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[Street noise] [crowd noise] [inaudible] [inaudible]

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[inaudible] [Music] [inaudible] [inaudible]

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[MUSIC PLAYING] [inaudible] (crowd chattering) I warn you, but the length of it shows that a great deal has been going on which I wanted

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to share with you in this report. The past year has shown a real advance in Christian Jewish understanding in this country and in the work of CCJ. Three events particularly have symbolised the growing friendship between our two religious

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communities. First, the celebration of our dialogue in songs of praise on BBC television from the West London Synagogue, which reached some 8 million viewers. Second, the investiture of our Honorary Treasurer, Sir Sigmund Sternberg, as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Gregory, which has led to increasing contact with the Roman Catholic Church, for example with the visit of the Papal Nuncio to the Sternberg Centre.

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And thirdly, the world premiere of Caddish for Terrasin, a moving tribute to the victims of the Holocaust, held in Canterbury Cathedral, the very heart of the Anglican Communion. In CCJ itself, there's been a welcome increase in our contacts and activities. We've been glad to welcome a member of the Church of Scotland onto the Executive,

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and are delighted that the moderator of the Church of Scotland, Dr Craig, who knows Jerusalem so well, is with us tonight. Here he is, sitting on my right. We've set up a small dialogue group with leaders of the black-led churches, and are making contact with the Association of Black Clergy. It was good to cooperate with members of the Baptist Spurgeons College in arranging the meeting at which Dr Pinchas Lapid lectured

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on the resurrection of Jesus and to welcome a member of the Orthodox churches to the reception of the Sternberg Centre. He is here tonight, I spotted him somewhere and we're glad to welcome him. There he is. Very well. It was particularly pleasing at the ICCJ Colloquium to have Muslims present and we're exploring ways of encouraging dialogue with them. We've

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We've taken an active part in discussion about setting up an interface network. We now have a computer, so we have arrived. The God is enthroned two stories upstairs. We're grateful to Mr Paul Mendel for all his work in obtaining and installing it.

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A tricky job, but he's mastered it. We are grateful to the GOC and to Sir Geoffrey Finsburgh, MP for Hampstead and a member of CCJ, for their help. Membership records are up to date and our membership is slowly increasing. We've had considerable coverage of our activities in the media.

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We've begun to tackle a number of sensitive issues at greater depth by setting up working groups to study them. One group has advised on the effects of missionary activity towards Jews and prepared a statement which was issued by the executive in March. Although a number of Christians, often from American-based organizations,

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continue to proselytize, I hope that our Jewish friends recognize that this is not with the approval of the majority of Christians in the mainstream churches, who, while loyal in their witness to their faith, genuinely seek understanding and dialogue with them. We have also a Religious Education Advisory Group, which has produced two pamphlets to help school governors discharge their responsibilities in the field of religious education.

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The group is now starting to discuss the sensitive but important question of the place of voluntary denominational schools. We are members of the RE Council and give considerable advice to teachers and other educationists. Some 20 groups of senior pupils or college students have visited the CCJ offices as part of the London Jewish Tours. Our audiovisual sets, "Living Judaism" and "In Good Faith" continue to be in demand.

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The group with the black-lead churches, to which I've already referred, paid considerable attention to discrimination experienced by members of the Afro-Caribbean community. Jewish members of the group are offering them advice on developing their own welfare agencies and housing associations, especially to care for their old people.

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The Manor House group of rabbis and Anglican clergy continues to engage in high-level scholarly dialogue, and several members of it contribute internationally to this dialogue. A new advisory group on Israel and Christian-Jewish relations will hold its first meeting in October. There are some 30 local CCJ councils, and a recent newsletter gave a good picture of

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their activities. We are glad to know that councils are in formation at Southend and Reading, and we are anxious to increase their number. The annual Hengrave weekend was again well attended and was blessed with glorious summer

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weather. theme "Changing Families, Our Values in a Rapidly Evolving Society" was an important one, as, of course, family life is highly esteemed in both our religions. The weather in Spain - my word, it doesn't always rain in the plain - but the weather in Spain was hot for the ICCJ colloquium, very well attended by more than 250 people, easily the largest we've ever had.

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That was a record, even if it put a strain on the hotel accommodation. Great memories by some. As I have mentioned, the participation of Muslims was a significant development. But so also was the careful attention given to the joint spiritual consideration.

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The workshops were especially valuable for deep personal exchanges, and the distinguished speakers helped us to see how we could be both loyal to our own faith practices, and at the same time respect the beliefs and practices of others.

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We were saddened, as I have already mentioned, by the death of our former chairman, Douglas Webster, and remember with gratitude his work for the Council. We also remember with thankfulness Richard Hamper and other members of CCJ who have died during the year. As I retire as chairman, I'm delighted that an old friend of mine, the Reverend Dr. Edward Carpenter,

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former Dean of Westminster, is to be my successor. Now I've lost him again. He's played an active part in Christian-Jewish and interfaith relations. Technically he is elected by the executive rather than the annual meeting, but I know you will welcome his election very warmly.

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During the coming year we shall say goodbye to the Reverend Graham Jenkins. Now where's he gone, Joe? These elusive people, huh? At the back as usual, but doing his work, yes.

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Over many years, he's done outstanding work for the Council, and we know he'll continue to help us. We're very grateful to Graham Jenkins and delighted... [Applause] Delighted that Mrs Jenkins is doing so well after her hip operation. I believe she's with us tonight, or hopes to be.

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There she is. Well done. We are glad that in the autumn of next year, in a year's time, Graham Jenkins' place will be taken by the young Dominican priest, Father Roger Clark, a former chaplain of Leicester University, who is spending a sabbatical year studying at Leo Beck College.

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He'll be able to develop our work with theological college students, and that is a most seminal sphere, a seminary sphere, and one of very great importance of our work is to go forward. It was good that over a hundred such students attended a weekend at Leo Beck

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College last November. Some of the tutors who attended realized their own ignorance. That's a good thing to do. And a week's course is being arranged for them next year at the Selly Oak Center for the Study of Judaism and Jewish-Christian Relations with Rabbi Dr. Norman Solomon. The essay competition for our representatives of the ICCJ Youth Conference

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later this year attracted some interest and we hope to develop our youth work. We hope too to make more contact with the many visitors and pilgrims who go to Israel and see if they can be encouraged to meet local residents. Common Ground, our journal, has appeared three times this year.

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We're very grateful to the editor, Rabbi Dr. Harry Levy. Where are you, Dr. Levy? Yes, indeed. For your great work on that journal, and thank him for all his painstaking work.

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He is to be succeeded by our Executive Director. Unfortunately, the meeting of our Joint Presidents had to be postponed, owing to an engagement the Archbishop of Canterbury had, but it will now take place in December. As I hand over the Chairman of the Council, I do so with much gratitude to and confidence in Marcus Braybrooke,

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[Applause] and to our small but strong team at headquarters. [Applause] They do all the donkey work and do it outstandingly well.

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And I do so with great gratitude to our honorary officers, members of the Executive, and officers of local councils. I'm glad that we now have excellent offices. You'll remember that we've had a move to the offices above here. Offices well equipped, and I'm thankful that our financial position is now stable, though our income must be increased if our work is to expand as it sorely needs to do.

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We are now all set, I think, for advance. In this connection, let me end on a very positive note by quoting a paragraph from the St. Paul's lecture, which I had the privilege of giving last November,

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under the title "When Christian Meets Jew". I said, among many other things, Let me mention certain treasures which Judaism has held, and at its best still holds, in trust for the world. The high value of the family, the involvement of the family in worship in home and synagogue,

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the observance of one day in seven for worship and for personal and family renewal, the stern and clarion call for social justice, the doctrine of God as Lord, Creator, Judge and Redeemer. This is a treasure store of inestimable value.

