Humans rights pioneer O. Frederick Nolde was a Dean of the Seminary

The first O. Frederick Nolde Symposium on Human Rights was all at once the celebration of the life of a human rights pioneer and a time to reflect on how to honor that life by making a difference in the future. The event was held on the campus of The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, where Nolde served as professor of Christian Education and Dean of the Graduate School while emerging as a major player on the world's diplomatic stage during the 1940s, '50s and '60s. He lived in Wyndmoor, a Philadelphia suburb, and died in 1972. The Symposium was generated in part to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (December 10).

The legacy of Nolde, who influenced human rights language in the U.N. Charter and who wrote the Declaration's freedom of religion section, was recalled with affection and theological gusto by a former colleague, the Rev. Dr. William H. Lazareth, distinguished visiting professor for the Seminary. The session also included reflections by the Rev. Canon Dr. John Nurser, an expert on the formation of human rights perspectives globally, who is writing on the life of Nolde. In the afternoon, Dr. Susanne Riveles, director of the Africa Desk for Lutheran World Relief in New York, offered perspective on the progress and changes in human rights policy, and the challenges ahead. Panel discussions elaborated upon the morning and afternoon addresses.

At the outset, Nurser acknowledged his audience as divided in "two parts…Some may know nothing about this hero from the past. He's a name only on the Seminary's roll of honor. Others are former colleagues. How can I tell them anything that will not seem offensively trivial?"

Nurser said his research had defined Nolde for him as "not ineffective and not wimpish. He clearly changed the world 50 years ago for the better." He said he had discerned that

Nolde personally exuded vitality. "He was not black-suitedly lugubrious. He was ruddy with twinkling eyes, the kind of man who cheered you up to see him." Nurser noted that Nolde had been set apart, entrusted to deal with global issues in an age close to nuclear tragedy. "In a matter of a few years, between his 42^nd and 49^th birthdays he changed from being a man who scarcely left his corner of the world to making a powerful contribution to the Declaration of Human Rights….a Magna Charta for all humankind," Nurser said. "His impact was electric, but his loyalty to the Seminary came first. He was an effective educator and administrator who influenced the thinking of local churches. He did his homework, and mostly he won…."

Dr. Lazareth, who serves as an executive for the Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton, NJ, and who once served as director, Faith and Order Secretariat for the World Council of Churches, applauded Dr. Nolde's legacy of history and perspective. "I knew him as a teacher, colleague, lifelong friend -- a mensch." Lazareth said Nolde stood out on behalf of safeguards for religious liberties when, for centuries previously many Protestant churches had been part of an "ethnically shameful quietism.

"The church tied its religious caboose to the U.N.'s secular train," Lazareth said. "Fred Nolde often provided the coupling, usually behind closed doors." Christians have no monopoly on God's imperative for campaigning in the world for human rights, Lazareth said. "Christians may have a distinct position on the who and why, but no monopoly on the what, or how, or where, or against. We work together….All persons are of equal worth before God….God is at work through you, despite you. God has called us to loving service in the world not through the love of power but through the power of love. Christ has freed us from a preoccupation with our own rights. We are not saved by human rights but by Christ who stands by us even when we condemn ourselves through human wrongs." Lazareth said that modern Christians need not be preoccupied by denominational differences in exercising concern for human rights. "We don't fight with our allies when we've got this kind of enemy to fight."

Afternoon keynoter Dr. Riveles said three achievements had marked the human rights arena in recent decades.

"The individual human being has internationally recognized rights that are part of international law," she said. "Also, today's governments are wary of becoming a pariah if they violate such rights. Governments know that the International Monetary Fund won't help them if they carry out violations. Finally, what began as a concern for individuals with the Declaration has now become a movement, a lobby before governments, part of a United Nations human rights machinery with a concern for international justice and hotly debated topics." She said that increasingly the world understands that unfettered sovereignty for a nation may lead to a danger of not being able to protect individual rights.

Riveles credited movements like Amnesty International, with its strident campaigns against such practices as extra-judicial executions, for making it increasingly difficult not to comply with human rights initiatives.

Among the challenges ahead? Riveles said that the Universal Declaration was originally a western concept, which may not always be culturally adaptable throughout the world. How do we maintain a universal concern for rights and at the same time avoid having cultural relativism as an excuse for violations? How will the world keep human rights policy from remaining or becoming politicized? "We need a vision that is foreign to no one and native to all," she said.

Women's rights have also not been a sufficient focus, she said. "Gender blindness has led to gross violations," she maintained. "As a result, women and girls have suffered disproportionately from malnutrition" in parts of the world.

Panelists for the day included the Rev. Dr. J. Paul Rajashekar, professor of systematic theology for the Seminary; the Rev. Dr. Robin Mattison, associate professor of New Testament and Greek. Also serving as panelists were Dennis W. Frado, director of the Lutheran Office for World Community, New York; Mia Adjali, official observer for the Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church to the United Nations; and Liberato C. Bautista, assistant general secretary for the United Methodist Church's Board of Church and Society. Moderators were Dr. John H. P. Reumann, Ministerium of Pennsylvania professor emeritus, New Testament and Greek, at the Seminary, and Dr. Louise P. Shoemaker, dean emeritus of the University of Pennsylvania's School of Social Work and vice-president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's (ELCA) Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod.

Sponsors for the Symposium were the Lutheran Office for World Community (representing the Lutheran World Federation and the ELCA); Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs of the World Council of Churches, the University of Pennsylvania, Muhlenberg College and Aid Association for Lutherans.