From Passive Neutrality to Active Laicité

Transcription

1 From Passive Neutrality to Active Laicité By Xhavit Shala Recently 1, the Albanian media has been putting out stories, (at first sight they seem almost ordinary ones,) which if continued to be taken lightly may lead to problems in the relations between religious communities, between the communities and the state and may negatively affect Albania s image in the world. 2 The Albanian government, in cooperation with religious communities, and in keeping with international conventions, must make efforts to deal with these problems that may have a negative effect on our national security. The state should no longer remain a neutral guarantor of religious freedom but should also assume the role of the promoter of these freedoms. It is now required that the state move from a position of neutral passivness practiced in the last 15 years toward a position of active laicité. Religious harmony in Albania, while an amazing building in its grandeur, it is also a fragile one. The Clash over the Symbols A large iron cross of the orthodox faith was erected on the right side of the road going from Tirana to Elbasan, on a site where there had never been a religious strucure before. Whether justifiably or not, the Elbasan Muslim community reacted against the erection of the cross. There were threats made to remove the cross by force unless the commune of Bradashesh took action. The local government had not properly assessed the reactions the cross would provoke among the other larger religious communities in Elbasan. Following the response, the mayor of Bradashesh stated that based on a decision of the regulatory council of the commune the cross would be brought down. Unless the representatives of the orthodox religious communities take action to remove it, it will be the state representative that will have to step in. An even larger cross is erected by the orthodox believers in the village of Xarë in Saranda. It took the rection of the other religious communities there for the construction police to wake up to the fact and consider it an illegal construction. According to the papers, the Construction police tried to bring the cross down during the night using (what?) explosives. During the period of August-October 2004, a series of 15 orthodox churches in the region of Korca were burglarized. Ilia Kotini, the representative of the Korca Metropolis, says: The epidemics affecting the churches must be a deliberate action of the Muslim 1 These articles may be quoted in any form up to and inclusive of five hundred (500) words without express written permission of the author, providing the text does not amount to a complete article. When used in keeping with such condition, the notice of copyright must appear on the title or copyright page or opening screen of the work. 2 The article was published in «Gazeta Shqiptare», on March 13, 2005, and «Express» daily on March 15,

2 fundamentalists. And then adds: church representatives have met with senior officials in the police, but aside from good words, nothing has been done to calm down the souls of the believers. The police, instead of focusing on finding out who perpetrators of these acts were, said that the objects stolen are of a small monetary value. In all of the three cases mentioned, it appears there is credible evidence, for the international writers especially, to say that the non-muslim religions in Albania are under threat and that even the state is taking action against them. This made up struggle of the symbols is an attempt to present Albania as a country where the Islamic faith is a militant one to scare the Christian Europe from us. And all this is happening because of some irresponsible action by state officials who either deliberately or inadvertently are leading the state into a trap. The clash over construction site The religious communities, immediately after the establishment of democracy procceded quickly with efforts to rebuild churches and mosques. With funds provided mainly from abroad each of the communities tried to get construction permits to build their places of worship in the center of towns or villages, in the most visible places and often even in areas where there were very few believers. An unvoiced rivalry between religious communities was under way to occupy the best sites and secure construction permits. There have been cases also when religious communities complained that the authorities have not provided them with construction permits to build their places of worship in sites they owned. Complaints escalated into threats that they would take to the streets with the most typical example of this having taken place in Elbasan. The leaders of the Muslim community there who are manily young men educated in Arab countries threatened that they would bring the xhemat (the community of believers) into the streets. Without rushing to judgment over the merits of their case, we can safely say that taking into the streets would not be the best way to go about resolving this issue. In the meantime there are state officials who instead of working to resolve the demands of the community, incite believers to protest in the streets about construction permits or restitution of properties. Is it that these officials have received instruction from who knows where to give a credence to the claim of a militant Islam in Albania? Confrontations about construction sites and places of worship exist also within the religious communities. Construction sites have been bought and mosques built without the Muslim Community possessing any official information about the persons who built them or the origin of the money used for it. These places of worship built with or without a construction permit can be found now in the outskirts of Tirana and in some other districts of the country. Who is responsible for the current state of affaires and who should take action to discipline them? Is there any study about the number of places of worship that Albania needs? Who plans and finances their construction? Mosques and churches are rising up 2