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Christians have entered into the possession of these treasures thanks to the insight, the inspiration of Jewish lawgivers, priests and prophets. I believe that in a world which has largely turned its back on the values and emphases enshrined in this list,

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it is the supreme privilege and duty of Jews and Christians to proclaim these truths, to incarnate these truths, the seeds of decay, to incarnate these truths together in a spirit of joint mission. If society does not listen to these truths, the seeds of decay already within it will grow into vigorous plants and chaos will reign. Jews and Christians must be seen and heard together, bearing their witness in council chambers, in election meetings,

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in Soweto, in Handsworth, in Westminster, in Washington, in medical research laboratories, in places where issues of ecology and animal welfare are threshed out. We are joint trustees. Why should our voices be muted by separation? We are together, in Rabbi Heschel's phrase, in the earnestness of God about our world, the God who is himself the most moved mover.

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May I as I sit down wish all our Jewish brethren and sisters Shana Tova. My Lords, Chief Rabbi, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, this is a task which I perform with great pleasure, not the task of dismantling the microphone, but with pleasure and with sadness.

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Pleasure that I have this opportunity to express on all your behalf to Lord Coggan our profound gratitude for the years of service

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he has so selflessly rendered to this Council. selflessly, and to the wider cause of Christian-Jewish relations. But it is a source of sadness that we must part with him as our Chairman. Lord Coggan responded to our call at a difficult and indeed a crucial moment in the history

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of CCJ, but after three years of calm and wise leadership, he leaves us now in good shape and in the capable hands of Dr. Carpenter to face the challenge of the future. Thankfully, he is only parting with us as our chairman. He will continue the fight with us for the cause in which we all believe.

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His wife's counsel, all the will I know, continue to be available to us and we are delighted that having been a former president of CCJ and then, as you know, chairman, he will continue his association as a vice president, and I'm glad you've all heard and confirmed his appointment a few minutes ago. On a personal note, may I say how much I have enjoyed working with

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you, Lord Calkin, as the Jewish vice chairman, and how much I have always respected and appreciated your wisdom and your leadership and your friendship. You leave us now with our love and with our blessing, and we hope that you and your dear, dear wife, who I'm glad is with us tonight, that you may share in good health and happiness

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many, many years ahead. You leave us now, and the Jewish community will be forever indebted to you for the success of your efforts in promoting harmony.

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For us, you exemplify the example of a former leader of our people, Aaron the priest, of whom our rabbis tell us that, oh, hey, bet shalom, roi dev shalom, he loved peace,

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He pursued peace, O Hebert Hamakon. He loved the Almighty, O Eiv Etabriot. And he loved his fellow creatures. May I, as a small token of our esteem,

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present you with this Haggadah, which we hope you'll and enjoy for many years ahead. Lord Coggan, moderator, Chief Rabbi, Your Excellencies,

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Distinguished guests and other friends, I have this privilege of seconding this vote of thanks to Lord Coggan, and I do it very gladly, although I share Mr. Corrob's regret

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at Lord Coggan's departure from the chair. I was thinking, coming down on the train from Manchester as I was dozing off, what I might say about Lord Coggan, and the inspiration came, as it often does

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when you're dozing off. And I thought that I had met Lord Coggan, although he will not remember these things, or maybe he will, being the kind of man he is. There were three things, like the number of points in all the best sermons,

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three things that had brought Lord Coggan and I together in the past, before our CCJ days. One was a thing which Lord Coggan will remember, but will sound mysterious to you, called the Heckman-White Lecture. I see you know it well.

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The Heckman-White Lecture was in fact a glorious preaching occasion in Yorkshire, connected with the old Yorkshire United Independent College. Now if you can find a more Irish title than that, please let me know. And this lecture was given in Heckman-White, in Yorkshire,

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where at the time Lord Coggan gave the lecture, there were four congregational churches. The largest of them, called Upper Chapel, would, I suspect, at the time it was built,

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hold the whole population of Heckman Dwight. But Lord Coggan preached in that chapel a most powerful sermon, which I know all who heard it, students and others alike, remembered.

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And that brought to my mind that the man the man whom we're saying thank you to tonight, is first and foremost an expounder of the word of God. The second occasion that came into my mind

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was in much grander surroundings, York Minster, which may well have held the whole population of York, I don't know, but that was at the consecration of Patrick Roger as Bishop of Manchester.

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And I remember Lord Coggan on that occasion as one who was extremely cordial in his welcome to the Free Church ministers who were there at that service. The third one is quite a different occasion at Granada Television in Manchester, where at a lunch given by Lord Bernstein at the time that Lord Coggan was launching the call to the North,

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Lord Coggan faced all the pundits of the press, a formidable and often sceptical company, with apologies to any of the press here tonight. This was in Manchester.

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(audience laughing) And Lord Coggan took the press to task for the way in which they were always ready to report bad, evil things,

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but they didn't report any of the good things, the unspectacular things in the world's eyes which were done in the name of the church. And it was a brave act, I thought,

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speaking to that assembled company who didn't really want to hear the kind of thing he was saying, but he said it, and he said it very forcibly.

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So the three points are that I remember him as a preacher, as a welcomer and an encourager, and as a fine advocate and seeker of publicity of the right kind. And those are the three points.

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But of course, all the best sermons, when they've had their three points, always have something else to say, just when you think you're getting off the hook.

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And the final thing I want to say is specifically to back up what Mr. Korob has said about Lord Coggan's chairmanship of CCJ. because I must tell you that the Executive Committee is one of the most, if not the most, unruly bodies

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on which I've ever had the pleasure to sit. You have an agenda and you think you're going through the business splendidly and then out of the blue somebody throws something on the table that nobody knows anything about and the whole meeting is thrown into total confusion.

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Now Lord Coggan has kept a very firm, but gentle and gracious hand on this unruly company of men and women who serve as your Executive Committee. When he took over the chairmanship, I think it's true to say that the Council was in a very difficult position. Its future was not at all clear, not at all certain, not at all secure. He leaves the Council in a position of strength,

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looking to the future with confidence, and it's for those of us who are left behind after he has departed from the Chair to make sure that all the good work he has done is not undone, and that we give ourselves completely to the task

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to which he has given so much time, thought, energy, devotion, and distinguished service. Lord Coggan, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all that you've done and for your continuing interest. [Applause] Thank you, Dr. Corrub.

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Dr. Corrub, congratulations to him for that. And thank you, Dr. Chadwick. must, I think, in accepting your very kind remarks and this lovely gift which I shall greatly treasure, I must just tell you very briefly a story that sometimes springs to

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mind when such kind things are said to such undeserving people. It was of a man who had been over kindly thanked, as I've been tonight, and when he rose he said, listening to those speeches, he felt that he had to say two prayers. One for the man, in this case the men,

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who had told so many lies about him. (audience laughing) And the other for himself because he'd enjoyed it so much. (audience laughing)

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It's been a great privilege to do this little job and I hope that in the coming years we may see this work flourish even more. Now, we come to closing.

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(audience applauding) Thank you on her behalf, how very sweet of you. So that's a very happy affair. Now we come to an even happier one.

