Moscow Ministries

RUSSIA: GHOSTLIKE EXISTENCE FOR DAGESTAN'S PROTESTANTS

noreply@blogger.com (Moscow Ministries) — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 07:27:00 +0000

7 June 2010
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1456
The Hosanna Church - the largest Pentecostal Church in the southern Russian
republic of Dagestan - had a five-year agreement allowing prison visits
abruptly cancelled in early 2010, Pastor Artur Suleimanov told Forum 18
News Service. The authorities have also changed their earlier positive
assessment of the church's work with drug addicts. He believes such
problems result from the personal initiative of individual officials. Rasul
Gadzhiyev of Dagestan's Ministry for Nationality Policy, Information and
External Affairs insists that the authorities impose no restrictions on
churches' social work. "If the Protestants' activity is in line with the
law, there are no problems at all," he told Forum 18. Three Pentecostal
pastors told Forum 18 that their congregations' lack of freedom was
overwhelmingly due to public attitudes, which prevent some church members
from attending Sunday worship even at openly functioning churches in urban
locations. One village police chief who stopped Protestants meeting pointed
to the mosque and told Pastor Suleimanov: "That's my law."
* See full article below. *

7 June 2010
RUSSIA: GHOSTLIKE EXISTENCE FOR DAGESTAN'S PROTESTANTS

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1456
By Geraldine Fagan, Moscow Correspondent, Forum 18 News Service
<http://www.forum18.org>

Dagestan's largest Pentecostal church is now barred from conducting social
projects with even drug addicts and convicts, its pastors have told Forum
18 News Service in the southern Russian republic. A five-year-old agreement
granting prison visits stopped without explanation in early 2010, notes
Pastor Artur Suleimanov of the church's parent Hosanna congregation, "even
though prison governors were glad to receive our people." The authorities'
positive attitude towards the church's anti-drugs work in the early 2000s
has also changed abruptly, he said. "It's very strange, as in practice we
are the only people working with drug addicts - sometimes you get the
impression that the state anti-drugs agency is a very real drugs baron."

Asked if there were any restriction on Protestant activity in the social
sphere, Rasul Gadzhiyev, departmental head of Dagestan's Ministry for
Nationality Policy, Information and External Affairs, maintained that the
state authorities do not regulate it or issue special instructions. "If the
Protestants' activity is in line with the law, there are no problems at
all," he told Forum 18 in the Dagestani capital Makhachkala on 22 April.

Dagestan - a republic in Russia's troubled North Caucasus which borders
Azerbaijan and Georgia - is highly ethnically diverse. Most of the
population is of Muslim background, the majority of them Sunnis but with a
Shia minority. Suleimanov - who is an ethnic Avar - estimates that some 85
per cent of the approximately 3,000 Pentecostals in Dagestan belong to
local ethnicities.

Christian churches in Dagestan known for working among ethnic Slavs -
including the Russian Orthodox and the Baptists - are unlikely to face
state and public opposition. The long-standing Jewish population in and
around the southern city of Derbent - estimated by local Pentecostal Pastor
Sergei Shakhov at 3,000 - does not face hostility from non-Jews.

Dagestan's authorities also impose restrictions on the religious freedom of
Muslims outside the framework of the state-backed Spiritual Directorate of
Muslims of Dagestan, including in the areas of religious literature and
education. However, the authorities are beginning to relax their strict
control on Muslim public life (see F18News 3 June 2010
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1454>).

Change of attitude

An ethnic Russian, Pastor Ruslan Kornev of Hosanna's daughter Source of
Life congregation in Kaspiisk, a port just south of Makhachkala, estimated
that Dagestan's authorities switched their attitude towards the
Pentecostals' work with drug addicts in the republic around three years
ago. "We were very active until 2005 - we did hundreds of music concerts -
but then relations became more distant," he explained to Forum 18 on 22
April. "Of course, to our faces every official said 'we completely
sympathise with you', 'we are willing', 'we would like to'."

The church then spent several years trying to prove itself, he said. "But
then I understood that life's too short - and we decided to work just as
individual believers." By closing its separate charitable organisation,
Lazarus, in 2007, the church was able to save effort spent on extensive
bureaucracy and bookkeeping - in any case liable to frequent state
check-ups, Kornev told Forum 18. Scepticism continues to be a common
response to even personal charity, however: "People would understand if I
were doing this because I need money or some kind of personal glory, but
they don't understand that I only need to give glory to God."

Both Suleimanov and Kornev thought the problems were due to individual
officials. "The legal authorities have a quite good and correct attitude
towards us," Suleimanov remarked to Forum 18 on 16 April. "If there's
pressure, it's the personal initiative of an official or law enforcement
agent - 'You're x, we're Muslims, you're doing x wrong.' But it's fine if
you respond on the basis of the law."

Societal pressure

All three Pentecostal pastors with whom Forum 18 spoke reported that their
congregations' lack of freedom was overwhelmingly due to public attitudes,
which prevent some church members from attending Sunday worship even at the
openly functioning churches in urban locations. Pastor Kornev said that in
Kaspiisk church members who do not attend worship are mostly young people
or wives whose husbands are opposed, "and we don't want them to be in
conflict".

In Makhachkala, Hosanna has been able to meet at a commercial building it
purchased in 2000, but was previously able to rent only due to his
friendship with the landlord of a local social club who resisted community
pressure to evict the church, Pastor Suleimanov told Forum 18.

In Derbent, local proprietors are afraid to rent to Pentecostals for fear
of pressure from the Muslim community, Pastor Shakhov (an ethnic Russian)
of Hosanna's daughter Vineyard congregation told Forum 18 there on 17
April.

Clandestine communities

When Pentecostals gather in a village, however, "it is almost on the level
of a whisper", Pastor Suleimanov told Forum 18. The members of the two
house churches to which Pastor Shakhov ministers are mostly women, who
sometimes cannot attend worship for fear of alerting their husbands. One
group at first included some men, but they left due to very strong pressure
from the village community, he said.

