Testimony by
The Reverend N. J. L'Heureux, Jr.
Executive Director, Queens Federation of Churches
Moderator, Committee on Religious Liberty of the
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA

June 14, 2000

House International Relations Committee:
The Treatment of Religious Minorities in Western Europe

Mr. Chairman, distinguished members of the Committee:

Thank you for inviting me to testify today about the worsening problem of religious intolerance in France.

I am a United Methodist pastor and I am here today representing the Queens Federation of Churches, a council of Christian congregations in New York City, which I have served as Executive Director for the past 22 years. I have been a member of the Committee on Religious Liberty of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA since 1984 and currently serve as Moderator of the Committee. I am not here to speak for the National Council of Churches or for the Committee. I do, however, speak from my position as an ecumenical leader who has had the opportunity through long experience in the work of this Committee to develop a perspective from which to understand well the issues that bring us together today.

As an American, I approach my testimony from the viewpoint that no government is capable of making wise choices in defining what is religiously “correct” or “orthodox.” Only individuals listening for the call of God have the ability – and the right – to make those determinations. Understanding this truth, international wisdom has declared religious freedom to be a fundamental human right.

As a religious leader for three decades in the County of Queens, City of New York, I am mindful of the appropriate response to official orders compelling religious intolerance. It was 343 years ago on December 27, 1657, that residents of Flushing, Queens, began a letter to Governor Peter Stuyvesant by declaring:

“You have been pleased to send up unto us a certain prohibition or command that we should not receive or entertain any of those people called Quakers because they are supposed to be by some, seducers of the people. For our part we cannot condemn them in this case, neither can we stretch out our hands against them, to punish, banish or persecute them for out of Christ God is a consuming fire, and it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

“We desire therefore in this case not to judge least we be judged, neither to condemn least we be condemned, but rather let every man stand and fall to his own Master.”