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This award of the 1986 Sigmund Sternberg Award. And I hand over to Professor Robert Craig to do this lovely job. - Lord Cogan, Your Grace, Your Excellencies,

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Chief Rabbi, Bishop Mann, and distinguished guests. I'm not quite sure why I have been given this very high honour this evening. I'm certainly not the youngest boy here, but I may be the, not the youngest, but I may be the newest boy here, because this is my first ever meeting of this society, and I was greatly honoured

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and greatly surprised too to be asked to do this this evening. And I came down, especially from Edinburgh by train this afternoon. I wouldn't have missed this occasion for anything. And so I, perhaps I qualify too, unless someone has come from here, from Aberdeen,

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or from the Orkney Islands, or from Shetland, or some of these places, places, I may be the furthest travelled of the people who are here present tonight as far as the United Kingdom is concerned. So perhaps I have that slight claim to be present and an ex officio, I'm the moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland

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and I take it as a real token not to me at all, whom very few of you here know and I I know very few of you here, but to our church and to our interest and to the interest of our land too and of Scotland in Jewish-Christian relations and in our past history, a past history of our relations with the Jewish people in Scotland and on the continent and in Israel. And we Scots,

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who, as you know by tradition, are a very modest people, would wish to say that this is a record of which we are not ashamed. The other perhaps qualification that I have for being here tonight and being asked to make this presentation that I possibly lived in Israel more than, shall we say, many of you. I lived in

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Palestine as it then was from 1945 to 47 in the years which we euphemistically perhaps described as the years of the troubles. I was in the British army then as a chaplain with the Scottish troops there and these were indeed tragic days known to all of you here without my description of them. And then it came to pass, Mr Chairman, that I was asked when I took early

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retirement from the university work in Zimbabwe, I was asked to go to be minister of our Scottish congregation of St. Andrew in Jerusalem, and there are quite a number of members of my congregation, my former congregation, whom it has given me the very greatest joy to welcome here tonight. And I was minister of St. Andrew's Church in Jerusalem and had the warmest and very cordial

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relations with members of the majority Jewish population during these years. They were interesting years. By the way, I should remind myself that I've been not instructed but advised by Mr. Breivluk that I must not speak more than 10 minutes, so I would wish to make my remarks as sparse as is consistent with courtesy. We were in there in Jerusalem

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and you know a recollection I have of when we went there first, my wife and I, we lived at an area called Ein Rogel which is just above the valley of Hinnom, looking across to Mount Zion, almost on the road out to Bethlehem, and it was a huge, at least for Jerusalem, a huge block of flats with 30 tenants there. And 30 tenants,

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And we were the sole Gentiles in that whole block. Well some of these people, some of the inhabitants were very Orthodox. There was an Orthodox rabbi, for instance, and his wife were on the same landing with us.

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And there were varying degrees, no doubt, of Orthodoxy among them. But what I want to tell you was that when the first holiday time came, most of our friends round about were, they were going on holiday, we were staying there. And you know, I found myself, and my wife and I rather, as shall we say, found ourselves

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with the keys, Mark you, the keys of half a dozen flats, whose tenants had variously asked us to water the flowers, or to feed the cats, but there was one most remarkable case

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of a gentleman there who gave me his checkbook. (audience laughing) He gave me his checkbook, and he invited me to pay his telephone

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and electricity and water accounts just in case they were cut off in his absence. (audience laughing) But he not only gave me his checkbook,

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he signed some of the checks. (audience laughing) He signed the necessary checks and all I had to do was to fill in the amount.

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Now, when a Jew does that to a Scotsman, (audience laughing) At least the outlook for, at least for Scottish Jewish relations,

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has perhaps survived the supreme test according to both nations. (audience laughing) I should say one of the supreme tests.

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But however, friends, I didn't come here this evening and come that distance to say such things, pleasant as they are, I want to say how much it meant to be, first of all, before I speak of Bishopman, how much it meant to me to be in Israel during these years.

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I, in 1945-47, by then I had read a little, not much, I'd read a little of Chaim Weissman and of Theodor Herzl and of others, and I'd become interested in the future of Israel there and then. And that wasn't a very popular point of view in the British army in 1945, 6, 7, as you, those of you who know or remember can realize.

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but I became interested in this to see it and also as a student I came under the influence of Reinhold Niebuhr in Union Theological Seminary in New York and from Niebuhr I learned something of what he described and I quote his words friends his love affair with the Jewish people which was based not on literalistic interpretations of scripture but on the concept of natural

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justice and natural law which is that a people with the historic links with the land deserved to have a free place in the land. Linking the three dominant concepts under Adonai in Judaism, under Adonai, Ha-am, Ha-aret and Ha-sefer. I say no more of that now.

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And I therefore was welcomed back. I was glad to come back to Israel in 1980 and to pick up the strings where I had left them. I believe that, and perhaps this is the last perhaps serious point that I make, I believe

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that Jews and Christians can come together if we will concentrate on our original common roots. A great deal has happened in the history of Judaism, if I may presume to say so, and certainly I know a great deal has happened in the history of Christianity which today divides Jews and

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Christians and both our traditions have witnessed a certain divergence. If we can get back, as I found in Jerusalem, in dialogue with members of the Jewish faith, if we can get back to a common source in what Christians call the Old Testament in the Hebrew Bible, then we shall find the source. of our unity. It's my privilege now to speak on the matter in which in particular I have

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been asked to speak and I do that with very great pleasure. There are two names before us this evening friends. There are two names before us. One by surname Sternberg and the other is Thomas. And the award that is being made tonight in the name of Sir Sigmund Sternberg derives something of its distinction, not only from the person and the persons who in its history

00:39:46.980 - 00:40:23.060

already have received it, but also in the distinction of him after whom this award is named. Sigmund Sternberg's concern for social justice for all races, his work for example in the Fabian society, his work for public health, his work in detail for speech-impaired children, for widows and for orphans.

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Widows and orphans who are commended in particular by the Old Testament, I should say by the Hebrew Bible as the special concern of those who have reverence for God, Chairman of the First Council of Christians and Jews, working rotary for reconciliation and for education too, and having the Brotherhood Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews,

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and a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. Such is the, in the briefest outline, is the description of him after whom this award is made. And of him to whom the award is made on this occasion.

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The Right Reverend Bishop Gerald Thomas Mann. Gerald Thomas Mann, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster and Bishop in West London. He is the recipient of this award for his many achievements during his life, for his Christian work in Kenya in 1955 to 63,

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for the part he played in achieving the first ever official meeting between leaders of the Jewish community with the Pope in the Vatican at Rome. A historic meeting which occurred and from which so much blessing has flowed. [Applause]

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for his work with the many minority groups, so-called minority groups, who are now a permanent feature of the life of this country. country. And when Sir Sigmund Sternberg was honoured with the papal knighthood, it was Bishop Thomas who made the arrangements, the practical arrangements for the investiture

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which took place. In all these ways, Mr. Chairman, I believe that Bishop Thomas epitomizes, if I may borrow your words, and having listened to you speak, sir, I've come to the perhaps somewhat reluctant conclusion in my modesty that not even a moderator of the Church of Scotland can improve on what

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a former Archbishop of Canterbury says. But I would put it to you using your words, Bishop Cogan, I find in the career, as I have heard of it, of Bishop Thomas, I find him to be a most worthy joint trustee of our common heritage.

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[applause] Of what you, sir, have described this evening as that treasure store of inestimable value. And I have the very great pleasure in talking of our appreciation of this, of now, on behalf of the Council of Christians and Jews, to present the 1986 Sir Sigmund Sternberg Award

00:45:11.660 - 00:45:27.140

for the Advancement of Christian-Jewish Relations to the Right Reverend Gerald Mann, a bishop in West London, in recognition of his work in this field

00:45:27.140 - 00:46:00.360

by the moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, 30th September, 1986. (audience applauding) - Lord Corgan, your graces, your excellences.

00:46:02.140 - 00:46:18.580

Right Reverend Moderator, my Lords, ladies and gentlemen, and all my good friends here, I am deeply grateful to the awarding committee for having chosen me as the recipient

00:46:18.580 - 00:46:30.780

of the 1986 Sir Sigmund Sternberg Award, and to Professor Robert Craig, the moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, for agreeing to present it,

00:46:30.780 - 00:46:45.020

and for his very kind and generous words. The moderator doesn't know, but I actually spent three years in his home country of Scotland.

00:46:45.020 - 00:47:04.940

I was in a little place called Lochwynnock in Renfrewshire, but I have to tell you that in the whole of that three years not one Scotsman, cleric or lay, ever offered me his checkbook, signed or unsigned.

00:47:04.940 - 00:47:23.740

In receiving this award I'm reminded of an arrangement that existed in my old school for awarding prizes. There were two sorts of prizes. One was for achievement

00:47:23.740 - 00:47:36.300

and the other was for effort and progress. Now, the previous recipients of this reward, those very distinguished names, were evidently given it for achievement.

