Russia Reverts To Its Dark Past Of Christian Persecution
By Tom Olago July 21, 2016
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Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, has signed into law an anti-terror bill containing several provisions that have raised concerns among Christians. One of these is a requirement that religious citizens obtain permission from the government to share their faith.
According to reports, the amendments to the "Yarovaya law," named after the bill's author, are meant to protect citizens from terrorists in the country and mandate severe punishment for those found to be financing or aiding terrorism.
In addition to requirements about telephone records and online data encryption, the amendments also include text affecting missionary activity throughout Russia.
In essence, old-style surveillance tactics reminiscent of the dreaded KGB days of Soviet Russia, when bugging and tapping of private communications were commonplace, are also back in full force.
Any preaching or proselytization outside of a church building will now be considered missionary activity, and any persons wishing to share their faith with others must first receive a government permit through a registered religious organization.
The Barnabas Fund supports Christians who are suffering discrimination financially and encourages and facilitates prayer by providing information, raises awareness of the plight of persecuted Christians and speaks on their behalf.
"Even in a private home, worship and prayer will only be allowed if there are no unbelievers present," the Barnabas Fund outlines.
"Churches will also be held accountable for the activities of their members. So if, for example, a church member mentions their faith in conversation with a work colleague, not only the church member but also the church itself could be punished..."
This requirement suggests malicious and malevolent attitudes from the governing authorities. How could a church or any other institution possibly enforce or regulate the speech or conduct of its members, especially when conducted outside of its precincts?
Still, violators could face fines up to $780 for an individual and $15,500 for an organization. Foreign missionaries could possibly face expulsion if they violate the law and/or speak in churches without a work permit.
"It could stop missionary activity to anybody but representatives, registered organizations, and groups. It would require every missionary to have documents with specific information proving connections to a registered religious group," Joel Griffith of the Slavic Gospel Association told Mission Network News.
And it could get worse yet. Lorraine Caballero for Christian Daily.com explained that the new law could also prompt raids on house churches. In fact, raids on religious services are already happening in areas such as Belarus and Kazakhstan.
For example, in May 2007, police raided a home in Minsk, Belarus where a Baptist service was being conducted. They arrested Polish citizen Yaroslav Lukasik and charged him with violating the law by conducting religious services. Even though he was merely participating in the service and was not the one who conducted the gathering, the authorities still fined and deported him.
Churches and Christian organizations have not been taking it 'lying down'. Several evangelical leaders reportedly wrote a letter to Putin following the law's passage to express their concerns about the potential ramifications of the legislation, which they believe is a violation of their religious liberty rights.
"The obligation on every believer to have a special permit to spread his or her beliefs, as well as hand out religious literature and material outside of places of worship and structures used for such purpose, is not only absurd and offensive, but also creates the basis for mass persecution of believers for violating these provisions," the letter stated.
"Soviet history shows us how many people of different faiths have been persecuted for spreading the Word of God. This law brings us back to a shameful past," it said.
The Barnabas Fund believes that the law is simply "using the excuse of anti-terrorist legislation to clamp down on any churches other than the Russian Orthodox, support for which is closely tied to Russian nationalism."
Griffith says that, at this point, there is no telling how the law will be enforced. Christians are praying that the language of the legislation will be altered or repealed. "There are potentially very wide-sweeping ramifications to this law. It just depends on, again, how it is going to be enforced and that is a very huge question mark," he said.
According to another recent report by Kate Shellnutt for Christianitytoday.com the amendments, including laws against sharing faith in homes, online, or anywhere but recognized church buildings, were to go into effect July 20. But it seems that the process has been fast-tracked and is now part of Russian law.
The measures are by all indications extreme and oppressive. Not even a sharing the faith in a casual conversation will be permitted. Christians in Russia won't even be allowed to email their friends an invitation to church or to evangelize in their own homes. Other reports say that even in a private home, worship and prayer will only be allowed if there are no unbelievers present.
Little wonder that the proposed laws are considered the country's most restrictive measures in post-Soviet history.
