Faith Leaders Protest Gov't Limits on Religious Travel to Cuba
A delegation of religious leaders met in Washington, D.C., to press U.S. government agencies to cease attempts to restrict religious travel to Cuba.
Global humanitarian agency Church World Service led a delegation of religious leaders to a meeting in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to press U.S. government agencies to cease attempts to restrict religious freedom by ‘‘imposing’’ on national church agencies ‘‘restrictive regulations’’ on travel to Cuba for church work.
Officials from the U.S. State and Treasury Departments listened to the concerns raised by members of Congress and the religious delegation.
"We are dismayed, and even outraged at the loss of these licenses, and by what we view as unjustified interference in and hindrance of the mission of the church. We are asking for the rights of our churches and ecumenical organizations to continue our historic work in Cuba to be restored, protected and respected," declared the Rev. John McCullough, CWS’s executive director, during the hearing according to CWS.
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McCullough also sent letters to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary John Snow. The letters were signed by 11 other heads of mainline protestant organizations demanding an end to the restrictions.
The controversy centers on a decision by the state and treasury departments to stop issuing national church agencies and organizations general licenses to travel to Cuba for purposes of mission work, according to a CWS report. The government is now issuing new licenses that substantially restrict religious travel by denominations and religious organizations, while providing greater Cuba travel access to individual congregations.
The restricted license limits religious travel to only one trip per quarter and requires applicants – like Church World Service, the Episcopal Church, The United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church USA, and others who have applied for and received these more restrictive licenses – to list on the application the names of up to 25 people who will travel under the license.
CWS explained that churches often do not know at the time of license application which church members will request travel during the year and say it is unrealistic to place a four-trip limit on denominational agencies representing millions of members.
Ecumenical agencies like CWS and the National Council of Churches, for example, are cooperative efforts representing nearly 40 large denominations and national denominational agencies that represent tens of millions of members of local churches within their denominations.
McCullough cited decades of missionary and humanitarian work in Cuba and said the mission of the church "has long transcended political ideologies and changes of government in Cuba, as well as in other parts of the world."
"Our mission is clear: feed the hungry, care for the orphaned and widowed, comfort the sick, and visit the prisoners. We have long been a key expression of America's compassionate spirit and response during times when natural disasters have occurred. We helped found new faith communities some of which are extensions of American denominations. We are not apologetic. This is our mission," said McCullough in a statement delivered at the meeting.
Following the meeting, the Rev. Dr. Tony Kireopoulos, National Council of Churches associate general secretary for international affairs and peace, focused on the need for follow-up.
"The meeting was quite encouraging,” the delegation member said, “in that officials from the State Department and the Treasury Department were able to hear why churches representing millions of U.S. citizens are concerned about these misplaced restrictions on religious practice. While we may disagree with the policy itself, it is nonetheless a fact that the current regulations negatively impact the mission of our churches and that is unacceptable to us.
“I think the officials with whom we met understood that but we will continue to inform our churches about these new restrictions and advocate for them to be changed," Kireopoulos added.
In the letters sent to Rice and Snow, McCullough and other religious leaders together raised their voices in a call for the administration to restore the general licenses previously held by ecumenical agencies and national denominational agencies. They insisted that the new policy impedes the ability of local congregations to engage in mission work in Cuba through their national agencies and makes it nearly impossible for U.S. church leaders to bring Cuban church leaders here.