00:47:36.300 - 00:47:46.700

I think I've received it for effort. (audience laughing) And I can only promise the council that I shall continue to keep on trying.

00:47:46.700 - 00:48:06.020

(audience applauding) As our chairman said, this year, 1986, has in fact been a most remarkable year in Christian-Jewish relations,

00:48:06.020 - 00:48:22.620

but not only in this country, but on the world scene. In this country, on the 4th of March in the hall of Westminster Cathedral, the founder of the award that was given tonight,

00:48:22.620 - 00:48:55.460

Sir Sigmund Sternberg, was invested by one of our joint presidents, Cardinal Hume, as a knight commander of the pontifical order of St. Gregory the Great in a magnificent ceremony that those of us who were fortunate enough to be present will long remember. But then on the world scene, just less than a month later, on the 13th of April, a date

00:48:55.460 - 00:49:30.300

this year midway between the Christian Easter and the Jewish Passover, Pope John Paul II paid a formal visit to the Synagogue of Rome and was received by the Chief Rabbi of Rome and leading members of the Jewish community there. Pope John Paul is a much-traveled man, but someone said that that kilometer that he traveled

00:49:30.300 - 00:49:51.100

from the Vatican to the synagogue was his longest journey, because he covered 2,000 years of history, and what a history. So tonight, as a Roman Catholic bishop,

00:49:51.100 - 00:50:25.940

I'm really very happy to accept this award, also as a symbol of the new era in Christian-Jewish relations inaugurated by that historic reception of Pope John Paul by Rabbi Eliot Toaf in the great synagogue of Rome. I recall this evening a phrase used by Cardinal Hume at Sir Sigmund's investiture.

00:50:25.940 - 00:50:52.300

He said, "The confrontation and incomprehension of the past must give way to the dialogue and the understanding of the present." We have moved, thank God, and we've made progress in moving from incomprehension and confrontation.

00:50:52.300 - 00:51:17.340

And for the Roman Catholic Church, the solemn declaration of the Second Vatican Council, which I attended, and the document which I signed, Nostra Aetate, 21 years ago, gave authoritative expression to a new understanding between the living Judaism of today

00:51:17.340 - 00:51:34.140

and that Christian church whose founder grew up in the Judaism of two thousand years ago. When Pope Paul visited the Roman Synagogue he confirmed the new approach

00:51:34.140 - 00:52:00.500

in a speech that one writer described as an audacious meditation on the relations between Judaism and the Church. And in it, he proposed a three-point agenda for common action, which deserves our attention. First, to work together for a just and peaceful society

00:52:00.500 - 00:52:31.500

where every individual has the opportunity to develop and where the life and dignity and freedom of every individual is respected. In Britain today, there are grave dangers that latent prejudices may once more show themselves. In the Council of Christians and Jews, we are called on to challenge every tendency

00:52:31.500 - 00:52:55.500

towards racial or religious prejudice. Second, the area of morality, individual and social. Pope John Paul pointed out that we, Jews and Christians, are the trustees and witnesses of an ethic summarized in the Ten Commandments.

00:52:55.500 - 00:53:29.140

And our materialistic and often selfish and violent society needs to rediscover the age-old truths enshrined in the Decalogue. How we can help in that rediscovery is a matter Christians and Jews can explore together. The third and final point of the agenda proposed by Pope John Paul is to elaborate together

00:53:29.140 - 00:54:12.040

a program of common action in the face of the great social problems that are multiplying in our big cities, not least here in London. And that three-point agenda does, I think, offer us food for thought. The moderator was given ten minutes. I was given five. So, Mr. Chairman, my dear friends, as my expression of thanks for the 1986 Sir Sigmund Sternberg Award,

00:54:12.040 - 00:54:44.520

I offer this brief reference and recollection to the historic encounter in the Roman synagogue on the 13th of April 1986 in the Jewish calendar, the fourth of Nisan, 5746, which for us in the Council of Christians and Jews has made 1986-5746 truly a year to remember. Thank you.

00:54:55.240 - 00:55:40.040

Lord Coggan, moderator, Chief Rabbi, your excellencies, and all the friends. I've been asked to speak on the subject of religious freedom in the USSR, a vast compass indeed, which obviously it's impossible to cover in a relatively short time tonight when one considers the complexity of the history, the number of religious denominations and strands involved in that great country. I shall confine myself to a relatively limited topic to try and present a balance sheet of the

00:55:40.040 - 00:56:18.600

here and now, the situation under Mikhail Gorbachev, in which we are all so interested and and which indeed many of us, many of us, are watching with bated breath. Here's a remarkable fact, central to our perceptions and yet known to far too few people. Roughly one person in three of the Soviet population apparently admits to some form of belief in God.

00:56:18.600 - 00:56:42.600

Though most sociological surveys of religion based on Soviet sources have given much lower figures, it's possible by piecing together the available evidence to conclude tentatively that over 100 million Soviet citizens out of a population of 280 million, according to the 1979 census, are religious believers.

00:56:42.600 - 00:57:06.120

Whatever the nature of their religious beliefs, to hold any belief at all in the Soviet Union today is a conscious defiance of one of the basic tenets of Marxism-Leninism, that religion is obsolete and will wither away. And in that vast number of people who believe in God, Christians of many

00:57:06.120 - 00:57:48.360

denominations and Jews and an exceedingly large number of Muslims all share. Although accurate statistics on religion are not available as a matter of state policy, careful observation leaves no doubt that the number of religious believers is growing. And I'm not referring just to some relatively small groups like Baptists and Pentecostals. I'm referring to the conversion of a growing number of young people and members of the educated classes to orthodoxy and also to the continuing growth of Islam.

00:57:48.360 - 00:58:26.080

And this has led some to talk even of a revival of religion in the Soviet Union today or a religious renaissance. These terms must, I think, be treated with caution. They may have some tinge of overstatement about them. But this must not obscure the fact that significant numbers of people have turned to religion and that the officially propagated so-called scientific atheism has been overwhelmingly rejected by this massive body within the Soviet population.

00:58:27.600 - 00:58:55.080

we can produce, and this is my only piece of self-advertisement in this evening's talk, a new book, which is shortly to be published, which can justly be called "Ten Growing Soviet Churches." That in itself, to be able to produce a title honestly referring to such a subject, that is, I think,

00:58:55.200 - 00:59:20.420

miraculous when we are coming up to 70 years after the institution of Soviet atheism at the revolution. So what has the Kremlin's response been to this remarkable fact? Apart from issuing an ever-growing stream of strident, repetitive, and unconvincing

00:59:20.420 - 00:59:42.160

atheist propaganda, nothing. There is no evidence of any meaningful attempt within the Kremlin or senior Soviet officials to re-evaluate the situation in the light of the fact that I have just stated. Of course, in church-state relations, the state has had to come to terms with the existence

00:59:42.160 - 01:00:06.860

of large religious communities and has developed a mechanism for controlling them. However, despite the evidence that it is wrong, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union has not altered its belief that religion will die out under conditions of developing socialism. Mr Gorbachev's new broom image has led to speculation that he might adopt a new approach

01:00:06.860 - 01:00:30.880

to religion, but as yet I see no evidence that he is about to do so. The Kremlin's policy on religion remains unrealistic and unimaginative. The situation has been aptly summed up by academician Igor Sheferevich, a distinguished mathematician, one of the few in the top ranks of the elite who is also known as a religious

01:00:30.880 - 01:00:50.460

believer belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church. He said, "When one becomes acquainted with the legislation on religion and how this is put into practice, one gets the feeling that the people who are doing this live in some sort of unreal world and are unable to break with the past which they find so attractive.

01:00:50.460 - 01:01:09.880

One would think that now when religion is on the upsurge and can no longer be crushed by force, it would be realistic to act on this basis instead of living under the illusion that religion will cease to exist in our country within a few years. And the present laws on religion, he concluded, are based on this illusion.