3 across our villages and boroughs, and that is a good thing for the ones who attend them, but the number of high schools is diminishing. Other schools are about to crumble due to lack of investment and the level of illiteracy is growing. Isn t it time that donors considered shifting some of these funds to building schools? The state should be the regulator of all these problems and in view of the importance of these matter have for our national security and in full respect of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights, it should prepare a complete legal package and move from a position of neutral passivness to that of active Laicité. The Rivalry over Universities The public was informed recently about the inauguration of the Catholic University in Tirana, which follows in the well-known tradition of Catholic founded or run universities, like George Town University in the U.S. and other universities in Europe. The University is Catholic in name only but it does not run any religious training program and it does not train priests. On the same day of the Catholic university inauguration, the Muslim Community expressed their intention to open an Islamic university in Tirana and said that they were looking for funds. The Orthodox Community may rightly be demanding in the future to open an orthodox university in Tirana. A rivalry of universities now seems to be underway. What would be the solution to this problem? These are some important issues that are closely connected with our national security, issues that have been inadvertently or intentionally put off during the transition years. The restitution of properties to religious communities, the manner of financing of religious communities, the training of theologians and other issues related to religious education, the election of the heads of religious communities are all issues that need to be looked at closely. A Historic Prespective From the moment Albania became indipendant, the Albanian patriots gave serious consideration to the issues meniotned above because of the serious impact they had on the future of the new country they were trying to build. In 1923, Visarion Xhuvani, who was later to become the Archbishop of the Albanian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, said: Religious issues [in Albania] have always been and will remain complicated. All of you know how much they cost the state. God forbid that these issues become tools [in the hands of others] in the future 3. Mehdi Frashëri, speaking about these issues, says: It is for this reason that I say that the government should be little bit more inside religions 4. The Albanian statesmen of that time approved a legal infrastructure to ensure that religious communities were kept from coming under the control of foreigners. The law On Religious Communities that was passed in 1923 established some very important principles that gave form to the laicité and western orientation of the Albanian state. The 3 AQSH, (Central State Archive) Index no. 246, D-68, Fl. 471, Year National Council Deliberations page 637 AQSH, F. 246, D-68, Fl 471, year

4 law regulated the manner of financing of religious clergy, the relationship of the religious communities in the country with their spiritual centers located outside Albania 5, and the manner of election of the heads of these communities. The law stipulated that state would provide funding to religious communities in proportion with the number of believers that each faith had. Through this legislation, the lawmakers of that period were seeking to increase the independence of the Albanian clergy from foreign financing. 6 The law regulated in a quite precise manner the rules regarding the election of the heads of religious communities: The religious chiefs are elected by secret ballot by two religious and secular councils that come together in the form of an assembly. The Assembly proposes three names to the Ministry of Justice who picks one name and submits it to the Council of Ministers for approval. The name is then passed for confirmation to the Sovereign Council which issues a decree of appointment. King Zog and Religious Communities King Zog and his administration paid serious attention to religious matter and to the potential threat to national security that they could present. The principles established in the 1923 law were further strengthened in the law of 1929 On the Establishment of Religious Communities. This law stated that the statutes of religious communities would need to be approved by the Council of Ministers and decreed by the king; the heads of religious communities and their deputies should be Albanian citizens of Albanian tribe and language. 7 The King Zog s administration paid particular attention to the funding of religious communities. The Ministry of Justice was given the right to oversee the budgets of religious communities and check the state of the budget and assets owned by the communities. Article 20 of this law firmly states The [religious] communities are prohibited from accepting donation from foreign states, with the exception of funding accepted by the government for philanthropic purposes. These provisions apply also on donation from foreign citizens. A governmental permit is required for amounts above 1000 golden francs given by foreign citizens to religious communities for philanthropic purposes. 8 5 The Law determined that: These relations would be regulated through a concordat between the Albanian state, on one side, and the Patriarchate, the Holy See, Çelepiu, and Haxhi Bektashi, on the other. The relations of these authorities with Rome, Istanbul and with Haxhi Bektashi are limited to spiritual and dogmatic matters. On these matters they are free to maintain correspondence. 6 Xhavit Shala Albanians at the Crossroads, page 35- A publication of the Albanian Center for National Security Studies Tirana, Decree on the Formation of Religious Communities, Article 7. AQSH (State Archives), F. 246, year 1929, Box file The state appears to have recognized the danger that could come from uncontrolled funding reaching the religious communities from other states or foreign citizens. These funds could have undermined the 4