Pastor Suleimanov explained to Forum 18 that, due to strong family ties and
public opinion, people who become Christian are often cast out of the
community. Often, they are first attracted to Christianity after coming to
Christians for physical healing "as they know that the Prophet Isa [Jesus]
healed people and then they want to know more."

There is little reaction if the community perceives Pentecostals simply as
followers of Isa's teaching, Suleimanov continued. But if they are
identified as Christian, this is commonly associated with either Russian
Orthodoxy or the West - which has negative connotations of the Iraq War or
Hollywood culture - and conflict arises. "The whole village thinks that if
they have a Christian among them, that means he is kafr [an unbeliever] and
so unclean. They worry that this curse could extend to the whole village
and blame all misfortune on this person."

Asked whether this attitude was shared by the village authorities, Pastor
Suleimanov replied: "Well, the police are the very same neighbours and the
very same Muslims." He recalled visiting a village house group some two
years ago and being detained by police while preaching: "When the church
elder pointed out that our activity was lawful, the chief police officer
pointed to the mosque and said: 'That's my law'."

This situation has not changed since Hosanna was founded in 1994, said
Pastor Suleimanov: "All these 17 years it's been like the ninth month of
pregnancy - carrying a burden which is never resolved."

Conditions are the same all over Dagestan except for the more open capital,
he said. Still, there are periods when Pastor Suleimanov receives threats
even in Makhachkala: "For the past three months I haven't answered the
phone at night, as I know it will be some kind of verbal abuse or threat."

Pastor Suleimanov does not believe that highlighting particular problems
will bring results, however, particularly for village house churches. "How
can it help? It doesn't help at all," he maintained to Forum 18. "People
have to live there, their roots and families are there. You can't influence
situations like these by any official means whatsoever. Sometimes - in very
concrete circumstances, if a person is being oppressed or harassed or is in
prison - we can fight for him. But if you drag him out of that place he'll
never live there again."

Neighbouring republics

Senior representative in the North Caucasus for the Russia-wide Pentecostal
Union headed by Bishop Eduard Grabovenko, Pastor Suleimanov nevertheless
favourably contrasted the situation in Dagestan with that of the nearest
traditionally Muslim republics. "Here there is some kind of democracy and
secularity at least," he told Forum 18, "in Chechnya and Ingushetia it's
quite different - there are no open [Pentecostal] churches." Describing the
situation in Chechnya as "dictatorship", he estimated there to be around
100 Pentecostals, but no organised congregation.

Pastor Suleimanov had no figure for Ingushetia, where he said clan
influence is particularly strong: "I know Ingush believers who came to
faith via the internet or other means, but they can't take any independent
steps, especially if they are young," he told Forum 18. "Even if they
leave, it's death for them, as they will be tracked down anyway." (END)

For a personal commentary by Irina Budkina, Editor of the
<http://www.samstar.ru> Old Believer website, about continuing denial of
equality to Russia's religious minorities, see F18News 26 May 2005
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=570>.

For more background, see Forum 18's Russia religious freedom survey at
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1196>.

Analysis of the background to Russian policy on "religious extremism" is
available in two articles: - 'How the battle with "religious extremism"
began' (F18News 27 April 2009
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1287> - and - 'The battle
with "religious extremism" - a return to past methods?' (F18News 28 April
2009 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1288>).

Reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Russia can be found
at <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?query=&religion=all&country=10>.

A compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments can be found at
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1351>.

A printer-friendly map of Russia is available at
<http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html?Parent=europe&Rootmap=russi>.
(END)

© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855
You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to
F18News http://www.forum18.org/

Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at
http://www.forum18.org/

RUSSIA: BAPTIST AND JEHOVAH'S WITNESS WORSHIP SERVICES RAIDED

noreply@blogger.com (Moscow Ministries) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 22:15:00 +0000

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1473
Worship services of Baptists and Jehovah's Witnesses have suffered recent raids by Russian law enforcement agencies, many involving the FSB security service, Forum 18 News Service has learned.

After the latest, 9 July raid on Jehovah's Witness worship, officials - including an FSB officer and two Prosecutor's Office investigators - found nothing illegal but still held back all who had taken part in the service, writing down their names, addresses and telephone numbers. From 12 July, investigators interrogated more than 20 congregation members, proving most interested in the structure of the community, its aims and goals, members' religious convictions and the distribution of religious literature. A Baptist congregation similarly treated was given as authority a poorly photocopied court decision justifying the raid "in view of the fact that meetings of an unregistered religious organisation" were held in the raided building. Russian law does not require religious communities to register or seek state permission for home worship. Officials have been unwilling to discuss their actions with Forum 18.

TO MISSION PARTNERS and Friends of NEW LIFE RADIO-Moscow from: Daniel Johnson, Christian Radio for Russia

noreply@blogger.com (Moscow Ministries) — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 20:55:00 +0000

WE are grateful to God for another month on the air to communicate the Gospel message to the Russian-speaking people.

Thanks for your prayers and financial partnership to help our radio missionaries at their post on the radio from Moscow.

This past month has been a very troubling one for Russia in general, and now more than ever, we need to guarantee

the availability of Christian radio programming to a people who are now facing a growing restrictive political environment that defines Russia today. With our satellite and Internet radio transmissions, New Life Radio can get into nearly every community across the former Soviet Union, and that allows us to help the Church in their efforts at evangelism and discipleship.

May God bless you as you support his mission to the world via radio.

Blast spills blood at Ukrainian church

noreply@blogger.com (Moscow Ministries) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 19:05:00 +0000

A terrifyingly cynical crime was perpetrated in Zaporozhye, Ukraine, on Thursday, when unknown criminals blew up a local church during the last day of the Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia's arch-pastoral visit to the country.

The explosion ripped through the local Cathedral of the Intercession of the Mother of God, part of the Ukrainian branch of the Russian Orthodox Church, at about 4.00 p.m., injuring nine people, including a 74-year-old nun who later died in hospital from burns and other injuries. Eight other blast victims were slightly injured.

