RELIGIOUS OPPRESSION AROUND THE WORLD
Russia Shuts Down Church
April 30, 2001In Moscow, Russia, the Church of God of Christians of the Evangelical Faith was evicted from the theater that they had been worshipping in since 1999. On March 28, the theater director was summoned to the culture committee where he was given a letter telling him to cancel the lease with the church after it had been described on a TV broadcast as "a sect bringing an alien culture."
Sergei Ryakhovsky, the church's pastor, also told Keston News Service that he "fears that this cancellation of their lease may be the first signs of a change of state policy regarding religious organizations. This, in spite of the fact that the church's drug rehab center is well respected in the Moscow region, and in January Ryakhovsky had received a medal from President Vladamir Putin for services to the Fatherland."
In Russia's Far East, the 200-member "Victory of Faith" Full Gospel Church in Amursk was ordered liquidated on April 5 by the justice department. Keston News reports the liquidation of this church and 11 daughter churches appears to be "the culmination of local persistent efforts to restrict the activity of the church, which places a strong emphasis on missionary work."
--Used by permission of Religion Today
Salvation Army Evicted in Moscow
Thursday, January 4, 2001The Salvation Army is homeless in Moscow. The ministry has been evicted from its church building and told to vacate its offices in another building, according to CNS, an Internet news service. Landlords took action immediately after the Dec. 31 deadline requiring religious groups to register with the government. Moscow officials had refused to register the Army, considering it a militaristic organization.
"It was rather sad to have to tell people [at the Dec. 31 church service], 'This is our last day here, we don't know where we'll be next week,' " Col. Kenneth Baillee, head of the organization in Russia, told CNS. Workers are searching for new office space, Baillee said.
A ministry to the needy has been shut down and as a result, "the seniors were just cut off," he said. Ministries to prisoners, drug and alcohol addicts, neglected children, and AIDS sufferers, might also be shut down.
"We have entered a kind of legal 'Never-Never Land,' " Baillee said. The ministry will continue to exist until the city asks the courts to have it liquidated, which could take months, he said. Baillee said he hopes an application to register the Army nationally as a "centralized religious organization" will clear the way for work to resume in Moscow. The group successfully registered in St. Petersburg, Petrozavodsk, Volograd, Rostov-on-Don, and Vyborg, CNS reported.--Used by permission of Religion Today
Salvation Army Threatened With Shut-Down in Moscow
Friday, December 22, 2000Moscow's Christians are asking the mayor not to shut down the Salvation Army, Conservative News Service reported. Over the last year, the charitable Christian organization has met with trouble in its attempts to re-register with the government as a religious group. Under Russia's 1997 religion law, if the Salvation Army cannot gain approval from Moscow authorities by Dec. 31, it can be dissolved or lose its rights to meet in public, own property, or distribute materials there, CNS reported.
"Since we have the word 'army' in our name, they said we are a militarized organization bent on the violent overthrow of the Russian government," Col. Kenneth Baillie, who heads the Salvation Army's work in Moscow, told CNS. Although the group successfully re-registered in other cities, Moscow City Court recently upheld an earlier ruling blocking its approval, calling the group "fascist" and a threat to security.
About 200 Salvation Army supporters urged Mayor Yuri Luzhkov to intervene so the group could "continue [its] good work among the citizens of Moscow." Their letter explained that, in addition to preaching the gospel, the organization cared for the elderly, homeless, sick, and others in need in the capital city. The Army's military terminology could easily be misunderstood, but the group had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and was known for its "peace-loving" activities, the letter said.
The Moscow Times joined the Salvation Army's allies. "The poor are under much greater threat from cold, hunger, and loneliness," than foreign religious groups, one of its editorials said. The group is a victim of the "typically ham-handed, xenophobic style that characterizes so much of the Russian bureaucracy," it said. The newspaper also called on Patriarch Alexy II of the Russian Orthodox Church to ask authorities to reconsider their earlier decision. "Winter's cold is here. Christmas is coming. What other reason do we need to do what is right?" the English-language Times wrote.
It is unclear how many other Christian groups have yet to register, the Keston Institute reported. The British organization, which monitors religious freedom in the former Soviet Union, said some groups had disbanded, others were awaiting paperwork from abroad, and still others decided to work within the more restricted status of unregistered groups. Overall, however, the vast majority of groups had re-registered or attempted to do so, Keston reported.--Used by permission of Religion Today
Russians Charge Churches With Hynotizing People
Thursday, November 23, 2000Russia tried to shut down two churches, claming they were hypnotizing people. Authorities tried to revoke the registration of Kostroma Christian Center and Grace Church, both northwest of Moscow, claiming their members were being mesmerized during services, according to Keston News Service.
Government officials said that a video taken during a service with visiting Western Christian workers shows members of Kostroma Christian Center being hypnotized. Church officials denied that, saying Pentecostal teaching forbids hypnotism, Keston reported. A court ruled that the tape could not be admitted as evidence and ordered the church's registration reinstated.
A case involving Grace Church also was dismissed. The government's chief psychiatrist said that a video purportedly showing members being hypnotized did not provide enough evidence. Both churches are considering legal redress for the charges.--Used by permission of Religion Today
Russia Liquidates Minority Religions
Wednesday, November 15, 2000Thousands of minority religious organizations in Russia will be eliminated on Dec. 31 when a deadline for religious group to register with the government runs out, a religious rights advocate says. Elliot Abrams of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom called on President Clinton to encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin to postpone the deadline when they meet this week at an Asia-Pacific economic summit, according to The Washington Post.
A law passed in 1997 requires all "non-traditional" religious groups that have been in the country less than 15 years to register with the government. A flood of Western evangelical groups began working in the country after the fall of communism, prompting the legislation, widely regarded as protection of the pre-eminent status of the Russian Orthodox Church, according to news reports.
About 9,000 of the 17,000 religious groups are registered, the Post said. Many have been prevented from registering because local government bureaucracies, influenced by Orthodox leaders, are making the process time-consuming and confusing, according to news reports. The law originally called for the groups to be registered by Dec. 31, 1999, but in January of this year Putin added a one-year extension. The law calls for all groups not registered by Dec. 31, 2000 to be liquidated.--Used by permission of Religion Today
© 2001 by Eyler Robert Coates, Sr.
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