Posted on 05/08/2024 4:57:37 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
"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.
Petro Dudnyk, Pastor of the Good News Church, explains that the occupying forces "thought and spoke like this: you are the American faith, the Americans are our enemies, the enemies must be destroyed."
By hurting those who practice an “American” religion the Kremlin can claim it is striking against American power....
But it’s not just individual clergy Russian forces go after, sometimes it’s whole congregation..
When Russian occupying forces shut down the Melitopol Christian Church, they used sledge hammers to break into the building. Members were interrogated as to whether the church was hiding any Americans. The house of worship was expropriated and given to a Russian Ministry. Its fifty foot cross was chopped down...
Sometimes the Russians also try to “cure” protestants. Viktor Cherniiavskyi, was held for 25 days, beaten with a baseball bat and given electro-shocks. A Russian Orthodox priest was present in this process, and tried to cast demons out of him for being an evangelical Christian...
(Excerpt) Read more at aol.com ...
well, the headline is false - only the part of the Orthodox church that bears allegiance to the Moscow Patriarch (who has whole heartedly given his blessing to Muscowy’s invasion of Ukraine) has been banned.
Seventy-two percent of the population avowed fidelity to an Eastern Orthodox Church: 54% of Ukrainians proclaimed adherence to the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine; 14% identified as Orthodox Christian without specifying a church affiliation; 4% associated with the Moscow Patriarchate.
So, only the 4% are affected. And that’s because the Moscow patriarch is tied at the hip to the invasion of Ukraine.
When?
The Yarovaya law (in Russian: Закон Яровой, transliteration: Zakon Jarovoy), also Yarovaya package or Yarovaya — Ozerov package is a set of two Russian federal bills, 374-FZ and 375-FZ, passed in 2016.[1]
The Yarovaya laws at issue forbid Missionary work, defined as defined in as broad a way as possible: “Missionary activity … is defined as activity of a religious association intended to spread information about its doctrines among people who are not participants (members, followers) of the particular religious association, with the goal of drawing those people into the group of participants (members, followers) of the religious association, carried out directly by the religious association or by citizens by the association or by legal entities, publicly, by means of the media, the information-telecommunication network “Internet”, or by other legal methods.”
Such broadly applies to
The activity of a religious association, aimed at disseminating information about its beliefs among people who are not participants (members, followers) in that religious association, with the purpose of involving these people as participants (members, followers). It is carried out directly by religious associations or by citizens and/or legal entities authorised by them, publicly, with the help of the media, the internet or other lawful means"...Citizens are also required to report unauthorized religious activity to the government or face fines.
https://motabredsquare.wordpress.com/2016/07/12/missionary-work-after-the-yarovaya-laws-part-ii-legal-analysis/: The bulk of the effect of this legislation on missionary work concerns the addition of a large section dedicated specifically to missionary work to the federal code concerning the freedom of conscience.
Missionary work is defined in as broad a way as possible: “Missionary activity … is defined as activity of a religious association intended to spread information about its doctrines among people who are not participants (members, followers) of the particular religious association, with the goal of drawing those people into the group of participants (members, followers) of the religious association, carried out directly by the religious association or by citizens by the association or by legal entities, publicly, by means of the media, the information-telecommunication network “Internet”, or by other legal methods.”
Missionary activity thus defined is allowed “without restriction” in buildings owned by the religious organization, and various other specially-designated places such as cemeteries, but (reasonably so) not in other religious associations’ property.
Missionary work is not allowed in residences. If there is one takeaway from the law, it should be this.
In other public situations, only the leader of the local religious association (or a designated alternate) is allowed to engage in missionary activities without a special permit – essentially, a legal declaration by the religious association that the carrier is authorized to perform missionary work. This requirement is notably targeted at Russian citizens, but a similar requirement is also required of foreign citizens. (It is my understanding that it is already the Church’s practice is to issue such declarations for missionaries.) Of particular note is the prohibition against missionary work intended to assist in the performance of “extremist activity.” This has been defined by recent legislation extremely broadly,...
One final provision clarifies that only religious services and rites, not missionary work, is allowed to be performed in people’s homes (by reference to the law governing religious meetings held outside of religious buildings). On the face of it, this suggests that anointing for the sick and afflicted is allowed in homes, and perhaps even holding Sacrament Meeting, but no missionary work. As a preventative measure, the provision also prevents the legal conversion of a residence into a religious space, meaning that you can’t just have someone in the branch register their apartment as a church and hold member lessons there. - https://motabredsquare.wordpress.com/2016/07/12/missionary-work-after-the-yarovaya-laws-part-ii-legal-analysis/
Under Putin, the Russian Orthodox Church and other approved religions became tools of state policy. According to Putin, there are four traditional and “exclusively Patriotic” religions, Russian Orthodoxy, Islam, Buddhism, and Judaism. Since 2012, when the Kremlin started incorporating religious and conservative messages into the government’s rhetoric, these institutions were showered with financial and political benefits due to their close ties with the regime.