Five people were immediately treated for injuries and concussion sustained in the blast as well as for shock. Hundreds of local residents and parishioners gathered around police cordons after the explosions, many of them in tears.

Church priests said a small package lying unnoticed at the entrance to the church had blown up. City Mayor Yevgeny Kartashov, Zaporizhye Region Governor Boris Petrov and local secret-service chiefs visited the crime scene after the blast.

Petrov initially said an improvised explosive device (IED) equivalent to about 500 grams of TNT had gone off. A criminal case was opened under the Ukrainian Criminal Code's premeditated murder clause.

Ukrainian officials, including vacationing President Viktor Yanukovych, a member of the Moscow Patriarchate's Ukrainian Orthodox Church, declined to comment on the issue. The Kiev Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and other main local opponents of the Moscow Patriarchate are also saying nothing.

"It would be easy to blame the Ukrainian Orthodox Church's main enemies, including ultranationalists from the Freedom Party, the Kiev Patriarchate and others, for this terrible crime. But we should realize that the Church is not a rapidly-reacting political institution. Consequently, we should not expect any immediate comments from Metropolitan Vladimir, the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church," said Vladimir Anisimov, spokesman for the Moscow Patriarchate's Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The Cathedral of the Intercession of the Mother of God is located inside an old shopping center at a local marketplace. Therefore the attack was probably commercially motivated. "Even if that is the case, it does not mitigate the fact that those who masterminded the explosion are guilty not merely under the Criminal Code but before people and God," Anisimov told the paper.
RBC Daily

Teachers' union NEA: Let's celebrate communism!

noreply@blogger.com (Moscow Ministries) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 17:59:00 +0000

BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS

NEA: Let's celebrate communism!
Teachers' union promotes Mao's launch of 'People's Republic'

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=184721

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Michael Carl
© 2010 WorldNetDaily

Editor's note: After this report appeared, the reference to the founding of Chairman Mao's "People's Republic" was removed from the NEA website.

The National Education Association is suggesting its teachers and NEA-connected schools celebrate China on the anniversary of the repressive communist regime's violent founding.

The NEA's website has a page called Diversity Events and lists Oct. 1 as the day to celebrate Chairman Mao's successful revolution.

University of North Carolina-Wilmington Criminal Justice professor Mike Adams says the NEA's position is borne out of intellectual arrogance.

"Well, the next thing you know they'll be celebrating the birth of Nazi Germany, but certainly that would be anti-climactic, because communist China has killed more people than Nazi Germany," Adams said.

"I think the only one way to describe the arrogant hubris of these pseudo-intellectuals is that they're 'holier than thou,'" Adams said.

Listen to an interview with Adams:

The author of "Welcome to the Ivory Tower of Babel" says the Oct. 1 entry on the NEA's website calendar reveals the NEA isn't really interested in true diversity.

"I think this really shows they're not dedicated to the principle of diversity. You know the diversity scheme has always been an example of cultural Marxism," Adams observed.

Worldview Weekend President Brannon Howse says the NEA is also advocating multiculturalism.

"Today we call it political correctness, but the real term is cultural Marxism. It's also multi-culturalism, which is a denigration of the foundational Western worldview," Howse explained.

Adams believes the NEA's willing advocacy of cultural Marxism means it is anti-Western.

"It just shows they're contrarians and they'll celebrate anything that is contrary to our Judeo-Christian principles and our capitalistic society. It's just another example of identity politics," Adams stated.

Howse agreed with Adams on the basic point. He says he's not surprised that the NEA would celebrate communism.

"I'm appalled but not shocked because of the National Education Association's long love affair with communism," Howse said.

"Most Americans are going to be shocked but this helps us understand who the National Education Association really is. The NEA is a group of radicals who are opposed to parental authority, opposed to accountability and they're not for traditional education," Howse added.

"They're not reading, writing and arithmetic. They are for a progressive, liberal, anti-American world view and most of the teachers who pay dues to the NEA do not agree with the liberal stances of the National Education Association," Howse explained.

Throughout its history, the NEA has historically been willing to ask for federal intervention in the nation's schools. The NEA website reports that the teacher's union successfully influenced the federal government to create a federal Department of Education.

Listen to an interview with Howse:

Howse adds that one of the NEA's heroes is John Dewey.

"John Dewey traveled to the former Soviet Union in 1928 and studied the communist education system in the former Soviet Union, and he came back talking about how great it was. He talked about the marvelous development of the progressive education ideas and practices," Howse observed.

"Here is John Dewey praising communism, the Soviet Union's system, which is very much like China's system, saying we need to teach the progressive ideas and to counteract the ideas of the home and the church," Howse added.

Howse also believes that the celebration of communism is consistent with the NEA's philosophy of rejecting the traditional family.

"They support feminism, which is anti-family, anti-father. They openly write about the need to destroy the father, the male, the leader of the home, the defender and the provider," Howse explained. "Break down the family and it will grow the government and the welfare state."

Howse believes one of the tools the NEA is using to accomplish its objectives is to revise America's history.

"They're at work, and their friends are at work, to try to show that social justice, or communism, or progressive ideology is good. The antithesis, Christianity, is evil," Howse stated.

"Bill Ayers (the former Weather Underground member), you would think is so radical that he would be rejected. Instead he's been elected as vice president of a leading organization that writes curriculum. So Bill Ayers is writing social justice curriculum for America's schools," Howse continued.

"So this is how the National Education Association and people like Bill Ayers will work to praise the Soviet Union, to praise China," Howse added. "Their job has been to rewrite history to make America look bad and communism look good."

The NEA's diversity calendar also lists Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving and traditional Jewish holidays such as Passover and Yom Kippur.

However, the calendar also includes the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan and the festival of Eid al-Fitr, the day to celebrate Ramadan's end.

Howse adds that the connection between the two ideologies is purely pragmatic.

"The communists and the Muslims are united in their desire to destroy America. Muslims see America as the great Satan. Communists hate traditional America," Howse said.

However, Howse says that the arrangement pits the two most aggressive ideologies. At some point, those ideologies will clash.

"They're working together now, but they'll fight it out later."