5 The Communist Regime and Religious Communities Religious affaires were followed closely during the communist regime also. The Constitution that was approved on March 14, 1946, regulated the relations between the religious communities and the state. Beside the laicité of the state, article 18 of the Constitution sanctioned that the state may provide material assistance to religious communities This provision went against the accepted tenets of the program of the Communist International which said: the Proletarian governments must withdraw all state assistance from the church. 9 Rather than respect for the religious conviction of the people, it wsa the fear of foreign intereference in religious communites that prompted the Communists to take measures to fund religious communites. They were afraid that the financial hardships could make religious communities find partners outside Albania in the western world, which would in turn create problems to their hold on power. With the decision to continue to provide financial assistance to religious communities and even pay the salariers of clergy, it appears that the communist regime embraced the same position that the Albanian governments had assumed toward religious communities since the independence of the coutnry. The relationship between the state and the religious communities was further regulated by a series of decrees. The decree no. 743, of January 26, 1949, On Religious Communities 10, affirmed again the principle of state financial assistance for religious communities and gave the government full powers over appointments in religious communities. The establishment of total control over religious affaires would make it easier for the communist government to completely close religious institution after The Religious communities in the post communist period Since the reestablishment of the right of religious communities to operate freely in 1990 there are no legal provisions in place to deal with the economic problems of religious communities and the source of their funding and the audition of their accounts. independence that the religious communities were trying to consolidate after having broken the ties with their old HQ. 9 Program of the Communist International, London 1932, page The relations with each religious community were regulated by separate decrees: Decree no.1064, of May 4, 1950, On the Approval of the Statute of the Albanian Muslim Community ; Decree no. 1065, of May 4, 1950, On the Approval of the Statute of the Albanian Autocephalous Orthodox Church ; Decree no.1066, of May 4, 1950 On the Approval of the Statute of the Albanian Bektashi Community ; Decree no.1322, of July 30, 1951 On the Approval of the Statute of the Albanian Catholic Church. 5

6 The restitution of properties to religious communities has been very selective process. Some of these properties could not be properly restituted due to the uncontrolled demographic movement in recent years to plots of land formerly owned by these communities while other assets had been transformed during the communist period. Others still were taken away from the communities through fixed court decisions and corrupt deals in the property registration offices. There has been no complete study of the assets formerly owned by religious communities; which properties have been occupied, how many can be restituted and compensated. While to the question of who should undertake these studies, the answer would be that it should be the state. 11 The civil society and even the Academy of Sciences could have also played a more active role in this process. Since 1990 there has been no law on religious communities that could regulate the mutual obligation between religious communities and the state. There is a legal vacuum regarding the manner of election of the heads of religious communities. Maybe, one can say, it is these disagreements over their election that has kept Albania without a law on religious communities until now. After WWI, consecutive Albanian governments passed legislation to deal with religious issues because they were convinced of the impact these matters could have on our national security. The level of irresponsibility demonstrated throughout these years toward religious communities is to be regretted. A draft law on religious communities has now been prepared and hopefully will be approved by the current Parliament 12. The law, however, can not undo the consequences that have come as a result of the legal vacuum and irresponsibility in dealing with religious. The impact of the legal vacuum After 1992, as a result of a legal vacuum regarding religious affairs, all the four main religious communities have faced problems. Arab NGOs that arrived to provide assistance to the Muslim Community promoted and propagated only those currents of the Islamic faith that were practiced in their countries, practices that were often at odds with the traditions of the Albanian Muslims. These NGOs encouraged a radicalization and 11 Since 1992 the Albanian State Committee on Cults has been the only state body operating in the field and until 1999 this body did not have a defined status. For the first time the duties of this agency were set forth in the decision of the Council of Ministers no. 459, dated , On the Creation of the State Committee on Cults". This structure has been continually reduced in staff and now has ended up with a small staff of no more than four to five employees. In many other states, of the former Communist East in particular, such structures operate at the level of a Ministry. 12 The Albanian Parliament of the last legislature closed its proceedings in June, 2005, and strangely enough the draft law on religious communities was not tabled for approval. The ball was passed on to the next Parliament that came out of the elections of July 3,

