in the future.  Here is the note that I sent:

Thank you all for meeting with members of the Interfaith Council of Thanksgiving Square in Dallas today.  I am very glad I got to meet each of you and to hear you speak about your country and your hopes.

Your group is very different than the other groups I have met with when they visited us.  The other groups have wanted to discuss how to improve relationships within and among their communities:  between Shia and Sunni; between Muslims and Christians; between light skinned people and dark skinned people; conditions for Muslim women; and things like that. 

Your group seems to get along very well while facing your common challenge.  It is my hope that as each of your communities grows and flourishes that the harmony that your group displayed today carries over into the broader communities.  That you are all planting the seeds of harmony and mutual respect for now and for the future (and maybe some tomato seeds too).

Best wishes for a safe and prosperous future,