According to Adams, the calendar is an expression of the valueless education establishment, which encourages the celebration of days significant to two of the world's more aggressive belief systems.

He says that in the end, when those two ideologies collide, one ideology will win out.

"There's no question that Islam will win out in the end," Adams said.

An NEA official told WND no one from the organization was available for comment.

Saul Alinsky

WND reported when the NEA made a glowing assessment of radical socialist community organizer Saul Alinsky, enthusiastically recommending American public school teachers read two of his books, including one dedicated to Satan.

On its website, the NEA dubs Alinsky "an inspiration to anyone contemplating action in their community! And to every organizer!"

It recommends Alinsky's "Reveille for Radicals," a 1946 book about the principles and tactics of "community organizing," and "Rules for Radicals," a 1971 text that articulated a socialist strategy for gaining political power to redistribute wealth from the "haves" to the "have-nots."

The NEA, the largest labor union in the U.S., represents public school teachers, college and university faculty, retired education employees and college students preparing to become teachers.

The NEA explained, "Alinsky's goal seems to be to encourage positive social change by equipping activists with a realistic view of the world, a kind of preemptive disillusionment. If a person already knows what evil the world is capable of, then perhaps the surprise factor can be eliminated, making the person a more effective activist. Alinsky further seems to be encouraging the budding activist not to worry to [sic] much about getting his or her hands dirty. It's all a part of the job, he seems to say."

Russia and the United States sign adoption agreement

noreply@blogger.com (Moscow Ministries) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 04:42:00 +0000

Russia insists that it must be able to monitor the life of children adopted by foreigners, but the life of children adopted by Russians is a protected secret.

Russia and the United States have signed an official agreement after one more round of talks on adoption.

The head of the Russian delegation, Alina Levitskaya, the director of the Department for Education, Additional Education and Social Protection of Children at the Ministry of Education and Science, said: "Russia's key position is that there must be a detailed system of monitoring children adopted by foreign parents."

If a U.S. adoption agency finds a new family for a Russian child instead of the one that initially adopted it, Russian authorities can lose sight of the child. Therefore, the government insists that the agreement oblige the U.S. side to notify it of such developments so that Russian authorities would know that proper living standards and other conditions are provided to adopted Russian children.

There are over 40 organizations in Russia helping foreigners adopt Russian children. After signing an agreement, only companies accredited in accordance with The Hague Adoption Convention will be able to continue operation. Individual international adoption through lawyers will be prohibited.

Levitskaya said about 9,500 Russian children are adopted by foreigners every year. Most of them go to the United States, and there are very few cases when adopted children are returned to Russia.

Aside from Artyom Savelyev (an 8-year-old boy who does not speak Russian arrived in Russia from the United States in April 2010 with a note saying that his adoptive mother had disowned him), there was only one other such case, in the late 1990.

At the same time, Russians return several thousand adopted children to orphanages every year.

"We have proposed amending the law to stipulate an obligatory psychological assessment and socio-psychological training for would-be adoptive parents," Levitskaya said. "About one-third of those who currently agree to voluntarily undergo the procedure abandon the idea of adoption because they see they will be unable to deal with its problems. Paradoxically, this is good, because the fewer such adoptions, the fewer children will be later returned to orphanages."

There is no secrecy in adoption in the United States, and all adoptive families are monitored by special agencies, which also provide them with psychological and parenting support.

In Russia, families prefer to keep adoption secret and nobody can check what is going on in the family after adoption. Likewise, adoptive parents have nowhere to turn to for help if they need it. Special custody and guardianship agencies monitor the life of children placed in custody, but professional assistance is available to adoptive families only in rare cases and not in all regions of Russia.

The Ministry of Education and Science hopes to finish the final editing of the agreement within three weeks and to forward it to the executive authorities in Russia and the United States. The agreement will come into force in December 2010 at the earliest.

After that, Russia will sign such agreements also with France, Spain, Israel and other countries whose citizens adopt Russian children.

BREAKING NEWS: Russian Pentecostal Pastor Shot Dead In Dagestan

noreply@blogger.com (Moscow Ministries) — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 23:37:00 +0000

Friday, July 16, 2010 (12:59 am)
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife
Click Here: REAKING NEWS: Russian Pentecostal Pastor Shot Dead In Dagestan

Communism Supressing Christianity

noreply@blogger.com (Moscow Ministries) — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 06:31:00 +0000

BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS
'Lose Christianity or face expulsion'
Georgia student told to read 'gay' lit, attend 'pride parade,' change beliefs
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: July 22, 2010
By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily

Jen Keeton
A lawsuit against Augusta State University in Georgia alleges school officials essentially gave a graduate student in counseling the choice of giving up her Christian beliefs or being expelled from the graduate program.
School officials Mary Jane Anderson-Wiley, Paulette Schenck and Richard Deaner demanded student Jen Keeton, 24, go through a "remediation" program after she asserted homosexuality is a behavioral choice, not a "state of being" as a professor said, according to the complaint.

Also named as defendants in the case that developed in May and June are other administrators and the university system's board of regents. The remediation program was to include "sensitivity training" on homosexual issues, additional outside study on literature promoting homosexuality and the plan that she attend a "gay pride parade" and report on it.

Left to right: Richard Deaner, Paulette Schenck, Mary Jane Anderson-Wiley
Where has higher education in America gone? Find out in "Freefall of the American University"
The lawsuit, filed by attorneys working with the Alliance Defense Fund, asserted the school cannot violate the Constitution by demanding that a person's beliefs be changed.

University "faculty have promised to expel Miss Keeton from the graduate Counselor Education program, not because of poor academic showing or demonstrated deficiencies in clinical performance, but simply because she has communicated both inside and outside the classroom that she holds to Christian ethical convictions on matters of human sexuality and gender identity," the law firm explained.

School spokeswoman Kathy Schose today declined to address the allegations in the case but agreed to discuss the counselor teaching program in general. She cited the American Counseling Association's code of ethics and said students would be required to adopt its provisions. "There is a code of ethics that govern counselors," she said. "They have to abide by the code of the profession." Ethics codes generally govern behavior, and Schose denied the school was attempting to alter any student's beliefs or moral values.

