Poems of a Prisoner of Conscience

Extract

The two greatest dangers to religious liberty in the twentieth century have been sectarian violence and state repression. If the death toll from sectarian violence runs into the millions, the number of those who have died under state repression runs into tens of millions. It is our immense privilege to have with us Irina Ratushinskaya. A fine poet and a women of great courage, Irina was sentenced to seven years in jail as a prisoner of conscience, first writing those poems with match sticks on bars of soap and then smuggling the poems out to her husband through fellow prisoners who learned them by heart as messages of truth and hope. Ladies and gentlemen, with Kathleen Kennedy Townsend to help her read the poems in English, Irina Ratushinskaya.