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To: Steve_Seattle1

That’s what I understand. Their ROC is state supported but, say, the Baptist church for example, is banned. (I’m not Baptist, but it’s an example.)


32 posted on 09/21/2026 6:43:23 AM PDT by LouAvul (They're doing it again because you didn't hang them last time.)
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To: LouAvul

I don’t know about formal bannings, but it takes courage to be a Baptist in Russia or in occupied territories.
“After they beat Azat Azatyan so bad blood came out of his ears; after they sent electric shocks up his genitals; after they wacked him with pipes and truncheons, the Russians began to interrogate him about his faith. “When did you become a Baptist? When did you become an American spy?” Azat tried to explain that in Ukraine there was freedom of religion, you could just choose your faith. But his torturers saw the world the same way as their predecessors at the KGB did: an American church is just a front for the American state.”
(snip)
“Evangelicals are targeted by the Russians disproportionally, and Azat’s story is typical for Russia’s systemic persecution of Protestants in occupied Ukraine. Protestants were the victims of 34 percent of the reported persecution events, and 48 percent in the Zaporizhzhia region where Azat was held. 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.”


35 posted on 09/21/2026 8:01:34 AM PDT by ansel12
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