But the lawsuit specifically charges the faculty members targeted Keeton's biblically based belief system and values, not her behavior regarding the treatment of any clients, which had not yet happened.
"Schenck told Miss Keeton that it was unethical for her to believe that her convictions should also be shared by other persons. … Schenck explained that while Miss Keeton was free to have points of view about how she personally should conduct and define herself, she may not believe that others should adopt the standards she personally is convinced are true," the lawsuit said.
Left to right: Richard Deaner, Paulette Schenck, Mary Jane Anderson-Wiley
"Anderson-Wiley confirmed that Miss Keeton will not be able to successfully complete the remediation plan and thus complete the (Augusta State University) counseling program unless she commits to affirming the propriety of gay and lesbian relationships if such an opportunity arises in her future professional efforts," it continued.
ADF Senior Counsel David French contended a public university student "shouldn't be threatened with expulsion for being a Christian and refusing to publicly renounce her faith, but that's exactly what's happening here."

"Simply put, the university is imposing thought reform," he said. "Abandoning one's own religious beliefs should not be a precondition at a public university for obtaining a degree. This type of leftist zero-tolerance policy is in place at far too many universities, and it must stop. Jennifer's only crime was to have the beliefs that she does."
Keeton's own e-mail response to the faculty members who allegedly were pressuring her to adopt a pro-homosexual belief system defines the dispute.

"At times you said that I must alter my beliefs because they are unethical. ... Other times you said that I can keep my beliefs so long as they are only personal and I don't believe that anyone else should believe like me. But that is just another way of saying that I must alter my beliefs, because my beliefs are about absolute truth. ... In order to finish the counseling program you are requiring me to alter my objective beliefs and also to commit now that if I ever may have a client who wants me to affirm their decision to have an abortion or engage in gay, lesbian or transgender behavior, I will do that. I can't alter my biblical beliefs, and I will not affirm the morality of those behaviors in a counseling situation," she wrote.

Faculty members had demanded she "attend at least three workshops … which emphasize … diversity training sensitive toward working with GLBTQ populations." They also wanted her to "develop" her knowledge of homosexuality by reading 10 articles and increasing her exposure to homosexuals and lesbians by attending "the Gay Pride Parade."

According to the complaint documentation, which also seeks a preliminary injunction in the case, Keeton asked Anderson-Wiley how her Christian convictions are any less acceptable than those of a Buddhist or Muslim student. Anderson-Wiley responded, "Christians see this population as sinners."

The complaint alleges Anderson-Wiley specifically told Keeton she was being asked to alter some of her beliefs. The "remediation" program included a statement that Keeton would be dismissed from the program if she chose not to comply, the lawsuit said.

"Unless and until defendant's unconstitutional speech-regulating policies and threatened … actions against Miss Keeton are enjoined, Miss Keeton will suffer and continue to suffer irreparable injury to her constitutional rights," the lawsuit said.

Among the alleged violations of the First and Fourteenth Amendments are viewpoint discrimination, compelled speech, equal protection and freedom of speech, it said.

"By conditioning Miss Keeton's continued enrollment in the (Augusta State University) school counselor master's degree program on her waiver of rights to speech and free exercise of religion … by requiring that she alter her beliefs and speech, and that she … commit to affirm in a hypothetical future context the ethical propriety of transgender and homosexual identification and behavior by others, as well as other values and behaviors she now disapproves, and which violate her religion convictions, defendants have imposed an unconstitutional condition on Miss Keeton," the complaint alleges.

"The First Amendment never permits the government to penalize beliefs in this manner," the complaint said.

The ADF said it also is litigating a case involving a Georgia counselor fired by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention because she would not agree to affirm homosexual behavior. While an earlier similar case at Missouri State has been resolved, there is another in which Eastern Michigan University is defendant on similar allegations.

In the Missouri State case, a social-work professor, Frank Kauffman, eventually was placed on leave as part of a settlement of the lawsuit brought on behalf of student Emily Brooker. The student had refused his assignment to lobby on behalf of homosexual adoptions because it violated her religious beliefs. She then was brought up on ethics charges in the school.

The settlement also included monetary damages and the removal of the charges against her from her record. The school's own commissioned conclusion in the case found "many students and faculty stated a fear of voicing differing opinions. … In fact, 'bullying' was used by both students and faculty to characterize specific faculty."

Julea Ward

In the still-pending case involving Eastern Michigan, lawmakers there considered calling top school officials on the carpet after they expelled from a counseling program a Christian student who refused to argue in support of the homosexual lifestyle.

As WND reported, trouble began for master's program student Julea Ward when she refused to accept a client whose issue concerned a homosexual relationship.

The school expelled her from the counseling program March 12, 2009, for refusing to abrogate her own personal religious beliefs and support the homosexual lifestyle.

Since then, Ward has brought a lawsuit through the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom.

Members of the Michigan Senate shortly later approved legislation that includes a provision calling on university counseling programs to evaluate and affirm how they can accommodate the religious beliefs of students.

State Rep. Tom McMillin told WND at the time the case was "extremely alarming," and there was growing support for an effort to penalize universities that don't accommodate religious beliefs.

"This is a state-taxpayer-supported university," he said. "She's got a court case. Hopefully that will be resolved."

In the case, the judge refused to dismiss the complaint, determining there were "genuine issues of material fact" about the school's "true motivations" for dismissing Ward from the program. Further, the judge concluded, the student's actions to avoid in advance a counseling session for which she had reservations probably followed professional ethical guidelines.

Russia Heat Wave

noreply@blogger.com (Moscow Ministries) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:15:00 +0000

Heat Wave -

08 July 2010-
By Vladimir Filonov-

A group of men from the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, an unrecognized state between Azerbaijan and Armenia, sitting on a bench on Manezh Square.