7 arabization of the Islam in Albania, incited religious discord in the country and worked to spread the practices of fundamentalist Islamic sects, such as the selafis. 13 The Albanian orthodox community in its effort to rebuild the religious infrastructure benefited from the assistance of the Greek Orthodox Church. The Greek Church also helped with the training and preparation of the religious personnel. However, the appointment of a Greek citizen as the head of the Orthodox Community led to a controversy in the country over the procedure of appointment. Despite the practice of the Albanian Orthodox Church that since its establishment in 1922 did not allow the appointment of Greek citizens, a Greek citizen was appointed to head this community. Fewer debates but not neccesarly less problems were also present in the Catholic and Bektashi communities. Foreign intrusion into the life of the Albanian religious communities, especially when this comes from fundamentalist and fanatics circles, will undermine religious tolerance in our country, and will incite divisions among religious communities. The century s old balance in relations between religious communities may be put into question and our national security will be undermined because of this. Centuries-old tolerance under threat from imported influences Our people, throughout their history have passed through many wars and test but they have never had internal religious conflicts. Following is a list of the factors that have kept our religious communities free from fanaticism, religious fundamentalism and extremism and have cemented religious tolerance in Albania: a. the Albanian national identity was build upon the foundation of our language, tradition and culture and not on our religious affiliations. 14 ; b. the presence of an Albanian Islam, with a folk nature and softened by the presence of the Bektashi faith; c. a certain aversion for intolerant forms of Islam, such as wahabism; 15 d. the forced religious estrangement of the Albanian youth brought about by communism and the tradition of the Albanian political forces which have historically never sought to build a constituency based on religious affiliation 16. While it is true that religious fanaticism, extremism and religious fundamentalism are not deeply rooted in Albania, since the early 90s the danger of importing such currents from abroad has increased. Fundamentalist groups have penetrated into the country mainly 13 Xhavit Shala, National Security and the Challenges of Integration, page 92, A publication of the Albanian Center for National Security Studies Tirana, Veton Surroi Religions and Civilizations. 15 Albanians, despite becoming Muslims in large numbers during the ottoman period, continued to remain the carriers of western values within the Ottoman Empire. They have played an important role in the western orientation of the empire and were a force against intolerant tendencies in Islam. It suffices here to mention the fight waged by Mehmet Ali Pasha against the intolerant wahabies and the Saudi tribe, Arben Xhaferri says in his peace «Religion, Politics and the Albanians», published in the «Religions and civilizations in the new millennium- the Albanian case» page Dr. Artan Fuga - The attitude of the Albanians of today towards religion. 7

8 through foreign non-governmental organizations 17 of a religious nature. They have introduced into the country and funded various religious sects and have targeted mainly children and young people who attended their schools and courses. Following are some of the factors that contributed to the entry into the country of various kinds of religious sects, many of which in certain countries are not allowed to operate. The crises and political, economic and social instability that the country experienced during these years of transition (1991, 1992, January-March 1997, September 1998), coupled with the absence of the rule of law and serious disruption of law and order; lack of state funding for religious communities and the hope of getting help from abroad; the absence of a law on religious communities; the attractive geographical position of Albania situated between the East and the West and the large Muslim population; the inexistence of efficient state structures which should have managed the legal relations between the state and religious communities. 18 The NGOs and the perversion of religious education We will now have a look at the role played by religious NGOs in the education of young believers within Albanian Muslim Community. After an initial wave of enthusiasm that came with the arrival of the Arab NGOs, there began in the Albanian Muslim Community a clear division between the traditional Islamic teaching practiced in Albania and the new teaching that the staff of these NGOs was imposing on the young persons who were attending their schools. It was these NGOs which brought and spread selafism in Albania, a movement that is the green light of Islamic fundamentalism. It differs from the other four schools of Islam officially recognized in the world 19 and its followers make up a very small but growing percentage of the Muslim population. The Selafi movement distorts elements of the Islamic teaching. They teach jihad not in thought but in action. They are against coexistence with other religions and justify the use of violence. Për In the social field, the movement teaches a return to a lifestyle dating centuries back to the time of prophet Muhammad both in dress style and food regulations. In the political sphere, the selafis do not accept the existence of a secular state. They seek 17 Dictionnaire Mondial de l Islamisme - «Albania offered a great attraction to the Islamist activists of the NGO s. The Islamic associations worked to achieve the objective [which they never tried to conceal] of re-islamizing Albania». This publication of the French publishing house Plon that devotes a whole chapter to Albania was released in August of 2002 and was prepared by the following six authors: Khatar Abou Diab, Patrik Karam, Riçard Labevier, Zhulien Lariezh, Olivier Roy and Antuan Sfeir. 18 Xhavit Shala - National Security and the challenges of integration, pages 97-99, a publication of the Albanian Center for National Security Studies Tirana, Selafism does not represent a well known current of Islamic teaching. This movement is a rejuvenation of an old heresy that was first propagated two centuries ago by the Arab scholar Muhammad ibn Abdl al- Vehab ( ). Hence the name «Wahabi-selafi movement», Sheik Hisham Muhamet Kabani says in his «The Doctrine of AHL Al-SUNNA versus the «Vehabi Selef» Movement-Los Altos», California,

