Council of Religions Reacts to Speaker’s Remarks against Tolerance Center and its Head

On January 22, the Council of Religions under the Public Defender’s Office issued a statement in response to the remarks made by Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili against the Tolerance Center and its director, Beka Mindiashvili in connection to the Stalin icon discovery in the Sameba catherdal. The Council gave a positive assessment and expressed its support for the Tolerance Centre and its Director, Beka Mindiashvili.

On January 20, Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili held a special brief at the Parliament to condemn “the wave of disinformation, manipulation, and hysteria,” which, he claimed, accompanied unprecedented “attacks on the Church and its parish.” Among other, he also called out Beka Mindiashvili, head of the Tolerance Center at the Public Defender’s Office, as an “active member of this campaign” who has “distinguished himself by hostile rhetoric towards the Georgian Orthodox Church.”

“As for his statements on certain theological or ecclesiastical events, even if they are polemical and heated – this is his freedom of expression as a theologian,” the Council said, adding that censorship or governmental evaluation of his statements is unacceptable, as such interference could hinder the natural development of democratic processes.

According to the Council of Religions, it has operated effectively for more than two decades under different governments and public defenders while dealing with formidable challenges. The Council “asserts with confidence” that without the mandate of the Public Defender and the support of the Center for Tolerance, the cooperation within the Council of Religions would not have been as effective and “the quality of democracy in Georgia would be significantly lower today.”

The statement also states that the “harmonious coexistence” of religions of different faiths and worldviews within the Council is “to some extent” due to the efforts of Beka Mindiashvili.

The Council of Religions expressed hope that the Public Defender will persist in upholding the institution’s policy of political neutrality, and the Tolerance Center and the Council of Religion would continue working with it in an usual independent manner.

The authors of the statement include:

• Gospel Faith Church;
• Evangelical-Baptist Church;
• Evangelical Church of Georgia;
• Salvation Army;
• Union of Georgian Muslims;
• Higher Theological Division of Muslims of All Georgia;
• Evangelical Church “Word of Life”
• Holy Trinity Protestant Church
• Baha’i community in Georgia
• Restored Apostolic Church
• Ahmadiyya Muslim Union
• Church of the Open Christians
• Latin Catholic Transcaucasian Apostolic Administration
• Armenian Catholic Church of Georgia
• Evangelical-Protestant Church
• Religious Society of Friends Quakers
• Seventh-day Adventist Church of Georgia

Also Read:

• 03/03/2023 – Councils on Religions and Minorities Say the Draft Law on “Agents” “Unacceptable”
• 28/10/2022 – New Public Defender Must be Free of Political Influence, urges Council of Religions, Minorities

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