While summer officially arrived a month ago in name, the actual temperatures in Moscow have recently made its presence more palpable. As Muscovites bemoan the 35 degree celsius (95 fahrenheit) temperatures and the lack of air conditioning in many apartments (and the metro), people have taken refuge in the shade, under umbrellas and even in public fountains to beat the heat. Vladimir Filonov braved the sweaty streets and has shared some portraits of the city's coping mechanisms with us.

Jesus

noreply@blogger.com (Moscow Ministries) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:01:00 +0000

Power and Glory

noreply@blogger.com (Moscow Ministries) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:54:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Moscow Ministries) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 23:00:00 +0000

Over 200 Russians Become Drug Addicts Every Day

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), last year Russia was number one country in terms of heroin consumption.

BREAKING NEWS

New Details Emerge in Investigation of Polish President's Plane Crash

The UNODC estimated that each year 75 to 80 tons of heroin, the most dangerous drug, is consumed in Russia. This is twice as much as in China with its billion-strong population and 3.5 times more than in the US and Canada combined. According to the state anti-drug committee 220 Russians become drug addicts every day. Now there are approximately 2.5 million drug addicts in Russia, most of them consuming opiates, i.e. heroin.

Every year over 30 thousand of them die. Unfortunately, only 1 out of 10 people can quit. The rest will be dying, and dying soon. Life expectancy of heroin addicts in Russia is 28 years.

Afghanistan is the absolute leader in drug production. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report says that 900 tons of opium and 375 tons of heroin is exported from the country each year. Every 10th person in the country is involved in cultivation of opium poppies. The revenue from heroin traffic to Russia is estimated at over 17 billion dollars. 15 trillion of them go to bank accounts of transnational criminal groups and terrorist organizations.

NIV Bibles Top Amazon and Apple eBook Religion Charts

noreply@blogger.com (Moscow Ministries) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 07:07:00 +0000

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/25591

WASHINGTON, Ebooks are among the fastest-growing segments in the publishing industry, and eBibles are no different. Today Zondervan reported that its NIV Bible and Zondervan NIV Study Bible have been among the Top Five eBooks in the Religion & Spirituality Category of Apple’s iBookstore and Amazon’s Kindle Store since the beginning of 2010.

“A growing number of consumers are adopting the e-reader format, whether it’s the Amazon KindleTM, the Apple iPadTM, Barnes & Noble NookTM or Sony ReaderTM. Many of these consumers are purchasing an eBible so they can have the Word of God in an easy to use digital format,” said Chip Brown, senior vice president and publisher of Bibles at Zondervan. “We’re encouraged by the success of our eBibles to date and remain committed to offering consumers the content and features they want in the format they desire.”

Zondervan’s eBibles now represent more than 40 percent of the company’s eBook revenues, and in several instances they also outsell some traditional hardcover Bible products. From mid-May to mid-June, the Zondervan NIV Study Bible eBook for Kindle sold more units on Amazon.com than the hardcover edition.

Zondervan was the first publisher to have Bibles available in Apple’s iBookstore at the launch of the iPad. In total, Zondervan has published more than 15 Bible titles for eBook readers, including the iPad, Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader, etc. The NIV Study Bible is #57 overall currently in iBooks. At $19.99, it is the only eBook more than $14.99 in the top 60 and the only $19.99 eBook in the top 100.

Zondervan currently has 1,450 books and Bibles available in the eBook format across the various platforms. The publisher is currently working on bringing more titles to market in the eBook format, as well as exploring new functionality and features in all departments including trade, kids, academic and Bibles.

“Based on current performance and continued growth of the eBook category, we believe consumer demand for eBooks will continue to increase,” added Brown. “Many of our study Bibles are perfectly suited for the unique, interactive features enhanced eBooks can offer, and we will continue to bring new and innovative digital products to market.”

At the end of May, the Association of American Publishers reported that in the first quarter of 2010, overall eBook sales showed a year-over-year increase of more than 250%. Sales of religious eBooks were up 7.0 percent for the month of March, with sales totaling $49.5 million.

About Zondervan Bibles

Zondervan is the world’s leading Bible publisher. With a vision to see more people engaging the Bible more, Zondervan offers bestselling study, devotional, reference, text, audio, software, and digital Bibles designed to inspire readers at every age and each stage of life. Zondervan holds exclusive North American publishing rights to the New International Version (NIV. The most popular modern English translation of the Bible, the NIV has more than 300 million copies in print worldwide. Zondervan also publishes Bibles in the KJV (King James Version), NIrV (New International Readers Version), TNIV (Today’s New International Version), NRSV (New Revised Standard Version), NASB (New American Standard Bible), the Amplified Bible, and parallel Bibles featuring The Message. During the past 75 years, Zondervan, a HarperCollins company, has grown to be a global leader in Christian communications through its bestselling Bibles, books, curriculum, children’s, and new media products. Visit Zondervan Bibles on the Internet at http://www.zondervan.com/Bibles.

Christian Newswire

Click "HERE" For A brochure

noreply@blogger.com (Moscow Ministries) — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 23:10:00 +0000

Russian Christians Help With Drug Rehab

noreply@blogger.com (Moscow Ministries) — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 22:19:00 +0000

Over 200 Russians Become Drug Addicts Every Day

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), last year Russia was number one country in terms of heroin consumption.

Every year over 30 thousand of them die. Unfortunately, only 1 out of 10 people can quit. The rest will be dying, and dying soon. Life expectancy of heroin addicts in Russia is 28 years.

