The Rev. Franklin Graham has announced that a summit on Christian persecution which was set to take place in Russia next year, will instead take place in the U.S. due to Russia’s new laws restricting religious freedom.
ChristianToday.com reports that Graham has announced the World Summit
in Defense of Persecuted Christians will now be held in Washington, D.C.
instead of in Moscow.
"Earlier this year I announced that the Billy Graham Evangelistic
Association would hold the World Summit in Defense of Persecuted
Christians – the first event of its kind in Moscow,” Graham wrote on Facebook.
"We were looking forward to this significant event being held in Russia
because no one knows modern Christian persecution better than the
church that suffered under communist rule,” he continued.
The summit has been moved to the U.S. after Russia recently enacted laws that are supposedly aimed at preventing terrorism, but have had a negative impact on religious freedom.
The laws prevent Christians and those of other religions from
evangelizing except in churches and other religious gatherings.
Additionally, house churches have been banned.
The Protestant Churches of Russia have called the laws “the most
draconian anti-religion bill to be proposed in Russia since Nikita
Khrushchev promised to eliminate Christianity in the Soviet Union.”
It appears that the summit on Christian persecution that Graham is organizing is needed now more than ever.
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