The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, Article 18, dated Dec.10, 1948, states that every human being should enjoy the following rights:
Some nations did not support this document, including the USSR because of their Communist policies, Saudi Arabia, who saw this as a Western imperialist strategy to hurt Islamic culture, and South Africa who were prepared to promote their apartheid policies.
We must remember the Covenants and the day of worship clause.
We must also remember the statement by John Graz: Religious freedom is not a gift from one man to another man, but a gift from God to all mankind.
The marriage is the relationship between Global Missions and the Public Affairs and Religious Liberty. Where there is fanaticism, extremism and terrorism, the mission is hurt. Let us be very clear about this. In those areas where religious freedom is suppressed, the mission experiences severe interruptions and slow growth.
Nigeria, Iran, Pakistan, and Sudan are but a few examples. Nigeria is now regarded as the most dangerous place for Christians to live. Therefore, we must build bridges through systematic education, and recognize similarities before we tackle differences.
A classic example is that careful research will reveal that the principles of the Ten Christian Commandments, including the Sabbath, are found in the Koran. For example, Nisaa 4 states: “TRANSGRESS NOT THE SABBATH.”
Empowerment will be a reality when we acknowledge the relationship between the Koran and the Bible.
Professor Ian Green has galvanized a vast array of competent professionals who have participated in 6 webinars. This highlights the power and relevance of the digital space. The areas that have received special attention are Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), Movement and Exercise, Crime and Violence, and Nutrition and Healthy Choices. Many of these professionals are now playing a significant role beyond their home territories.
Two of the most recent programmes were held in Dominica in 2023, and Suriname in 2025. Over the period, one very tragic event was the assassination of Attorney Randall Hector on Old Year’s Night, 2024, outside Stanmore Avenue church. He was fighting the criminal enterprise at the time of his demise. We have made it clear through the print and electronic media that we expect swift justice. The last sterling contribution he made at a Congress was in Dominica in 2023. More will be revealed later in this report.
Apart from the webinars, there are 2 programmes that merit attention:
1.“Let’s Talk” was hosted by Dr. Carson Green in Antigua, South Leeward Conference.
2.“Inspired” was hosted by Dr. Clive P. Dottin in Trinidad.
TRAINING
JUSTICE INTERVENTION
TECHNOLOGY
PUBLICATIONS
To publish one issue of the Bell Journal and one issue of the Liberty Newsletter per annum
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES:
To mobilize delegations to attend conferences organized by the International Religious Liberty Association
ORGANIZATION:
ZONE A: South Leeward Conference and North Caribbean Conference
ZONE B: St. Lucia Mission and East Caribbean Conference
ZONE C: Grenada Conference, Tobago Conference, and St. Vincent & the Grenadines Mission.
ZONE D: Guyana Conference, South Caribbean Conference, and Suriname Mission.
VISION
Professor Ian Green, who conceptualized and promoted the webinar series, made a profound comment in his analysis of their significant impact:
“In two years, through the PARL/CARLA Public Affairs focus, there have been eight sessions that have engaged individuals across CARU in serious conversations on issues of health, family life and parenting, youth development and crime.
These conversations have allowed professionals from all over CARU to contribute to the raising of awareness about critical issues.”
I concur with our webinar pioneer, Professor Green. I have always felt and demonstrated that the church needs to be a “responding and caring element” in the community and should have a dynamic voice on issues affecting the community. That is why the Mega Mission Heart Touch ministries were created in 1998, with support groups that focused on issues such as drug addiction, juvenile delinquency, unemployment, AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
These were also Public Affairs issues so that when CARLA decided to introduce the webinars, the Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Department gave profound support to this mechanism.
Thousands of people tuned in to these relevant and meaningful lifestyle discussions. What was phenomenal was the role of professionals who were virtually unknown to the Caribbean space. Many of them were highly qualified youth, serving with distinction in the church and in the community. To God be the glory!!
One of the very critical objectives of the Caribbean Union Conference, and which has emerged as a strategic issue, is that of inter-departmental collaboration. Therefore, we have proclaimed the gospel of uniting the expertise of Global Mission and PARL.
This brings us to the prophetic focus of building bridges. The World Church has signalled a high degree of intentionality in reaching people groups such as the Hindus, Muslims and Chinese. Therefore, we are becoming familiar with terminology such as “the 10/40 window”. When we consider the 10/40 window and two major examples, namely China and India, we recognize that they have two of the largest populations in the world. India and China each have populations of around 1.4 billion people. In both countries, the vast majority of citizens reject Christianity or adopt non-religious beliefs.