Russia Christians Ministry

noreply@blogger.com (Moscow Ministries) — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 23:53:00 +0000

FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway
The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one's belief or religion
The right to join together and express one's belief

28 June 2010 BELARUS: CONTRADICTORY COURT RULINGS FOR CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1461 The three conscientious objectors to compulsory military service sentenced under the Criminal Code since such prosecutions resumed in November 2009 have faced different outcomes, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. Messianic Jew Ivan Mikhailov was found guilty and imprisoned, but was freed days before the end of his three-month sentence. He was acquitted on retrial and the prosecutor's appeal against this was rejected. He told Forum 18 he will seek compensation for his imprisonment. Jehovah's Witness Dmitry Smyk, initially fined, was acquitted on retrial, but the prosecutor's appeal against this is due to be heard on 16 July, as he told Forum 18. Non-religious objector Yevhen Yakovenko, sentenced on 4 June to one year's restricted freedom, told Forum 18 he has appealed against the sentence. All three say they would do an alternative civilian service. "It is not wrong to serve one's country," Mikhailov told Forum 18, "especially on socially-useful work, such as in children's homes or hospitals." 29 June 2010 BELARUS: WILL PROPOSED NEW ALTERNATIVE SERVICE LAW RESPECT CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTIONS? http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1462 Ivan Mikhailov, Dmitry Smyk and Yevhen Yakovenko - the three young men convicted since late 2009 of refusing compulsory military service on grounds of conscience - separately told Forum 18 News Service that they want the proposed new Alternative Service Law now being drafted to introduce a fully-civilian service, not of punitive length and open to all conscientious objectors, whether religious or not. Mikhail Pashkevich of the group For Alternative Civilian Service insisted to Forum 18 that applicants for alternative civilian service should be able simply to inform the authorities of this decision without having to "prove" their entitlement. President Aleksandr Lukashenko's instruction in February that an Alternative Service Law be drafted came a decade after Belarus' Constitutional Court ruled that introducing an alternative service in line with provisions in the Constitution was "urgent". 1 July 2010 NAGORNO-KARABAKH: ONE YEAR IN PRISON FOR REFUSING MILITARY OATH http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1463 Armen Mirzoyan, a young Baptist in Nagorno-Karabakh, an internationally unrecognised entity in the south Caucasus, was sentenced to one year's imprisonment on 30 June for refusing to swear the military oath and handle weapons during his compulsory military service, court officials told Forum 18 News Service. "Why has he been sentenced for following the Bible?" his brother Gagik - who had been imprisoned on the same charges by the same judge - told Forum 18. "I asked the officials why they treat Christians like this, and they responded that they follow the laws of Karabakh and no-one can tell them what to do," their mother Anna told Forum 18. Meanwhile, police confiscated religious literature from members of Revival Fire Evangelical Church returning to Karabakh from Armenia. Raids and fines on Protestant Christians and Jehovah's Witnesses continue. "Citizens are free to select their religion and worship," Deputy Foreign Minister Vardan Barsegyan claimed to Forum 18. * See full article below. * 1 July 2010 NAGORNO-KARABAKH: ONE YEAR IN PRISON FOR REFUSING MILITARY OATH http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1463 By Felix Corley, Editor, Forum 18 News Service <http://www.forum18.org> Five years after his older brother was sentenced on the same charges by the same judge in the same court, Armen Mirzoyan was sentenced to one year's imprisonment yesterday (30 June) for "refusal to perform military duties", a court official and his fellow Baptists told Forum 18 News Service. He was sentenced at Hadrut District Court in the south of Nagorno-Karabakh, an internationally unrecognised entity in the south Caucasus. Mirzoyan does not oppose serving in the army, but on grounds of religious conscience is not prepared to swear the military oath or take up weapons. His imprisonment comes as the Nagorno-Karabakh authorities are stepping up raids and fines on religious minority communities and continuing to confiscate religious literature, most recently on 14 June. Condemning the prison sentence were Mirzoyan's mother Anna and brother Gagik (who was himself imprisoned). "Why has he been sentenced for following the Bible?" Gagik Mirzoyan told Forum 18 on 1 July. "I asked the officials why they treat Christians like this, and they responded that they follow the laws of Karabakh and no-one can tell them what to do," Anna Mirzoyan added. They said that Armen Mirzoyan will appeal against his conviction. Anna Mirzoyan said she does not know where the military police have taken her son in the wake of the trial, despite her repeated attempts to find out. Refusal to discuss sentence, fines, raids and literature confiscations Refusing absolutely to discuss Mirzoyan's imprisonment, the raids, fines and literature confiscations was Ashot Sargsyan, head of the government's Department for Ethnic Minority and Religious Affairs. "The last time we spoke I read what you published," he told Forum 18 from the entity's capital Stepanakert on 30 June. "You did not present my views accurately, so I'm not prepared to talk to you." Asked to specify in what way his views had not been accurately presented, he put the phone down. Unavailable was Nagorno-Karabakh's Human Rights Ombudsperson Yuri Hairapetyan. His assistant, who did not give his name, told Forum 18 on 1 July that he was on leave until mid-July. Asked whether the Ombudsperson had done anything to defend Mirzoyan's rights in the run-up to the trial, he said he did not know. "Unless an individual submits an appeal, we cannot take up their case," he insisted. Asked whether Hairapetyan had done anything to defend the rights of religious communities subjected to raids, fines and literature confiscations - such as the Jehovah's Witnesses who have appealed to him - the assistant said he did not know as he had only returned to work from leave that day. As soon as Forum 18 had introduced itself on the telephone on 1 July, Nagorno-Karabakh Deputy Police Chief Mkhitar Grigoryan claimed that he could not hear anything. Subsequent calls went unanswered. A deputy Foreign Minister, Vardan Barsegyan, said he was not familiar with any of the problems religious communities face, but repeated earlier assertions by other officials that Nagorno-Karabakh is a "democratic state". "Citizens are free to select their religion and worship," he claimed to Forum 18 on 30 June. Pressured to swear military oath Mirzoyan, a 20-year-old Council of Churches Baptist from Mardakert in the north of Nagorno-Karabakh, was called up in January and transferred to military unit 38401 in Hadrut, which is led by Ararat Melkumyan. There he was threatened by commanders after he refused their pressure to swear the oath. His case was then handed over to prosecutors (see F18News 27 April 2010 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1437>). Prosecutor E. Agabalyan - the same prosecutor as in his brother's case - prepared the case against Mirzoyan. Prosecutors had initially sought to