01:01:09.880 - 01:01:29.680

They cannot be regarded as conditions for the existence of religion. They are conditions for the death of religion. There is much speculation as to whether the Soviet regime is preparing new legislation on religion.

01:01:29.680 - 01:01:59.520

And so far, some facts, some suggestions positively, some suggestions to the contrary. We do not know if that is true, but it is certainly true that the leaders of the churches and I'm sure by extension the leaders of the other religious communities do not at the moment anticipate any good coming out of new legislation.

01:01:59.520 - 01:02:23.420

They are not even being consulted as to what it might be. So have the Soviet leadership at the present time adopted anything of a new style in dealing with religion under the much vaunted banner of so-called openness and new style in many other aspects of Soviet public life?

01:02:23.420 - 01:02:42.960

Whenever a Soviet leader newly comes to power, the Western media are inclined to look for for signs of such a new style indicating that the man is possessed of progressive or even liberal ideas. In the case of Mr Gorbachev, speculation on these lines has been more intense than usual

01:02:42.960 - 01:02:59.760

because he's, as we know, relatively young, because he's spoken of his commitment to reform at least in the economic sphere. But modernisation should not be confused with political liberalism, nor does the former necessarily entail the latter.

01:02:59.760 - 01:03:17.520

In the view of Peter Redaway, one of my mentors on this subject, Mr. Gorbachev is very likely sincere in his reformist intentions for the economy, but he hasn't fully thought through the consequences. In order to achieve economic modernisation, he's going to have to make sweeping changes

01:03:17.520 - 01:03:30.020

in personnel. That's the easy bit. But in order to establish more permanent reforms, he will eventually have to make concessions to those citizens who are known as dissenters, both religious and non-religious, Peter Redaway

01:03:30.020 - 01:03:52.280

says, because they in fact constitute one of the relatively few dynamic elements in a society who have not been reduced to a state of apathy and inertia. It's obvious that this kind of attempt to establish a relationship with the elements in Soviet society, hitherto systematically relegated to a second-class position, one

01:03:52.280 - 01:04:17.960

might almost say, for the rubbish bin of history, would be regarded as extremely risky by the Soviet authorities. And all the evidence suggests that Gorbachev has no intention of liberalising too quickly, if indeed at all, and probably the reverse. Very tight social and political discipline continues to be imposed. Gorbachev has shown himself negative and evasive when

01:04:17.960 - 01:04:44.920

directly questioned on human rights. It's worth remembering that the last economic reformer, Khrushchev, urged a violent campaign against religion. One of the landmarks of Soviet policy since the 1917 revolution was the virulent anti-religious campaign of the early 1960s under Khrushchev. He did this partly to prove himself a strong leader in the Soviet tradition

01:04:44.920 - 01:05:13.240

and to head off efforts to unseat him by those with vested interests in maintaining the status quo. Gorbachev may be forced into the odd concession here or there by engaging in dialogue leading to spy swaps, but this, I think, diverts attention from the major issue to which I am addressing myself this evening, the real nature of the problem of religious liberty in the Soviet Union.

01:05:13.240 - 01:05:34.840

And in all these discussions which we've seen in our papers just over the last couple of weeks or so, how many serious and responsible articles have you seen in the national press or on radio or television about the true state, A, of human rights, or, B, more particularly, religious liberty? I have not, my dear friends, seen a single one.

01:05:37.840 - 01:06:22.040

In January 1985, just before Gorbachev came to power, a new chairman was appointed to the Council for Religious Affairs, the governing body, as it were, regulating, moderating church-state relations in the Soviet Union, appointed entirely and solely by the Soviet government, and in the appointment of which the churches had no say whatsoever. This man, his name is Konstantin Karchev, does seem in some ways to have one or two of the qualities which Gorbachev has mentioned as necessary for the new generation of Soviet leaders - openness, frankness, a willingness to acknowledge problems and to tackle them head-on.

01:06:22.040 - 01:06:47.800

He's certainly more accessible than his predecessor, who was almost invariably represented by a deputy. A delegation from the British Council of Churches in May 1986 had a two-hour discussion with Konstantin Karchev, and on their return a leader of the group reported on the BBC as follows, I quote, "He's a remarkable figure, said to be one of the most uncorrupt communist

01:06:47.800 - 01:07:14.920

leaders. We found him to be a man of great strength, of immense intellectual ability, and quite aggressive in his attitude of defending Soviet policies. It was the kind of meeting that made us feel that the Soviet Union is putting really significant people in charge of religious policy. And to be able to talk to those people as frankly as we did means that dialogue has begun, which may lead somewhere.

01:07:14.920 - 01:07:37.080

Dear friends, my impressions from other members of the delegation is that such a statement is moonshine. "Konstantin Kharchev is a doctrinaire legalist with no understanding of religion or of church history," says one of the other members of the delegation who was there in his presence. "And even if Mr Gorbachev himself were interested in easing restrictions on religion,

01:07:37.080 - 01:07:51.940

it's likely that Kharchev would be a real block to reform," my informant says. He is also evidently personally hostile to religion. Someone who met him recently when when he visited East Germany, reported that when Kharchev was asked

01:07:51.940 - 01:08:01.860

whether he would prefer to deal with the Protestant Church rather than the Orthodox Church, one might have said maybe the Jews also, he replied, "The only thing I'd prefer

01:08:01.860 - 01:08:14.620

"would be not to have to deal with the churches "with Christians at all." The new style, so-called in Soviet government, does indeed need to be examined closely.

01:08:14.620 - 01:08:35.460

And as far as religious policy is concerned, any new style that we may hear of, talked about in our wishful thinking newspaper articles and so on, seems to be without substance as far as religious policy is concerned. Certainly there have been no significant changes whatsoever for the better over the past two years, and

01:08:35.460 - 01:09:05.540

as I shall point out in a moment, in some respects the situation continues to deteriorate. What is the dominant figure, the dominant point in church-state relations? Well of course the Soviet Constitution proclaims separation of church and state. And then when you look at the laws on religion, that constitutional principle is systematically

01:09:05.540 - 01:09:32.080

violated, most importantly by the cardinal law on religion which states that every individual religious community has to be registered by the state. And the very act of registration is also an act of control and indeed leading in many cases on to persecution, because it is an instrument by which the Soviet state keeps

01:09:32.080 - 01:09:53.140

the tightest control on every single religious activity, having eliminated from legality such things as the teaching of religion to children, the production of Christian literature, of religious literature, and many other similar activities which we would consider as the norm.

01:09:53.140 - 01:10:15.880

Having gone that far in the legislation, that is not far enough. The activities of every registered community must be tightly controlled by this act of registration. And until that law is repealed, there cannot be even a semblance of religious liberty in

01:10:15.880 - 01:10:34.080

the Soviet Union. And I do not accept the statement of one eminent Christian leader - I don't want to name names tonight who went to the Soviet Union a year or so ago and came back and said, "I found a measure of religious freedom in the Soviet Union."

01:10:34.080 - 01:10:58.560

I do not know what the word "a measure of religious freedom" means. Certainly by comparing the situation in the Soviet Union with that in any democratic society, it is a very small measure indeed, and one which I think causes more misunderstandings than understanding by using such a term.

01:10:58.560 - 01:11:20.440

We are approaching a milestone in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1988 it will celebrate its millennium. The exact form of those celebrations is not yet known. The Russian Orthodox Church has appointed an impressive committee of 30 or so key church

01:11:20.440 - 01:11:46.040

leaders to organise the celebrations, but they've not yet reported on their plans, at least not publicly. At present, no other churches are known to be planning official celebrations, but the signs are that the event will be very much of a church affair, not one given the kind of national significance by the press that was encouraged by the Luther Quincentennial in East Germany

01:11:46.040 - 01:12:09.640

a year or two ago. At the moment, the Soviet authorities seem to be trying to play down the significance of the anniversary, but at the same time looking for ways in which they can exploit it propagandistically to their own advantage. For example, the giving back to the Russian Orthodox Church of a significant monastery in Moscow as an overall headquarters

01:12:09.640 - 01:12:37.680

for the Russian Orthodox Church, where it can organise all its activities under one roof does seem to be some kind of preparation by the Soviet government for the millennium. This leads me to talk in a few general words about foreign contacts to which I've already referred. The churches generally have...