9 to establish a state associated with religion and which enforces the shariah. In the national aspect, the movement aims to do away with practices of traditional Albanian Islam and achieve an arabization of Albanian Islam. Above all, the goal of the selafi preachers is to neutralize the practices established since long ago in the Albanian Islamic Community and have them replaced with practices that are more closely linked with the Wahabi concept. The movement s activity in Albania can be traced back to 1992 when in Cerrik they opened a religious education center called «El Faruk». The school was opened on the initiative of a group of Muslim Sudanese missionaries with funding provided by the «Al Vakef Al Islamija» foundation, an NGO with headquarters in Saudi Arabia and European branch in Eindhoven, Holland. Officially, the goal of the school was to train imams to teach the Muslim faith. The students accepted in the school were young people ranging from 14 to 18 years of age, mainly boys and also orphaned young men who came from poor rural families. The Islamic religious curricula taught in the school parted sharply from the traditional Islamic teachings practiced in Albania. The Arab NGOs opened other schools with a mainly selafi orientation not only in Cërrik, but in other towns that had a Muslim population. The spread of these movements became an issue that gave cause for concern in other areas populated by Albanian outside our state borders, such as in areas in Kosovo and Macedonia. In Dragostunja, a remote area of Librazhd, the selafis established a very particular organization where they operated as a closed and conspiratorial brotherhood. 20 People who joined this group «turned their backs» on their Albanian names and began calling each other with Arab names. Most of the teachers in these religious schools that were paid by the Arab NGOs to spread the selafi teachings were under the influence of the «Muslim Brotherhood», which is an international organization that promotes Islamic fundamentalism. 21 Some of these foundations not only financed course with a selafi orientation but also sent abroad for studies young men who had embraced [or seemed promising to do so] selafism. During 1999 alone these Arab NGO have send about 300 Albanian students for studies in the Arab countries. Some of the young men who had joined the selafis were hired by these NGOs as Islamic teachers and were paid salaries ranging from USD. These courses were either illegal or semi-illegal and were held in private apartment and near mosques. By hiring them as teachers, these NGOs pulled them deeper into their ranks and through their teaching increased their ranks with new selafis. Taking advantage 20 The extremist activity of the selafis in the Dragostunja area has on several occasions been carried by the Albanian dailies and the divisions and the existence of two separate mosques is a publicly known fact. 21 «The Muslim Brotherhood» and the selafis have powerful basis in Albania,» Ahmet Ibrahim Al Najar, an individual arrested in Albania told Egyptian investigators. In 1981, Al Najar had taken part in the organization that killed the Egyptian President, Al Sadat, and had been sentenced to three years in prison. In 1944 he takes part in the attempt to blow up the Khan Al Khalil in the center of Cairo and is sentenced to death in absentia. 9