As it relates to our Union, the nations of Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname have large numbers of Hindus. Therefore, bridge-building is not optional, but compulsory. Consequently, training is imperative if we are to succeed in this process. We have benefitted richly from the expertise of General Conference personnel such as Dr. Petras Bahadur, Dr.Samuel Lumwe, and Dr.Clifmond Shameerudeen.
We have arrived at a strategic vision in which Religious Liberty constructs the bridge and Global Mission enables people to walk across it and education is the key pillar in the bridge-building process. Consequently, we have engaged in interdepartmental conferences, and exchange programmes, ensuring that each Department has representation on our various committees and also engaging in the dynamic distribution of literature.
Luther Copeland in his epic book, “A New Meeting of the Religions” has made the following analysis and recommendations:
“As I have suggested, all religions have some sense of mission that is probably part of their essence. Therefore, I reiterate that it would be a great advantage to the human race if persons of religious faith could agree to stand for freedom.
A second area of possible cooperation among religions is the ethical and spiritual service to humanity. All religions claim some imperative to serve their fellow human beings, though some are more emphatic about this conviction than others….”
Therefore, there is a growing conviction that we must meet not only on the evangelistic battle field but on the “relational caring field”. In our territory, we have had ample opportunities to show compassion to other religious communities when they have become victims of crime and violence.
For instance, in 2025, in Trinidad and Tobago, there was a home invasion in Curepe, where one of the members of that family was a Hindu Pundit who was shot and killed. In that period, even some of our churches were vandalised. These tragic occurrences provided great opportunities for inter-faith relationships and the building of strong bridges.
During the period under review, we continued conducting the Annual Congress, although the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to relocate to virtual spaces while simultaneously stimulating our creative juices.
The 2021 Virtual Congress was conducted during the period June 23 to 26. The theme was “Grieving, Gullible, Yet Gracious: Ring the Bell”. We made intense efforts to make the Congress relevant to the several crises triggered by the pandemic.
The table below indicates the Congress speakers and topics.
Speakers | Topics |
Dr. Kern Tobias | Climbing Mt. Pandemic |
Attorney Leslyn Charles | Ring the Bell with Grace |
Dr. Gandalal Samlalsingh | The Law, Liberty and Sacrifice |
Dr. James Daniel | A golden Opportunity – Ring the Bell |
Dr. Clive P. Dottin | Different Perspectives – Still Ring the Bell |
Dr. Theodore Garnet | The Pandemic & Implications for the Mission |
Pastor Anthony Hall | The Test and the Triumph – Ring the Bell |
Dr. Ganoune Diop | Cooperation Without Compromise – Daniel |
Professor Ian Green | The Role of Dialogue in a Crisis 1 |
Bro. Stevenson Byng | The Role of Dialogue in a Crisis 2 |
2021 VIRTUAL CARU – CARLA CONGRESS PLEDGE
■ Freedom to choose a religion
■ Freedom to change our religion
■ Freedom to have no religion
The theme of the 2023 CARLA Congress was “The Marriage and the Mission”. This Congress was designed to facilitate the synergy between the PARL Department and Global Mission.This would prove to be the last programme that Attorney Randall Hector would address, as he was murdered on December 31st, 2024, just as he was leaving the Stanmore Avenue SDA Church.
Attorney Hector and his wife were walking south along Stanmore Avenue, hugging his son, when armed bandits shot him. He was rushed to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital but died on the operating table while surgeons were trying desperately to save him.
The last Congress in this Quinquennium was held in Suriname, over the period January 28 to February 2, 2025. The theme was “Defending the Other Side”. During this Congress, there was a special segment dedicated to celebrating the life of Attorney Randall Hector who served in various offices in The Caribbean Religious Liberty Association (CARLA).
We all grappled with this loss, and Security Professional Stevenson Byng wrote an article entitled, “Why was Randall Hector murdered?” In the conclusion of his article, Officer Byng arrived at the following conclusion:
“The murder enterprise in Trinidad – Within the last two decades, has been expanding with different levels of expertise and cost effectiveness. Twenty years ago, a direct approach would have been made by the client to a “badjohn” or hitman to kill someone. But the current Murder Enterprise in T&T has different layers that involve Brokers who can help the client choose the best hitman at the best cost leaving no trace to the client. The cost of a hit is now being quoted in US dollars.
When we classify Hector’s murder as another random killing or gang related murder, we mask the valuable gains the gangs receive through these classifications. It also sends a message to other state prosecutors and complainants that you can be moved or eliminated if the gangs see you as an obstruction.
