Posted on 04/02/2021 12:32:45 PM PDT by Mariner
Sure, blue states are locking up Jehovas witnesses and sentencing them from 2 to 6 years.
"Law enforcement authorities across Russia have dramatically escalated the nationwide persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the past 12 months, Human Rights Watch said today. One year after President Vladimir Putin said that the crackdown against them should be “looked into,” the numbers of house raids and people under criminal investigation have more than doubled, and 32 Jehovah’s Witnesses worshipers are behind bars for peacefully practicing their faith. At least 313 people are facing charges, are on trial, or have been convicted of criminal “extremism” for engaging in Jehovah’s Witnesses’ activities, or are suspects in such cases. About two-thirds of them found out about their status as suspect or accused in 2019. Authorities have carried out at least 780 house raids since 2017 in more than 70 towns and cities across Russia, more than half of them in 2019. Courts convicted 18 people in 2019, nine of whom received prison sentences ranging from two to six years, for such activities as leading or participating in prayer meetings.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/01/09/russia-escalating-persecution-jehovahs-witnesses#
And, the entire US, is you're business owner and you refuse to hire homosexuals or transgendered, YOU WILL LOSE YOUR BUSINESS. That isn't going to happen in Russia.
The fact is that there is more religious freedom in Russia than anywhere in the US so long as you're a part of the Russian Orthodox church.
Russia isn't harassing business owners and forcing them to bake gay wedding cakes or hire homosexuals and transgenders. Activists aren't harassing business owners like Jack PHillips and forcing him into court constantly. There is no gay marriage. There aren't Drag Queen story hour for the kiddies at the local library. Homosexuality is being shoved down your throat on TV or by the media.
The fact is you are freer being a Russian Orthodox Christian in Russia than being any kind of Christian in the US.
Neither country is perfect. But, you're the one that claimed that there was no religious freedom in Russia and that was total nonsense.
Measure of religious freedom in a country is how minority religions are treated. In Iran Shia Muslims who are the majority are treated well. In Russia those who follow the Moscow Patriarch are also treated well. There are severe restrictions in Russia on minority religions. The Russian government harasses and even sentences to jail Jehovah Witness, Baptists, Protestants and even Orthodox who do not follow the Moscow Patriarch.
Of course no one should be forced to bake a cake, but should a 63 year old man be sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for preaching in his own house?
It's not true. Protestants, Muslims, Jews are all free to gather and worship. I've seen active Mosques, Synagogues and Protestant churches from Russian YouTubers.
Maybe you're Deep State, neo-con kind of person. But, your beliefs about Russia are as just as an inaccurate as Deep State and the neo-cons, who have an agenda that is advanced by demonizing Russia.
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