International Religious Liberty Association

The International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA) is a non-sectarian and non-political organization promoting religious freedom. It was originally organized by the Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders in 1893 to campaign for religious freedom for all when the danger of restrictions from blue laws became apparent. Its headquarters are in Silver Spring, Maryland in the United States.[1]

International Religious Liberty Association
AbbreviationIRLA
Formation1893
TypeNon-Government Organization
PurposeReligious Liberty
Headquarters12501 Old Columbia Pike,
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
Region served
Worldwide
Secretary General
Ganoune Diop
Websitewww.irla.org
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Mission statement

The IRLA's mission statement says: "The International Religious Liberty Association will disseminate the principles of religious liberty throughout the world; defend and safeguard the civil right of all people to worship or not to worship, to adopt a religion or belief of their choice, to manifest their religious convictions in observance, promulgation, and teaching, subject only to the respect for the equivalent rights of others; support the right of religious organizations to operate freely in every country by their establishing and owning charitable or educational institutions; and organize local, regional, and national chapters as well as seminars, and congresses."

Activities

Since 2003, IRLA has organized the annual Religious Liberty Dinner to celebrate and bring attention to freedom of religion or belief, both in the United States and around the world.[2][3] It also presents International Religious Freedom Award to individuals for their outstanding service to freedom of religion or belief. Previous awardees include H. Knox Thames (2007), Mikhail P. Kulakov (2008), David Saperstein (2009), Denton Lotz (2009), Dave Hunt (2010), Gunnar Stålsett (2011), Kit Bigelow (2011), Brian Grim (2016), and Thomas F. Farr (2017).[4]

See also

References
  1. About Us Archived 2003-12-03 at archive.today. International Religious Liberty Association. Retrieved 2009-08-21
  2. "October 2003 Report to Constituent Members". International Religious Liberty Association. Retrieved 2017-08-09.
  3. "Religious Liberty Dinner". Religious Liberty Dinner. Retrieved 2017-08-09.
  4. "Previous Awardees". Religious Liberty Dinner. Archived from the original on 2016-03-10. Retrieved 2017-08-09.

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