One can get the impression that in Trinidad and Tobago the “cake layer sovereignty” exists. Le Cour Grandmaison in his thesis on Order, Sovereignty and Violence in Mexico said that the narcos/gangs are not trying to overthrow political authorities, but they are trying to gain a more advantageous position in relation to those authorities. In some communities the gangs have better control and maintain their order. People in these communities play multiple roles within each sovereignty, the state and the gangs. So, it is essential to understand that these two multilayered sovereignties are not in opposition to each other but, for the most part, cooperate with one another. Gangs and ‘public authorities can very easily coexist, collaborate, or come into conflict according to given political configuration and opportunity.’ These two complementary power systems then form a social whole: the entire overlapping cake.
Why was Randall Hector murdered? The simple answer is he could not be bought. But the more complex answer is a combination of existing fear, corruption and lack of political will to deal with crime in T&T.”
These webinars affirmed and expanded the Public Affairs section of the PARL Department.
WEBINAR 1
DATE: THURSDAY, APRIL 25
TOPIC: CRIME IN THE CARIBBEAN – A FAITH-BASED RESPONSE
MODERATOR: Mrs Petranetta Pierre-Robertson
SPEAKERS:
WEBINAR 2
DATE: THURSDAY, JUNE 6
TOPIC: THE CRISIS OF NCDs IN THE CARIBBEAN – A FAITH-BASED RESPONSE
MODERATOR: Mrs. Petranetta Pierre-Robertson
SPEAKERS:
WEBINAR 3
DATE: THURSDAY JUNE 27
TOPIC: PARENTING IN THE CARIBBEAN – A FAITH- BASED RESPONSE
MODERATOR: Mrs Petranetta Pierre-Robertson
SPEAKERS:
WEBINAR 4
DATE: THURSDAY, AUGUST 29
TOPIC: RELIGIOUS LIBERTY – CARIBBEAN PERSPECTIVES
MODERATOR: Dr Carson Greene
SPEAKERS:
WEBINAR 5
DATE: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26
TOPIC: THE ROLE OF NUTRITION IN HEALTHY LIVING – A FAITH-BASED RESPONSE
MODERATOR: Mrs Petranetta Pierre-Robertson
SPEAKERS:
THE ROLE OF NUTRITION IN HEALTHY LIVING
September 26, 2024 – 5:30 p.m.
Speakers and Areas
Dr Patricia Dyett
The Role of Nutrition in Health and Prevention of Disease
Mrs Esther Selman
How to Transition from a Meat-based Diet to a Plant-based Diet
Melodie Hercules
Promoting Healthy Eating in SVG
Charity Dublin
Nutrition Education and Advocacy in Antigua and Barbuda
WEBINAR DOCUMENT
GLOBAL EXPERTS: RESEARCH ON MARIJUANA
The CUP Programme: Courage Unlimited Please
Friends Forever, the anti-drug ministry, was established in the South Caribbean Conference in the year 1984. Grenada was the next field to implement this support group ministry. The programme received phenomenal support in the Richmond Hill prison where Bernard Coard and his wife were incarcerated because of their role in the Grenada Revolution, during which the then Prime Minister, Maurice Bishop, was killed.
As the workload of Friends Forever became too demanding, and gang-violence escalated in Trinidad and across the wider Caribbean, the need for a new initiative became evident. To meet this challenge, a daughter, as it were, was born – Courage Unlimited Please (CUP). Following a period of careful planning and preparation, CUP was officially launched at the Mega Mission Convention held at the Grand Stand, Queen’s Park Savannah in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
Courage Unlimited Please (CUP) is designed for the rehabilitation of youth involved in gangs as well as prevention of youth involvement in gang activities. The primary aim is to help youth to change their way of life and choose more desirable lifestyle habits. CUP also plays a significant role in schools, SDA churches, non-SDA Churches, and other NGOs such as Servol, Narcotics Anonymous, and Police Youth Clubs.
Four fields have indicated their interest in adopting CUP: Guyana Conference, Tobago Conference, South Leeward Conference and St Lucia Mission. We hope that all conferences and missions would recognize the importance of implementing this programme, as some youth in our churches have shown an increasing interest in becoming involved in the “GANGSTA CULTURE” of their communities.
In an effort to sensitize our members to the importance of facilitating the formation of Friends Forever and CUP, we have organized workshops, marches and rallies. Additionally, we have discovered that the Youth Alive Ministry, a General Conference initiative, is a very useful tool and can be incorporated into these youth programs.
