Kosovo

It was only last month that the International Court of Justice ruled that the Kosovan declaration of independence from Serbia did not breach international law. Many countries have not recognised the sovereignty of Kosovo, but this ruling by the International Court of Justice will probably lead to more countries doing so.

I am not entirely sure what my opinion is on the subject. It is easy to sympathize with the ethnic Albanian Kosovars who want independence. On the other hand, what about the large ethnic Serbian minority? Will their rights be respected in the new Kosovar nation?

Evangelical Protestants in Kosovo are mostly from an ethnic Albanian and converted from a Muslim background, so tend to be strongly pro-independence. The danger for them is that they exclude the Serbian minority.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of Kosovar independence, I want to remind the ethnic Serbians and ethnic Albanian Kosovars that one thing they have in common is the custom of removing shoes in homes. It is a small thing, but maybe the small things in life that unite us are as important as the big things that divide us.