01:12:38.880 - 01:13:05.680

I'm sorry, can I just interrupt? Is there a doctor in the House by any chance? Adopted a very different policy towards their relations with the Soviet churches than have the Jewish communities with their counterparts in the Soviet Union. We have tried over a period of years various types of delegations and dialogues, but in those

01:13:05.680 - 01:13:45.480

dialogues which have taken place, one misses, I think, the real heartbeat of the Christian churches. It is very fair to call the church in the Soviet Union the suffering church, and the heartbeat of the suffering church has been edited out of that dialogue simply by a process of Soviet control over who represents the Soviet churches in such a dialogue. And therefore, it is certainly time for the churches to examine the balance sheet of where this dialogue has brought us. I've done this at great length in other lectures elsewhere, and obviously there is no time for it this evening.

01:13:45.480 - 01:14:30.280

But could I just point out one thing which happened very recently at a significant conference in your Land of Scotland moderator, the conference of European churches which took place in Stirling last month. The Russian Orthodox Church, indeed the Soviet churches generally, were represented there by a massive delegation of 40 people. By far, I think, the largest national delegation, apart possibly from the one from the British Isles, I'm not quite sure about that, from any country represented at the conference. And within that delegation, officially named, and I was looking at the paper on this this afternoon at a meeting of the British Council of Churches,

01:14:30.280 - 01:15:04.280

there was set down the name of one delegate of the Russian churches. His name was Victor Anatolievich Anisimov. And his designation? Russian Orthodox Church? Baptist Church? Roman Catholic Church? No. His designation was Third Secretary of the Soviet Embassy. And such was the spinelessness of the Conference of European Churches administration

01:15:04.280 - 01:15:36.680

that they continued to admit this self-professed atheist and indeed controller of the delegation as a fully responsible and representative member of the Soviet delegation on the conference of European churches. We have reached a position of scandal in this which I think is so ludicrous that, well, just imagine what would have happened if that man had been a member, if Americans had

01:15:36.680 - 01:16:04.000

been represented in the conference, and this man had been down as a member of the CIA, or even of the State Department representing the American churches. There would have been such a hullabaloo among the media that actually the Sterling Conference might even have made a mark in the the secular press. As it is, with this happening within the Christian churches and the Soviet

01:16:04.000 - 01:16:34.360

delegation, it passes virtually unremarked, and indeed, although the conference took place a few weeks ago, I didn't even know the man's name until this afternoon. It is time, as I say, for a re-examination, and I think in this the Christian communities have a great deal to learn from our Jewish friends. I cannot imagine that under any conceivable circumstances

01:16:34.360 - 01:17:00.520

such an event would have taken place within the Jewish community in any kind of Jewish international conference. Jewish situation in the Soviet Union from my personal perspective. The release of Anatoliy Churansky from the Soviet Union in February of this year, followed by the opening of negotiations

01:17:00.520 - 01:17:25.160

between the Soviet Union and Israel with a view to re-establishing diplomatic ties between the two countries, has helped to fuel speculation in the West that the situation of Jews in the Soviet Union is gradually becoming easier also. This view is a superficial one, as can be seen by an examination of some facts concerning Soviet Jews since Gorbachev came to power.

01:17:25.160 - 01:17:49.760

Westerners interested in Soviet Jewish affairs are usually most concerned with the number of Jews given permission to emigrate from the Soviet Union. At its peak in 1979, this number exceeded 50,000, but since then it's dropped drastically, so that in the first half of 1986, only 422 Jews left the country, including Stransky.

01:17:49.760 - 01:18:34.000

This number is only a tiniest fraction of the estimated 400,000 who wish to emigrate at this moment. Conditions for Soviet Jews as a religious and cultural minority, as for Christians, generally have deteriorated appreciably since Gorbachev came to power. And this trend was already visible from the later days of Brezhnev, from about 1978 onwards, and it continued to deteriorate through Andropov and the Chernenko period. Of those Jews who are currently in prisons and labor camps, one third of those that we know by name were sentenced after Gorbachev became general secretary.

01:18:35.440 - 01:19:07.680

The methods used by the authorities have taken a sinister turn for the worst. Until very recently, religious Jews were regularly accused of anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda, slandering the Soviet state, or occasionally possession of drugs, crimes not directly related to religious activities. Although it was teachers of Hebrew language and culture who were charged with these crimes. Recently, however, two religious Jews, Piotr Polonsky and Vladimir Dashevsky, have been accused of specifically religious crimes.

01:19:07.680 - 01:20:01.960

In May of this year, Polonsky, a Moscow Jew, was summoned to the office of the Moscow procurator and was reprimanded for conducting Talmud classes at the Moscow synagogue and being host to religious seminars in his home. He was warned that if he persisted with such misdemeanors, he was liable to be arrested for contravening Soviet laws on separation of church and state. Shortly afterwards, Dashevsky, a Leningrad Jew, was summoned to the Council for Religious Affairs for questioning in the presence of KGB officers and was accused of breaching the 1929 law, which he was told correctly forbids religious instruction. These are the first instances since the Stalin era when Jewish religious observance as such, not talking about breaking other laws, the Jewish religious observance,

01:20:01.960 - 01:20:42.080

quae religious observance, as far as is known to me, has been considered sufficient grounds for criminal prosecution. Polonsky and Dashevsky have said that they consider they are test cases by which the authorities can gauge the reaction of the Jewish community to such warnings. themselves a reaction to the Jewish religious revival in the Soviet Union, which goes unquestionably hand in hand with the revival within other religions as well. I will omit some remarks that I was going to make about the development of antisemitism and recent antisemitic writings in the Soviet Union.

01:20:42.840 - 01:21:42.600

To come to a more happy topic, the emergence of perhaps a limited, but I think not insignificant, support by Christians within the Soviet Union for the Jewish cause and vice versa. This has happened, Jews supporting the Christian cause to a limited extent with the Helsinki monitoring groups, in which people such as Szczeranski were extremely active. And the Helsinki monitoring process included support of persecuted religious minorities with Christians very much one of those in the forefront. But recently, there has been more of a response from the Christian community in the Ukraine, where, as we know, in the past, there has been so much anti-Semitism.

01:21:42.600 - 01:22:13.320

Some documents from believers there testify to a new cooperation between persecuted Christians and Jews. Thus, the editors of the sixth issue of the Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Ukraine, an underground publication, denounced the destruction of a Jewish cemetery in Lviv in the western Ukraine. And the same issue reports that a 17th century synagogue in the Western Ukrainian town of Balekhov has been turned into a smithy, while a synagogue in the nearby town of Delina has

01:22:13.320 - 01:22:23.840

been turned into a bakery. And here are underground Catholics who themselves have no legality supporting the persecuted Jewish community. I think that is a tremendous step forward.

01:22:23.840 - 01:22:52.640

And we find something similar in the Christian community with the case of Ivan Fyodorovich Martinov, a remarkable Russian Orthodox scholar and a worker in a very prominent institute in Leningrad, who lost his job and has been dismissed from work specifically and purely for his support of the Jewish community as a protest against anti-Semitism.

01:22:53.120 - 01:23:23.360

If one of his fellow workers in the Institute could write anti-Semitic tracts, which happened, he was going to resign his membership of the Academy because he was going to do this as a protest against what was being written by his fellow members. Ivan Fyodorovich Martinov is a a case about which I could have said much more and one whose name should be far better

01:23:23.360 - 01:23:46.680

known both within Christian and Jewish circles. His situation, he's not in prison, but his situation continues to be extremely difficult and he's under constant threat since his dismissal from work and it is indeed his family is in a very, very needy situation.