10 of the absence of control by state structures, these associations were able to set up across the country a whole network of illegal religious training center, targeting minors mainly. These NGO insisted that in the mosques they build the imams appointed were to be selafis. Only after this demand was granted they agreed to pay their salaries. Through these mosques they were able to not only increase their numbers but also to secure votes in the general council of the Muslim community. In 1998, these Arab NGO's, having been active in the country for several years funding the spread of the selafi movement, made an attempt to take control of governing structures of the Albanian Muslim Community. It was only as a result of the reaction of the patriotic clergy of this community that these attempts failed. But this does not mean that they have given up. The young men educated in Arab countries, who are known as supporters of the selafi movement and funded by the NGOs, have become the main authors of attacks against the old class of Albanian religious clergy and are inciting divisions in this community. 22 Taking advantage of the space provided by their education program, these NGO selected and send for studies and visits to holy places 23 candidates who would potentially be used to expand their ranks. This made it easier for them to recruit [members] and have them trained even in military courses. The criminal prosecution in Egypt of what became known as the Albanian Arabs demonstrated that these terrorist organizations had made recruitments from the ranks of students whose studies they had funded. 24 If we are to believe their own statements made before the Egyptian authorites, the Albanian students that they have recruited, are now conserved and can be put in action at any moment s notice. The interruption of funding for the selafis 25 that came as a result of 9/11 has had a tangible effect in their ability to operate. But does this alone suffince to stop them? After ten years now, the branches of selafis have grown into trees and are producing their 22 The Muslims, 1000 signatures against the chairmanship in Tirana «Gazeta Shqiptare», November 18, 2004, page In 1999 the selection of the selafi candidacies that were to go to hajj was carried out by Abdyl Myneim Hysein, of the WAMY association. He was later to be arrested and deported to Egypt as a member of an international terrorist network. 24 According to Ahmet Ibrahim Al Nagar: «There are young people recruited all across Albania. These young people were very passionate and revolutionary and even more active than the main exponents of jihad and were ready to fight at any moment These men are ready to overthrow the Albanian government». 25 The salafi s honeymoon in Albania drew to a close after the 9/11 attacks. In the context of the fight against terrorism the U.S. undertook a wide-ranging operation to block funding and all financial activities and assets of persons and organizations related to Bin Laden. In Albania several bank accounts and corresponding assets belonging to individuals and NGO s related to terrorism were frozen; five individuals were deported and 223 citizen of Arab citizenship were ordered to leave the country. The Department against Money Laundering received nine notifications from various banks that involved accounts belonging to 16 individuals. In the Arab Islamic Bank and the International Commercial Bank the government froze bank accounts belonging to several foreign companies, the Albanian Prime Minister said in Parliament («Voice of America», January 22, 2002). 10

11 fruits. To keep these fruits from poisoning the believers, law and order structures must increase their vigilance and believers must be better informed about the dangers of this movement. The Law enforcement strategy and the religious communities The «imported» religious sects that have entered Albania in an uncontrolled manner and which have challenged the right of Albanians to practice their faith calls for a greater role to be played by our law enforcement structures. It is the duty of these structures to guarantee religious freedom but it is also their duty not to allow any abuse with these freedoms which can undermine our national security. Our law enforcement structures must place the manifestations of fundamentalist tendencies in our religious communities, such as the case of the selafi movement, at the focus of their activity. Otherwise, our national security will be under serious threat. It is the duty of the State Police and the Intelligence Service to screen and carry out all the necessary verifications of all foreign citizens arriving in Albania from Arab and other countries before providing them with a residency permit. These agencies must scrutinize their economic and financial activities and must organize their work to keep their activity under watch, while always respecting the religious freedoms. The policy of passive neutrality towards religious matters that has been present in Albania throughout these years has caused many problems for our country. In the words of our well known writer, Ismail Kadare, A serious rift, the radicalization of only one of our religious communities, can cause the whole edifice of religious tolerance to fall. In order for the consequences brought by the current passivness on our national security to be minimized, it is necessary that the following actions be undertaken: 1. The speedy adoption of a law on religious communities, followed by the approval of required by-laws and enforcement without delays. 2. An agreement between the government and the four main religious communities where each party assumes its responsibilities according to the law The restitution by law of the properties formerly owned by the religious communities that have not yet been restituted. The state must provide resources and partial funding for the four official religious communities in our country. 4. State structures should make plans and finance the opening of a theology branch in the University of Tirana that will train the clergy of our four main religious communities and 26 To regulate the relations between the state and the religious communities and fulfill a constitutional obligation, upon the order of Prime Minister Berisha no. 73 of April 25, 2006 a Inter-institutional working group was set up to work on preparing the draft agreements between the government and the religious communities. The Albanian Center on National Security Studies was invited to provide its assistance to the Working Group and has proposed that prior to proceeding with preparing the agreements with each community, a law on religious communities must first be approved. 11

12 resolve the issue of religious training in our country. Leaving this in the hands of foreign associations and foundations would be dangerous. 5. The State Committee on Religion should become a Ministry on Religious Affairs. This would make it possible for the state to not only be a neutral guarantor of religious freedoms but a promoter of these freedoms also. Tirana, March,

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