Though opponents to the new measures hope, eventually, to appeal in court or elect legislators to amend them, they have begun to prepare their communities for life under the new rules, as noted by Forum 18 News Service, a Christian outlet reporting on the region.
Protestants and religious minorities small enough to gather in homes fear they will be most affected. Last month, "the local police officer came to a home where a group of Pentecostals meet each Sunday," Konstantin Bendas, deputy bishop of the Pentecostal Union, told Forum 18. "With a contented expression, he told them: 'Now they're adopting the law and I'll drive you all out of here.' I reckon we should now fear such zealous enforcement."
The week before, Russia's Protestant minority (estimated around 1 percent of the population) prayed, fasted, and sent petitions to President Vladimir Putin, who needed to approve the measure before it became official.
"Most evangelicals, leaders from all seven denominations, have expressed concerns," Sergey Rakhuba, president of Mission Eurasia and a former Moscow church-planter, told CT. "They're calling on the global Christian community to pray that Putin can intervene and God can miraculously work in this process."
Why would Christians be so closely targeted when it is well known that they are not inclined towards causing terror?
Bob Unruh for wnd.com recently quoted a Russia Today report that said the crackdown was triggered by the bombing of an A-231 jetliner in Egypt last October and the terrorist attacks in Paris. Yet it is a matter of public record that both the terror groups and/or suspects involved in both cases pledged allegiance to Islam and not Christianity. So what's the real reason for these draconian measures?
David Aikman, a history professor and foreign affairs expert, opined to CT: "The Russian Orthodox church is part of a bulwark of Russian nationalism stirred up by Vladimir Putin...Everything that undermines that action is a real threat, whether that's evangelical Protestant missionaries or anything else."
Aikman further warned of "creeping totalitarianism" in the country.
Shellnut, in her CT piece, observed that Stalin-era religious restrictions remained on the books until the collapse of the Soviet Union, though the government enforced them only selectively. These included outlawing religious activity except for Sunday services in registered churches, and banning parents from teaching their faith to their kids.
It's not just Christians that are worried. The proposal is an "attack on freedom of expression, freedom of conscience, and the right to privacy that gives law enforcement unreasonably broad powers," the humanitarian group Human Rights Watch told The Guardian.
Human Rights activists have also reportedly warned that the law's requirements do not meet generally accepted international standards or the European Convention on Human Rights.
Bob Unruh in his WND report quoted Sergey Ryakhovsky, co-chair of an advisory council of heads of Protestant churches in Russia. Ryakhovsky stated that such prohibitions were so far-reaching that they are not even contained in the "Godless" Bolshevik plans of the 1920s.
"The Constitution of the Russian Federation, Article 28, says that everyone is guaranteed freedom of religion, including the right freely to disseminate religious and other convictions," Ryakhovsky said. He also pointed out that the plan "is in contradiction with Article 30 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation."
This, in effect, suggests that the proposed law was already unconstitutional within Russia itself, besides being in direct conflict with international standards and norms protecting religious freedoms.
Not that Russian leaders would care, as they already moved to contain foreign missionaries several years ago. The "foreign agent" law, adopted in 2012, requires groups from abroad to file detailed paperwork and be subject to government audits and raids. Since then, the NGO sector has shrunk by a third, according to government statistics.
"In Moscow, we shared an office with 24 organizations. Not a single foreign expatriate mission is there now," Rakhuba previously told CT. "They could not re-register. Missionaries could not return to Russia because they could not renew their visas. It is next to impossible to get registration as a foreign organization today."
While Russia's evangelicals pray that the proposed regulations are amended or vetoed, they have gone underground before and they'll be willing to do it again, Rakhuba said.
"They say, 'If it will come to it, it's not going to stop us from worshiping and sharing our faith,'" he wrote. "The Great Commission isn't just for a time of freedom."
Meanwhile, the situation calls for earnest prayer from Christians all over the world as it looks like the days of the underground Church in Russia are back again. However, as Jesus promised, the gates of Hell will not prevail against His church. (Matthew 16:18)
