Posted on 03/20/2014 7:39:45 AM PDT by xzins
The Harvest Church of St. Petersburg, Russia was closed by the Russian government without warning. Government officials reported that the church was conducting unregistered educational activities, namely holding Sunday school classes during the week without explicit permission.
Wade Kusack is the Project Manager for Russian Ministries; his specialty is religious issues in Russia. Krusack explained, “In Russia, the church is supposed to have registration. Without registration, no one has the right to practice their religion. The church was stripped of its legal registration.”
Since the Harvest Church did not acquire the proper documentation necessary to hold the weekday Christian education classes, the church was liquidated without question.
Kusack believes that the Russian government did not have to react so harshly. “They could give a church a warning. Or they could come and investigate what was really happening. But they decided–when they spotted so-called not licensed activity–they immediately closed the church.”
The Russian Supreme Court supported the liquidation of the Harvest Church. Next the case will be presented to the European Court of Human Rights, but Kusack says that success there is unlikely to alter the decision to close the church.
“We should understand and realize that those times of persecution of the church are coming back, and it has become more obvious year by year. We unfortunately can observe more and more persecution of the church in Russia.”
I have no idea if the Harvest Church is a bunch of crazies or not. I’m not really concerned that they ignored a registration requirement.
Human beings have a God-given right to worship. Tyranny, of course, can try to oppress that right, but that does not change the facts.
Worship falls in the domain of God and not that of Caesar.
Government can require churches to be registered?
Don’t tell the Connecticut legislature.
Oh, the glories of Mother Russia and her shirtless hero Vlad Putin!
“Worship falls in the domain of God and not that of Caesar.”
It is pretty much all God’s domain IMO. Caesar can head up traffic signs.
Seriously....or the 9th Circuit
Our future?
Putin longs for the days of Soviet Russia and the all powerful fist(s)of the KGB.
Yep, I’ve always taken “...render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s” to imply that nothing is really Caesars’s anyway therefore give him what is his, namely nothing.
Sometimes Caesar is due a good ass kicking.
Why Obama doesn’t want to fight Putin:
He wants to emulate him.
We have the same/similar requirement. How do you think they get to operate as a tax free entity.
Churches are not tax free....they are constitutionally ineligible to have worship taxed. That would be a restriction on free exercise.
Individuals are permitted to deduct charitable giving and that includes churches.
We have the same/similar requirement. How do you think they get to operate as a tax free entity.
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Do you have a link to the churches in the US that have been shut down by the government for holding unregistered classes during the week?
Maybe this story will finally end the “Putin is a good Christian” delusions some/many of the Putin apologists here are under.
My memory says that shortly after the fall of the Soviets, that the Orthodox Church was given a large role in determining which churches were and weren’t acceptable in Russia. I don’t know whatever became of that.
That’s certainly a bad thing. Are you using that as a justification for the closing of the church in Russia? Strange logic you employ.
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