01:23:46.680 - 01:24:07.660

The few conclusions that I would like to draw this evening come directly out of what I have said. There is no doubt that the Soviet government is keeping an even more vigilant eye than ever before on the development of religious life.

01:24:07.660 - 01:24:32.300

The very fact of religious revival more or less forces the hand of the Soviet regime in this, insofar as they're not prepared to enter into any recognizable dialogue. On the official level, of course, the Soviet regime continues to claim that the churches are functioning normally and there are no major problems, only a few local ones.

01:24:32.300 - 01:24:55.660

But the Soviet authorities clearly and consistently break even their own laws. The laws themselves are unsatisfactory enough, as I've said, but they are consistently broken. And if discrimination beyond the law is felt necessary against an individual, that discrimination will take place.

01:24:55.660 - 01:25:17.900

there has been both Christian and Jewish reaction against this legislation and a determination, although the Soviet regime is trying to root it out, a determination to bring the legal situation out into the open for discussion. As a group of Christians said in an appeal to the Supreme Soviet in 1976, "Christianity

01:25:17.900 - 01:25:39.840

arose far earlier than Soviet legislation on religion, and therefore it's logically impossible to expect that it could have taken account in advance of the demands of this legislation. It's unrealistic to expect that Christianity in the 20th century of its existence should revise its basic tenets in order to suit Soviet atheism. Many believers, Christians

01:25:39.840 - 01:25:56.680

and Jews, feel that such activities as teaching children religion, producing Bibles, Hebrew Bibles, Christian Bibles, and other religious literature, sharing faith with friends, and helping prisoners and the oppressed. These are, or should be, an integral part

01:25:56.680 - 01:26:07.800

of religious faith and activity, not an unlawful and unoptional extra. Penalties for such activities have indeed even been increased in recent years,

01:26:07.800 - 01:26:20.520

and so has the number of religious prisoners. There were about 200 of such named individuals that we knew and had all the details of in the 1970s. That number has doubled,

01:26:20.520 - 01:26:33.600

including the non-Christian prisoners, to about 400 at present. It is back almost to the level of the early 1960s, the Khrushchev period of persecution to which I referred.

01:26:33.600 - 01:26:44.160

Nikolai Baturin, a Soviet Baptist activist, was arrested in 1979 and was resentenced in 1984 to a further three years, and has now recently been sentenced

01:26:44.160 - 01:26:53.360

to yet another period of three years' imprisonment without being released. Under Stalin, that happened, prolongation of sentence, but it was always illegal.

01:26:53.360 - 01:27:07.220

Now, since Andropov's legislation of January 1984, such prolongation of sentence without being released from camp and after some kind of outline trial

01:27:07.220 - 01:27:22.580

is now legal under the new provisions. And so quite clearly, for such religious activists who continue their activities in prison, the chances are that they will not be freed from prison at all.

01:27:22.580 - 01:27:42.640

Believers in the USSR at present can see no more hope of change from above at the present than they have been able to in recent years. They may approve of some of Gorbachev's innovations like the anti-alcoholism campaign, but they see nothing in public life with which they can make common cause.

01:27:42.640 - 01:28:09.320

they feel still not only second-class citizens, but barely citizens whose basic rights are recognised at all. One final example, Alexander Agorodnikov, an outstanding Christian activist, who wrote recently in despair from his prison camp, and Agorodnikov's name is simply unknown.

01:28:09.320 - 01:28:31.840

talks of trying to get individual people on lists produced by the State Department for exchanges and so on. But the amount of effort involved in such activity very rarely leads to any kind of public recognition among the churches of the role that these remarkable people are playing

01:28:31.840 - 01:28:49.400

in the Soviet Union today. Agorodnikov was responsible for beginning a Christian youth seminar in Moscow, and he's been in prison for many years. He wrote these words, and I think they should be engraved upon our hearts.

01:28:49.400 - 01:28:59.440

They are on mine. I would like to share them with you. Your Christian preachers return home from the USSR with a host of pleasant memories after their visits.

01:28:59.440 - 01:29:09.000

Everyone has been inspired by the simple beauty of our churches and the number of people fulfilling them quite right. This picture lingers in your memory, invoking the best and warmest emotions.

01:29:09.000 - 01:29:19.440

But you must understand that what you've seen is the sum total of what we're permitted to do. All other aspects of our lives, family, social, political, cultural,

01:29:19.440 - 01:29:29.760

in these aspects we are not allowed to be Christians. We may only perform the cult to be present at religious worship. Maybe our position will be clearer to you

01:29:29.760 - 01:30:02.720

if we say simply that service to God is forbidden to us by the penal code of our country. In an even more recent letter he says, "The Christian church has benefited from economic growth and from a development of spirituality over 2,000 years, but where is Christian brotherhood, love of each other coming from our foreign friends towards us in the Soviet Union, cannot

01:30:02.720 - 01:30:30.720

Western churchmen be asked to intervene that I can at least receive a Bible in my prison. Agorodnikov is now in despair and near death and yet his friends write, quote, "Even under our atheistic and totalitarian system, there are those who do not fear to profess their faith openly and to rise in defense of human dignity despite the threat of persecution or even the threat of death.

01:30:30.720 - 01:31:03.200

The problem, my dear friends, for Christians and Jews alike in the Soviet Union has far more similarities than divergences. Christian leadership has been, on a worldwide scale, with some very notable exceptions, some of them sitting on this platform, blind to this. Even now There is no accepted Christian policy or common aim towards believers, fellow believers, in the Soviet Union.

01:31:03.200 - 01:31:49.040

And indeed, as Anatoliy Shcheransky and I were discussing last week, many Christian leaders are prepared at least to pay lip service to the cause of Soviet Jewry, while not being prepared to pay lip service towards the abolition of those laws on the registration of religious communities, to which I referred earlier on in my presentation. If ever there was a time for Christians and Jews to come closer together and a cause over which they can and should legitimately unite, it is over this specific issue, the treatment of religious communities right across the board of all religions, all denominations in the Soviet Union today.

01:31:49.040 - 01:32:17.560

If we cannot make common cause of this, I believe that we are at a very low point. But I do believe that we can, and I believe that something could emerge even from this meeting in the form of a challenge to the Christian and Jewish leadership to unite and to direct and guide our people in this country and perhaps worldwide today in this common cause.

01:32:17.560 - 01:32:34.560

Thank you very much. [Applause] As we've heard, he gave his various instructions to different speakers, 15 minutes, 10 minutes, 5 minutes.

01:32:34.560 - 01:33:15.200

He mercifully omitted giving me my instructions, presumably bearing in mind that I am a member of and represent a timeless people. [laughter] In fact, when I listened to the sparkling address of my one fellow president of this council, the distinguished moderator of the Church of Scotland, and heard him describe himself as,

01:33:15.200 - 01:33:51.760

if not the youngest member of this group, but the newest boy, I think, on this platform and to this in the leadership of this council, I was reminded of an experience that I had on my first pastoral visit to Australia, and three other ones since then, in I think it was 1970. And on that occasion, as I traveled throughout the various Jewish communities through that vast continent,

01:33:51.760 - 01:34:21.760

was constantly reminded, wherever I was, that within one week of my visit there, there was going to be the first ever visit, obviously a spectacularly historical event. And the Pope, then Pius VI, was going to visit Australia a week later. And in all the interviews that I had, the press, the radio, the television, the invariable question was asked of me,

01:34:21.760 - 01:34:59.760

"Is your visit in any way connected with that forthcoming visit of the Pope a week later?" And the only answer I could give is none that I know of, and there's no connection that I know of, other than to prove that the Old Testament comes before the New. And therefore, if you are the newest boy, I'm the oldest boy. I have had the privilege of serving in my present capacity as a president of this council for nearly 20 years now,

01:34:59.760 - 01:35:16.760

and have seen others come and go. And may I say, in introducing my few words of thanks, profound appreciation for something enormously illuminating that we were privileged to listen to,

01:35:16.760 - 01:35:48.760

may I say for my part as well as I'm sure on behalf of all my fellow presidents, how fortunate we are in this country to have had at the helm of our affairs, notably in the chair of our executive committee, personalities of the caliber of our outgoing chairman and our incoming chairman. [Applause]

01:35:48.760 - 01:36:30.760

There is no community in the world that I know of that sees the relationship between Jews and Christians served by men of this caliber, of this dedication, and of this eminence in the national life of our people, of this country. And so may I say in the words of Deuteronomy to our incoming chairman, "Baruch ata v'boechah," may you be blessed as you come in, and may I say to you, Lord Coggan, "Baruch ata v'tzetechah," may you be blessed as you go out.