Those who fell outside these four patriotic religions’ freedoms were subject to anti-missionary laws and state surveillance, which eroded their ability to practice their religion openly. This tactical choice targets independent religious activity outside of the Kremlin’s control and allows the regime to prosecute religious groups through incredibly vague laws. Notable groups target under these laws include Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims, and Evangelicals. Indeed, according to a 2019 report, Evangelicals were the group most penalized under the anti-missionary laws. For example, the Kremlin forced a Russian Christian radio station to relocate from Moscow, Russia to Odesa, Ukraine. In 2022, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommended labeling Russia as a country of particular concern “for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom”. - https://www.christianpost.com/voices/putin-is-not-the-defender-of-the-faithful.html
While RO's are very much opposed to this, thank God, yet on abortion:
2017 - https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2017/11/08/orthodox-take-socially-conservative-views-on-gender-issues-homosexuality/
More - if somewhat dated stats
As the term "evangelical" becomes more watered down, as distinctive terms tend to become, I sometimes refer to "classic evangelicals."
It is indeed propaganda.
Time Magazine is a mouthpiece of the CIA. But, since Time only has about 35 subscribers, it is probably managed not by a CIA officer but by the cleaning and maintenance staff.;-)
A gander at the article will reveal that this article is mostly about Russia's attacks on churches in Ukraine that appear to be fronts for the U.S.
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.
If we asked both Russians and Americans if the opposed same-sex marriage, which country would be more opposed to it?
If we asked both Russians and Americans if homosexuality was sinful, which country would be more opposed to it?
If we asked Russians and Americans if they supported gender transitioning, which country would support that more?
You damn well know that answers to those questions. In every single case, Russian public opinion would be far more in line with Biblical morality.
If you're really a Christian gives a hoot about the cause of Christ, you might want to focus your attention on how depraved our country is instead spreading propaganda about Russia.
The issue is how many Christians are in the countries.
As far as your question, you can play that game with North Korea and Yemen, and every Muslim country, it doesn’t mean they have high percentages of Jesus believing Christians.
I would definitely wager that a higher percentage of Russians are genuine Christians than in Britain, Germany and Western Europe.
We, probably, have a higher percentage yet here than in Russia. But, we also have far more depravity in blue, morally-rotting parts of this country than Russia does.
Any genuine Christian shouldn't be sickened by the kind of country Ukraine is. It's been the epicenter of neo-Nazism for years.
After the illegal coup we fomented, George Soros infected his cancer into Ukraine and began spreading Western perversions like the LGBT agenda into it.
Stop pretending anything we've done in Ukraine since 2014 has been a positive for it.
LOL, you just ignore posts and ramble on with whatever nonsense you can, and always shouting when you do it.
No, you ignore our posts and just continue with your raging buckets of spammy arguing without any regard to the actual point made to you.
I made several points earlier today that you didn't even bother trying to address.
No you ignored daniel1212’s posts and mine, you didn’t refute anything you just posted the same old ranting that you always do regardless of what the other person posts.
And just how does that negate the charge or justify "Russia's War Against Evangelicals"??? Seriously, conflating Americans with evangelicals actually refutes your attempted argument against this reality of Russia's War Against Evangelicals since historically they have been the most conservative major religious body even in the US. Which is why the Left abhors them. Just replace the term "Russians" with "Evangelicals" in your questions!
If you're really a Christian gives a hoot about the cause of Christ, you might want to focus your attention on how depraved our country is instead spreading propaganda about Russia.
Actually, If you're really a Christian gives a hoot about the cause of Christ, you might want to focus your attention on how anti-evangelical our country is instead spreading propaganda about Russia being justified in criminalizing evangelism by the most conservative major religious body under the "Christian" classification. Or denying that the The Yarovaya law does just that.
To really be a faithful Christian is to oppose both the anti-Christ Western Left as well as anti-Christian Russian repression. The RO itself is not the true faith, being too akin to Rome. Neither is Putin worship.
Because it's not occurring.
Nothing is suppressing the religious freedom of evangelicals in Russia. Evangelical churches exist. Russian citizens are free to attend evangelical churches. Evangelicals from various parts of Russia gather at conferences.
We have plenty of similar headlines here claiming Biden is waging war on Christians, pro-lifers and Catholics. If someone ignorant of what is going on here read those headlines, they would believe there was no religious freedom in the US. But, there most certainly still is.
I just responded and refuted his nonsense.
I certainly didn't deny it existed. In fact, I proved previously that law didn't equate what you and propagandists in the Western media claim it did.
So, answer the following questions:
Do evangelical churches exist in Russia?
Are Russian citizens allowed to freely attend evangelical churches?
Do evangelical churches in Russia have websites making Russian citizens aware of their existence?
Are evangelicals across Russia traveling and gathering to meet in large cities like St. Petersburg?
The answer is yes to all those questions. And, this proof that your claim about the Yarovaya law is nonsense.
And, I posted this before to refute your nonsense and got no reply back:
https://orthochristian.com/95503.html
TASS describes in more detail just what religious activities are effected by the laws:
“A separate block of corrections [to the bill approved by the Duma on June 24] defines what ‘missionary activity’ is and forbids it to be carried out by religious communities with aims that contradict the law.>B> The document also contains a ban on missionary activities aimed at disrupting social safety and order, extremist actions, forcing adherents to break up families, and intrusion upon the personality, rights, and freedom of citizens.
“Also forbidden is missionary activity aimed at inclining people towards suicide, obstructing the reception of compulsory education, inducing citizens to refuse to fulfill their civil duty as established by law.
Actually, what the law appears to be designed to prevent is the Western perversion of Christianity that would advance the LGBT agenda or undermine the Russian government (which Western intelligence groups and NGOs regularly attempt to do)>
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