There is no Freedom of Religion in Russia.
Duh.
Don’t the Russians have enough problems without creating new ones that don’t exist?
Does anyone blame Russia for not wanting American Religion? How many churches in America fly Ukraine and LGBTQI flags? Can you imagine what Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, James, Peter, would say about American Churches?
SAINT-PETERSBURG - On December 8 and 9, a conference of the Russian Pentecostal Union in the Northwestern Federal District, dedicated to the 95th anniversary of the Russian Church of Christians of Evangelical Faith, was held in St. Petersburg.
700 participants from churches of St. Petersburg, Leningrad, Pskov, Novgorod, Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Murmansk, and Kaliningrad regions, and the Republics of Komi and Karelia gathered together to pray, encourage one another, and delve into God's Word.
Bishops Eduard Grabovenko, Pavel Zhelnovakov, Vasily Evchik, Alexander Tsvetkov, Fyodor Velichko and Sergey Linnik preached at the conference.
Vladimir Ivanov, Head of the Department for Relations with Religious Associations of the St. Petersburg Governor's Administration, and Mikhail Kolotushkin, Head of the Department for Relations with Religious Associations of the Leningrad Region Administration, addressed the conference participants with welcoming remarks.
On December 9, the conference included the ordination of Bishop Sergey Pobedinsky (Velikiy Novgorod), as well as one pastor and seven deacons of churches that are part of the North-West Association.
The conference was a significant event for many brothers and sisters from local churches.
“...A Russian Orthodox priest was present in this process, and tried to cast demons out of him for being an evangelical Christian.”
Maybe they though he was from the United Methodist Church.
What sort of “evangelicals” are they? The politicized LGBT brand that is allied with Biden, the EU, and Ukraine?
Does the Russian government hate evangelicals more than the people running the institutions that matter in the United States?
Answer: Don’t know..... but my gut says this is simplistic propaganda-information intended for US Evangelicals, to sway them in a interventionist position on the Russia-Ukraine War.
If they are trying to push homosexuality or transgenderism upon the people, then no thanks. Otherwise, a close eye will be kept upon them. I personally believe that is the responsible approach. It's the approach we should have taken.
Since this is a Time article, whatever they claim must be taken with a heavy dose of skepticism.
But I am not inclined to get involved in telling other nations how they much act. I might tell them that I disagree if the punishment exceeds what is reasonable. The person evangelizing chose to go there and evangelize, so the risk is totally upon them, as far as I am concerned.
I’ve long suspected that Russia’s prohibition on Mormon missionaries is big part of the reason that Mittens Romney was on the “Russia Russia Russia” bandwagon before it was cool. (anyone remember a dozen years ago when Barry Obama make fun of Mittens’ animus toward the Russkies?)
I don’t know who or what is ever going on in Russia, but I do know AOL Commie News are the biggest liars on the planet. They make the Asspress look even handed and objective.
AIL News? I don’t believe commie, left wing sources.
Pretty sure this is anti Russian propaganda and nothing else.
About the author
Peter Pomerantsev is a Soviet-born British journalist, author and TV producer. He is a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Global Affairs at the London School of Economics, where he co-directs the Arena program. He is also an associate editor at Coda Media, a position he has held since at least 2015. Wikipedia
Born: 1977 (age 47 years), Kyiv, Ukraine
During the Soviet era, all religious bodies had to be registered and approved by the state, so the state could also control them. Some Baptists were suspect as tools of American capitalism because John D. Rockefeller, a Baptist, funded a lot of foreign missions. Religious bodies that, on faith and theological principles, refused to register, operated underground. I didn’t realize that that policy survived the Soviets.
I am Orthodox, but I have to agree that what a lot of people say about the Russian Orthodox Church— or at least its leadership — being a tool of the Soviets —has a great deal of truth. St. Tikhon, the last Patriarch of Moscow before the Soviets, sent a message to the Russian Church in diaspora, informing them of the dire situation for the church in Russia and warning them not to believe anything else that came from the Moscow Patriarchate. That led to a defacto self-governing church in America, and the formation of the anti-communist Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. There were some parishes in America that continued to be loyal to the Moscow Patriarchate, that were known to be communist fronts.
Stalin lifted his boot a bit off the ROC and other religious bodies during WW2 so he could get everyone on board for Mother Russia.
“””””Your church has no right to exist, as it has connections with America and other Western countries,” Russian authorities told the deacon of the Pentecostal church in Nova Kakhovka, Oleksandr Prokopchuk. They arrested him and his 19-year-old son. Both were later found dead in a forest. In occupied Sloviansk four members of the Evangelical Church of the Transformation were accused of being American spies because some U.S. dollars were found in their pockets. They were subsequently shot and killed.
Evangelicals are targeted by the Russians disproportionally... Protestants were the victims of 34 percent of the reported persecution events...Baptists made up 13 percent of victims – the largest single group after Ukrainian Orthodox. Under Russian control 400 Baptist congregations have been lost, 17% of the total in Ukraine.””””
It seems to cover all Christianity that isn’t of the Russian government’s controlled denomination.
well, to be blunt, Russia has been cracking down on American religions since the early 2000s.
not just evangelicals but the other religions invented in the USA in the 1800s - Jehovah’s witnesses, Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists etc.
Our beloved CIA has used missionaries for many years. In the 80s Coke-a-cola sponsored them into China.
A couple from the church are CIA employees and rorated betqeen assignments recwntly.
The biggest ass from the agency I ever worked for at State is now a CEO of a (spir) Intwrnational Christian organuzation and he is a godless a F@#$ as has ever served evil.
The DNC CIA nexus has reuined the peace corps, USAID ans now Christianity by i flitraring wirh spies.