01:36:30.760 - 01:37:19.040

[Applause] I cannot fail to mention in this context the enormous blessings that we have in having the recipient of today's award serve our cause with such distinction and how much we rejoice in offering felicitations on this well-merited award. Coming to the theme of this remarkable survey that we have heard this evening, I don't suppose there is a more difficult subject that one could set to any speaker or any lecturer than

01:37:19.040 - 01:37:54.820

to speak on religious freedom in the Soviet Union. It's like speaking on, let's say, the subject of justice in Nazi Germany, or speaking on perhaps the Department of the Navy in the Swiss government. How can you speak on religious freedom in the Soviet Union? We heard a grim story indeed, depressing, tragic, and in many

01:37:54.820 - 01:38:34.660

ways desolate with few indications that there is some silver lining to be detected on these gloomy clouds that beset the horizon of believers, Christians, Jews alike, in that vast prison, the Soviet Union, which has made the persecution and suppression of religion for the first time in human history, a state objective, part of its national constitution, and hence

01:38:34.660 - 01:39:12.720

leads to enormous suffering, agony by those who, despite the system, now begin to enormously flourish and spread in the face of this oppression. If there is one compensating feature to be found in this grim picture that afflicts a major part of humanity, if we add today other states, including China, likewise committed,

01:39:12.720 - 01:39:28.200

nationally, constitutionally committed to the suppression of religion, to atheism as as a state ideal. If there is one other side to be found, it is the growing realization in the free world

01:39:28.200 - 01:39:41.600

of the primacy of human rights and within it of religious freedom as an objective in international relations, which was not the case during the Nazi persecution.

01:39:41.600 - 01:40:01.040

Human rights were hardly featuring on the international agenda at that time. certainly didn't feature in the encounters between leaders of nations, at summit meetings and the like, the fact that we now have an awareness, an arousal, by free men everywhere,

01:40:01.040 - 01:40:29.420

that this is an item that must be placed at the head of our agenda if this world is to be rid of one of its worst afflictions, is a source of solace to us. And may I say that our speaker this evening has made a notable contribution towards bringing the awareness of the oppression and affliction of religion to the consciousness of the free

01:40:29.420 - 01:40:54.260

world, indeed by monitoring, as he does and as his institute, Keston College, does, the fortunes and misfortunes of religion under Soviet domination, and enormous services being rendered to at least opening up the doors of hope at some future time that those who wish to worship their maker freely will be able to do so and we are

01:40:54.260 - 01:41:26.060

immensely in your debt for pioneering this effort. You have received international acclaim, you've been the recipient of the highest award for the progress of religion by the Templeton Prize that you received, the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for religion, we tonight can only humbly add

01:41:26.060 - 01:41:59.740

our tribute to you and to your work. May I conclude by the inevitable reference I'm bound to make in a week like this, to the quite extraordinarily, I might say, perhaps electrifying visit that we've had during the past week of Anatoly Sharansky, whom you've mentioned and whom you've met, and whom many of us have heard either directly or on the

01:41:59.740 - 01:42:31.900

media and to wherever he went left I might almost say a magic touch. Just want to give one illustration and it has a bearing on the whole message on the subject that we heard this evening. I was this morning as I usually do at this season in the Jewish calendar addressing the JFS school, which is our largest, by far our largest Jewish day school in the country,

01:42:31.900 - 01:43:01.740

with some 1500 children, and I addressed the sixth form, some 250 of them, and they were still gripped by the experience that they have had last week, a week ago, of a visit of Anatoly Sharansky to their school. And it was, by all accounts, and I've heard it from Sharansky as well, the highlight of his visit, he told me, and he said so publicly, was his visit to that school, and to see hundreds

01:43:01.740 - 01:43:31.020

and hundreds of children simply go into a state of ecstasy, you might almost say, on meeting the man in the flesh, of whom they'd heard for the past nine, ten years, as the symbol of the Jewish determination to prevail over the oppression to which he was subjected. And I said to the children, as I addressed them this morning, a week later,

01:43:31.020 - 01:43:48.300

still as they were under the spell of his visit, that Anatoly Sharansky, Natan Sharansky as he's now called, is probably today by far the best known Jewish name in the world. If you were to ask anywhere the world over,

01:43:48.300 - 01:44:11.420

"Name me a Jew," the very first name that probably would come to their mind would be Sharansky. certainly proved to be so here, no other Jew in the world could have filled the Albert Hall as he did. I don't know whether we, Archbishop and Chief Rabbis, whether we can achieve a thing like that, to pack an Albert Hall in the way indeed he did, with countless thousands of others who would have

01:44:11.420 - 01:44:30.220

wished to be there. And I said to the children this morning, "Isn't it an extraordinary thing? A generation ago, had you asked, "Who is the best-known Jew?" What name comes to your mind? Might have mentioned Einstein, a great scientist.

01:44:30.220 - 01:45:00.220

Might have mentioned perhaps Chaim Weizmann, a great statesman. One might have mentioned men who are distinguished in the arts, in politics, in the sciences, in medicine. Today the symbol that, as it were, personifies the Jew in the mind of people is not a scientist, and not a statesman, and not a thinker. It is one who prevails over suffering.

01:45:00.220 - 01:45:28.780

That is the symbol today. And he is the one that personifies in the minds of vast, of millions of people. He personifies. Because we today live in an age, and I think nothing could better describe, the condition of mankind today and the Jewish condition today, then this transference of the symbol that, as it were, stands for an entire people, from those who would previously have been preeminent

01:45:28.780 - 01:45:54.020

in realms of thought, in realms of leadership, in realms of high positions, of great eminence, to one who has outpaced them all by virtue of the courage and the fortitude and the triumph of mind over matter symbolized in Anatoly Sharansky. That is what we heard about tonight.

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And if we can try humbly as best we can to contribute, living as we do with the opportunities to raise the banner of freedom, of religious freedom, of using religion as an instrument to bring human beings together

01:46:10.600 - 01:46:27.720

and not to divide them through our counsel. If we can do this, then indeed, we may be worthy to enter into what for us Jews will become a new year in which our first thought will go not to the prosperity

01:46:27.720 - 01:46:47.520

and not to the safety and not to the happiness of our own people. The emphasis of Rosh Hashanah, the new year, is above all on the universal aspect of the human family having a common father. Because Rosh Hashanah is the anniversary of the birth of man, not of the birth of the Jewish people, the birth of man.

01:46:47.520 - 01:47:06.600

That we are all descended from a common God, from common original human beings, And therefore we will acclaim God on the Rosh Hashanah above all else as Melach HaKol HaAretz, King over the whole universe. That is the very first proclamation that we make.

01:47:06.600 - 01:47:23.120

May we be worthy through the instrument of this council, through the great personalities that serve it, through the work of your great organization of Keston College, and through the dedication of the countless supporters of our cause,

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May we be worthy to advance this fellowship, this brotherhood, to merit the blessings of God for a year of peace, a year of happiness, in good health, to you all. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

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[APPLAUSE] Thank you very much, Chief Rabbi. Thank you, dear friends, for your presence. meeting is through.

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