In the official Journal of CARLA, produced in February 2014, I noted the following:
“The new report recently released by Pew Research Center’s Religion and Public Life Projects, highlights a number of troubling trends that should concern anyone – whether private citizen or public official – about the state of religious freedom around the world as of 2012.”
The PEW Report went on to state that a “full third of the nearly 200 countries and territories surveyed had high religious hostilities in 2012.” In a much more recent document, The PEW Research stated that “Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world.” In this quinquennium alone, the perpetuation of atrocities has been recorded in countries such as China, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Sudan. However, although these other countries are engaging in acts of persecution against Christians, Nigeria seems to be leading, with church leaders being arrested and incarcerated on the basis of fake evidence and rampant discrimination.
Also, in this quinquennium, we lost a tireless and consistent worker, an authentic Liberty Ambassador, Oswald Pierre, who died on January 25, 2024. Brother Oswald played an incredible role at all levels: the Tacarigua SDA church, South Caribbean Conference, and Caribbean Union Conference, inclusive of the Caribbean Religious Liberty Association. He also participated in congresses sponsored by the Inter-American Division and the General Conference.
Brother Pierre had a proactive and pulsating vision for the Department. He gave tremendous support to CARLA initiatives for more than 26 years. His involvement in his home church, Tacarigua SDA, spanned 50 years. Some of his major accomplishments included:
As we reflect a bit more on his life and service, we might conclude that perhaps his Gold Standard contribution was during the National Consultation on Constitution Reform in March, 2013, where he challenged atheists such as popular journalist, Kevin Baldeosingh.
As Oswald Pierre reported in the 2014 Liberty Journal, he stated that the preamble in the Constitution should be retained: “Freedom of conscience and religious belief, and observance and the recognition of God.”
“Take God out of the Constitution,” was the immediate reply of Kevin Baldeosingh, a founding member of the T&T Humanist Association. He described the Constitution’s preamble and acknowledgement of the supremacy of God as “philosophically incoherent.” Oswald Pierre shocked the audience by responding to the atheist: “If you leave God out of the Constitution, you would also have to leave reference to God out of the National Anthem.”
His life of faith has left us confident that Oswald Pierre would be in that number when the saints go marching home.
We have extended our condolences to his family. Both the Conference and the Caribbean Union paid tribute to this outstanding soldier of the Cross in recognition of his stalwart service.
FOCUS | OBJECTIVE 2016-2020 | ACTUAL | OBJECTIVE 2021-2025 | ACTUAL |
Letters/Interviews | 700 | 681 | 800 | 726 = 91% |
Zones | – | – | 4 | 1 = 25% |
Participation in Inter-faith Dialogues | 100 | 66 | 150 | 182 = 121% |
Conventions/Congresses | 144 | 74 | 162 | 81 = 50% |
Media/Technology | 184 | 173 | 200 | 329 = 165% |
Workshops | 100 | 95 | 124 | 101 = 81% |
Media Projects | 150 | 103 | 200 | 226 = 113% |
PARL Directors in Churches | 735 | 365 | 745 | 512 = 69% |
Meeting with Government Officials | 310 | 237 | 330 | 259 = 78% |
Problems Solved | 175 | 244 | 245 | 240 = 98% |
Public Evangelism/Baptisms | 20 | 9=44 | 10=50 | 6=37: 60% = 74% |
Festivals | 65 | 43 | 68 | 49 = 72% |
Meeting with non-SDA Leaders | 400 | 372 | 400 | 374 = 94% |
Support Groups | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 = 83% |
BELL Journals | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 = 60% |
We must thank God for His blessings and for protecting us!!
We must thank our Union Administrators: Dr Kern Tobias, Pastor Johnson Frederick and Pastor Bertie Henry
We must thank Sis Carol Joshua, our Administrative Assistant for her tireless and consistent work.
We must thank all of our Directors in the Conferences and Missions for their sterling contribution:
We must thank CARLA: The Caribbean Religious Liberty Association, led by Attorney Leslyn Charles, President; Attorney Susan Sealy, PRO and the magnificent team of officers, for their unwavering support of the PARL Directors and every programme, whether traditional or innovative.
We must thank our field administrators for their support of regional and local programmes, and for their substantial investment, especially the Congress programmes.
We must thank our PARL Directors in the local churches, and the volunteers who assisted in our regional projects.
Above all, we must thank Almighty God who has once again proven faithful over the past quinquennium.
