At a time when world leaders including U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan are focusing their attention on a looming genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan, a soft-spoken Seventh-day Adventist pastor, Carl Wilkens, told an audience of congressional staffers and human rights advocates that standing against the 1994 genocide in Rwanda "was the right thing to do."

He then added a plea for a more civil tone in society, contending that even jokes that disparage others can be a portent of civil strife and even genocide.

He said that not only had he and his family--who had spent four years in Rwanda before the genocide--"fallen in love" with their colleagues and neighbours, but that in staying, he would be able to substantiate the claims for his personal faith that he'd made there: "We say that there's a God who cares, but people will really believe us if we stay" and stand with them in the face of danger.

Wilkens was involved with a humanitarian mission in Rwanda when the slaughter erupted. He resolved to stay behind and intercede on behalf of victims during the 90-day uprising, which killed an estimated 800,000 Tutsis. His wife, Teresa, supported his decision, he said, though she and their three children left the country during the turmoil.

According to Wilkens, he was able to intercede with militiamen and others hell-bent on slaying their neighbours. He saved the lives of many people, including two Tutsis who worked in his home and children at several orphanages around Kigali, the capital city, where he coordinated the activities of the Adventist Relief and Development Agency, ADRA.

After his experience in Africa, Wilkens became a Seventh-day Adventist minister and today is pastor at Milo Academy, a boarding school in Days Creek, Oregon, U.S.A.

Discussing the moral implications of what he experienced, Wilkens said he noticed the Biblical illustration of Cain and Abel as one that helped him understand the evil that transpired around him. Seeing that Eve had to confront not only the death of one son, but the fact that his brother was the killer, helped him see beyond the event to "separate the person from their actions."

He said that when the Hutus defined their Tutsi neighbours as "less than human," it became easier to rationalize their destruction. Wilkens added that in many Western societies, it's common to hear jokes that disparage other people or ethnic groups, and he claims that in such humor are the seeds of future problems.

"We all would be shocked if we knew how close a spirit of competition and putting someone [else] down" is to the spirit of those who committed genocide, he added.

Wilkens made his comments at a symposium sponsored by the North American Religious Liberty Association (NARLA), held in the Mansfield Room of the United States Capitol.

According to James Standish, executive director of the religious liberty group, Wilkens' decade-old story has up-to-date implications: "Carl's example challenges all of us to stand against genocide. His story forces us to ask, 'What are we doing to stop the genocide in the Sudan today?' We must encourage our governments and the U.N. to intervene, we must support aid efforts, and we must pray with the sincerity as if those dying were our own family members--because they are," he said.

Responding to Wilkens' statement, Dr. Paul Marshall of Freedom House, an organization that promotes democracy and freedom, said, "As his own testimony shows, one person can make a difference. Even very ordinary people like us can make a difference."

Dr. Bridget Connolly, who tracks modern genocides for the U.S. Holocaust Museum, said that Wilkens' experience shows "genocide can occur in our lifetime," and that this must be confronted and not "incorrectly named" by the rest of the world.

Earlier in the day, Wilkens told members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church world headquarters leadership that it is important for the church to teach young people about the need to stand for right, trying "to enter the shoes of the other person." [Editor: Mark A. Kellner for ANN/APD]