Well that very premise is counter to what is taught in the Bible .
The Russians have been concerned about scientology and other offshoots and cults. Mainstream denominations such as Lutherans are encouraged.
A couple of years ago, some Freepers were touting Putin as the new defender of Christianity.
I don’t think this is aimed at the Christians. I think this is aimed at the muzlums. Probably a good move, one we should consider here.
Meaning post-Soviet history is proposed as the future. Thus believer need to pray in the name of Jesus.
And don't ever show up in our public schools with a bible.....
etc, etc
Because it defines missionary activities as religious practices to spread a faith beyond its members, “if that is interpreted as the Moscow Patriarchate is likely to, it will mean the Orthodox Church can go after ethnic Russians but that no other church will be allowed to,” according to Frank Goble, an expert on religious and ethnic issues in the region.
Russian nationalist identity remains tied up with the Russian Orthodox church.
“The Russian Orthodox church is part of a bulwark of Russian nationalism stirred up by Vladimir Putin,” David Aikman, history professor and foreign affairs expert, told CT. “Everything that undermines that action is a real threat, whether that’s evangelical Protestant missionaries or anything else.”
Sergei Ryakhovsky, head of the Protestant Churches of Russia, and several other evangelical leaders called the law a violation of religious freedom and personal conscience in a letter to Putin posted on the Russian site Portal-Credo. The letter reads, in part:
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 used structures is not only absurd and offensive, but also creates the basis for mass persecution of believers for violating these provisions.
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."
Stalin-era religious restrictions—including outlawing religious activity outside of Sunday services in registered churches and banning parents from teaching faith to their kids—remained on the books until the collapse of the Soviet Union, though the government enforced them only selectively.
Some have questioned whether the government could or would monitor religious activity in private Christian homes.
“I don’t think you can overestimate the Russian government’s willingess to exert control,” Aikman told CT. If history is any indication, the proposed regulations reveal a pattern of “creeping totalitarianism” in the country, he said.
The so-called Big Brother laws also introduce widespread surveillance of online activity, including requiring encrypted apps to give the government the power to decode them, and assigning stronger punishments for extremism and terrorism.
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.
If passed, the anti-evangelism law carries fines up to US $780 for an individual and $15,500 for an organization. Foreign visitors who violate the law face deportation.
Russia has already moved to contain foreign missionaries. 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.”
I’m all for it...at least in the case of the group that stands on a street corner near my house screaming into a bullhorn. Ban that for sure.
Here they just take all your assets, and put you out of business.
I suspect one target is Islam. Another is non Orthodox evangelists and reflects Great Russian nationalism, not any Christian sensibility.
Can anyone find me a source that does not come indirectly from ChristianityToday? This bill apparently passed both the Duma and the Senate unanimously. If this is true and *accurate,* it would be deeply troubling... and very much contrary to explicit statements by Putin, the Russian Orthodox Church and others, and I can barely imagine that there was not a single vote against banning evangelization.
What constitutes “evangelization”?
Does the article substitute “and” for “or” when it says you must be a part of a state-recognized religion AND can only proselytize in church?
As described, the law is so broad and absolute as to prohibit much of Putin’s own propaganda and campaigning.
From the article:"Another amendment restricts missionary work to specially designated areas, drawing criticism from Muslim, Jewish and Russian Orthodox organisations."
The article omits to mention evangelicals, who are a small minority in Russia, but Christianity Today has chosen to focus on them even though they are not the target of this law. Russia has bigger fish to fry here. Whether this law will achieve its aim, is another question.
Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, rector of the Moscow church of Saint Theodore the Studite and member of the Public Chamber:
I am happy that many Orthodox Christians, Jews, Muslims, and protestants have spoken out with rather harsh criticism of this bill. This speaks to the fact that both our religious and our public life are alive. People have not knuckled under to commands coming from governmental bodies and they have spoken out rather vigorously and critically. This is very good. I hope that all controversial questions will either be clarified after the publication of the bill or be removed.
Of course, in principle the country needs to be protected from destructive pseudo-religious phenomena, from dangerous sects, from extremism hiding behind religion, and from external influences that can be destructive, and especially from those influences that are extremist and terroristic. But one should not throw the baby out with the bath water.
It is necessary to do everything so that good-intentioned people, especially those belonging to religious traditions well known in Russia, would be able to speak freely on topics connected with religion, to express their views, and to disseminate them. The same applies to agnostics and atheists.
Me: It’s horrible, violates freedom of conscience and expression. Hopefully get veto and sent back for change
It is almost here; NOW!