Activists in Russia warn new legislation meant to combat terrorism will violate freedoms of speech, privacy, and religion.
The Yarovaya Law passed the State Duma, one house of Russia’s
parliament, on June 24. It would ban proselytizing, preaching, and
praying outside “officially recognized religious institutions,”
according to The New York Times.
Pentecostal Bishop Sergei Ryakhovsky and other religious leaders warned
the law would violate citizens’ rights and contradict the constitution.
Russia’s other parliamentary house, the Federation Council, passed the
bill June 29, leaving its fate up to President Vladimir Putin.
Casual conversations and any sort of communication about religion
outside church buildings would be considered “missionary activity” and
punishable without prior government approval, Barnabas Fund reported.
Forum 18 reported violators could be fined up to the equivalent of $780
per person, 20 times as much for organizations. Foreign violators could
be deported.
“It looks like missionary activity would be off-limits to anybody but
representatives of the registered organizations or groups or individuals
who have entered into formal agreements with such bodies,” Joel
Griffith, a spokesman for Slavic Gospel Association, told Mission
Network News.
Concerned Christian leaders called for days of fasting and prayer as
the Federation Council considered the bill, according to Barnabas Fund.
Baptist and Pentecostal leaders, along with other religious minorities,
wrote letters petitioning Putin.
“It is not possible to forbid believers to pray, to share with others
their religious experiences, to quote lines of Scripture in conversation
with people, or to perform certain religious rituals outside of
religious buildings—or to prohibit them from doing it all in residential
premises,” Ryakhovsky noted in his public letter to Putin on behalf of
Protestant churches.
The proposed legislation surprised many religious groups.
“Nobody expected this,” Mikhail Frolov, a Hare Krishna attorney, told
Forum 18 in June. “The entry into force of this law would mean that the
Russian political system has shifted ever further towards a totalitarian
regime.”
The Russian government considers Orthodox Christianity, Judaism,
Buddhism, and Islam the four “traditional” faiths, according to the U.S.
Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
“Russia’s 1997 religion law sets onerous registration procedures and
empowers state officials to impede registration or obstruct the
construction or rental of worship buildings,” USCIRF noted in its 2015
report. Although the Russian constitution protects the religious freedom
of everyone and promises equal legal status for all faiths, in practice
the Russian Orthodox Church is “especially favored.”
USCIRF warned the country’s “anti-extremism” law was the most significant threat to religious freedom.
Ryakhovsky’s organization also said requiring religious people to carry
permits allowing them to share their faith or materials about their
religion was “absurd and offensive,” according to Asia News. It compared
the proposal to the repressive Soviet regime.
“Soviet history shows us how many people of different faiths have been
persecuted for spreading the Word of God,” the letter said. “This law
brings us back to a shameful past.”
Courtesy: WORLD News Service
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