Tolerance Center Criticizes TV Company Mze for TV story on Salvation Army

Ombudsman Beka Mindiashvili, the head of the Tolerance Center accuses a number of Georgian media outlets of inventing an enemy image out of religious minorities.

The statement was made at the conference held with the representatives of the Salvation Army (international charity movement, an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church) on May 16. The meeting with the press representatives was resulted from the TV story aired on TV Mze news. According to Mindiashvili the TV story contained distorted information regarding the Salvation Army activities.

From the ombudsman’s point of view xenophobia, inobjectivity and discriminative attitude towards religious and ethnic minorities have become typical features to Georgian media.

The Salvation Army denied the information, disseminated through TV Mze, as if the organization visits schools with the view of engaging pupils in its activities in a deceitful way.

“The event was held only once, at the end of October, 2006 and at one and only school.
The charity action was preliminarily arranged with the headmaster and our religious belief was not veiled. The action was of a charity character and no preaching, religious rituals, prayers, religious motet were performed during the event”- says the statement. 

The Salvation Army, in accordance with the statement, renders assistance to everyone, without discrimination. It does not aim at anyone’s anticement or calling for the change of religion.

Source: Media.ge