prosecute Mirzoyan for evading compulsory military service, which carries a punishment of up to four years' imprisonment. Nagorno-Karabakh allows young men no alternative to military service and has earlier imprisoned conscientious objectors. The most recent was Jehovah's Witness Areg Hovhanesyan, who was freed from prison in Shusha in February 2009 after completing a four-year prison term (see F18News 4 May 2009 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1290>). Nagorno-Karabakh's Constitution - adopted by referendum in December 2006 - requires all citizens to take part in defence and made no provision for an alternative non-military service (see F18News 9 November 2006 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=866>). One-year prison sentence Prosecutors eventually brought charges under Article 364, Part 1 of the Criminal Code, which punishes "refusal to perform one's military duties" with detention of up to 3 months, service in a punishment battalion of up to 2 years or imprisonment of up to 2 years. (Nagorno-Karabakh has adopted the criminal code introduced in Armenia in 2003.) Mirzoyan's trial began at Hadrut District Court on 24 June. At the end of the second hearing on 30 June, Judge A. Amirjanyan handed down the one-year sentence. Although Prosecutor Agabalyan prepared the case and initially presented it in court, demanding that Mirzoyan be given a one-year prison term, he was soon replaced in the courtroom by another Prosecutor, Gabrielyan. An official at Hadrut Regional Court - who would not give her name - refused to tell Forum 18 on 30 June whether the one year sentence is to be served under general or a harsher prison regime. Baptists told Forum 18 that, although they do not know where he currently is, Mirzoyan is likely to be sent to serve his sentence in the prison in Shusha, where his older brother was also imprisoned. "After the judge delivered the verdict, he left the courtroom, but Armen's family and fellow Baptists - including two who had come from Armenia - sang hymns right in the courtroom," one Baptist told Forum 18 on 30 June. Ararat Danielyan, chair of Nagorno-Karabakh's Supreme Court, told Forum 18 from Stepanakert on 30 June that anyone dissatisfied with a lower court decision has one month to lodge an appeal to the higher court, the Nagorno-Karabakh Appeal Court in Stepanakert. Then there is the opportunity for a final appeal to the Supreme Court. While refusing to discuss Mirzoyan's case, Danielyan insisted that Nagorno-Karabakh's Constitution requires all young men to serve in the army and meet all obligations, such as swearing the military oath and taking up weapons. Did publicity prevent beatings? Mirzoyan's older brother Gagik was forcibly taken to a military unit in December 2004 and beaten after refusing to swear the oath and bear arms. He was sentenced and imprisoned in Shusha prison. He was freed in September 2006 and transferred to a military unit, where he was able to serve without swearing the oath and without bearing arms. He was released from service in January 2008 (see F18News 27 March 2008 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1105>). Local Baptists told Forum 18 that, unlike his brother Gagik, Armen Mirzoyan was not physically mistreated while in the military unit. "After Gagik was so badly beaten, many messages of support came in from around the world," they told Forum 18. "This time, although they made fun of Armen and insulted his faith, they didn't beat him. It was a kind of protection." Religious literature confiscation Meanwhile, members of Stepanakert's Revival Fire Evangelical Church were stopped as they returned to Karabakh from Armenia and religious literature was seized, the latest in a series of such victims. The church's pastor, Levon Sardaryan, said that the congregation had hired about 20 minibuses to take all 350 or so church members to a large church meeting in the northern Armenian city of Vanadzor on 13 June. Sardaryan says that officers of the Police's Criminal Investigation Department stopped the minibuses in the early hours of 14 June on church members' return to Karabakh. "They checked every bus and every bag, taking any religious books and even personal notebooks they could find," he complained to Forum 18 from Stepanakert on 30 June. "The claimed they would conduct an expert analysis of them and return them. But how can they conduct an expert analysis of someone's personal notes on a religious sermon?" Pastor Sardaryan added that police officers even wanted to take church members' personal Bibles, but were persuaded not to. He complained that, although records of confiscation were drawn up for individuals whose books were seized and for the drivers of the minibuses where literature was found, police refused to give the victims copies of the confiscation record. He added that, more than two weeks after the confiscations, none of the confiscated literature has been returned. Sardaryan noted that the buses were not carrying religious literature in large quantities and people only had a few personal books and notebooks with them. Raids and fines Pressure has been mounting on religious minority communities since a controversial new Religion Law entered into force in January 2009. The Law appears to require registration of religious communities and ban unregistered religious activity. Other restrictions include: state censorship of religious literature; the requirement for 100 adult citizens to register a religious community; an undefined "monopoly" given to the Armenian Apostolic Church over preaching and spreading its faith while restricting other faiths to similarly undefined "rallying their own faithful"; and the vague formulation of restrictions, making the intended implementation of many articles uncertain (see F18News 3 November 2009 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1371>). The Jehovah's Witnesses and Revival Fire Evangelical Church were denied registration as religious communities in 2009, while other communities which did not have 100 adult citizens were not eligible to apply. The Council of Churches Baptists - who have a congregation in Mardakert to which prisoner of conscience Mirzoyan belongs - refuse on principle to register with the authorities in any of the former Soviet Union where they have congregations. Raids began on unregistered communities in February 2010. First to be raided was Stepanakert's Seventh-day Adventist congregation, then the Jehovah's Witnesses and Revival Fire Church. First to be fined were five Jehovah's Witnesses, followed by five members of Revival Fire in Stepanakert, all under Article 206 Part 2 of Karabakh's Code of Administrative Offences, which punishes "holding mass religious meetings without state permission" (see F18News 27 April 2010 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1437>). Eleven Jehovah's Witnesses detained and fingerprinted on 30 March during a mass raid on the Memorial of Christ's Death meeting in Stepanakert, whose cases were originally due to be heard on 27 April, were fined by the administrative commission of Stepanakert's Mayor's Office on 4 May, also under Article 206 Part 2. Government religious affairs official Sargsyan appeared before the commission to back the police action, Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18. They say he told the commission it is illegal for more than two Jehovah's Witnesses to meet together in public or in private. Each of the eleven was fined 1,000 Armenian Drams, the currency in use in Karabakh (18 Norwegian Kroner, 2 Euros or 3 US Dollars). All eleven filed appeals on 13 May to the Administrative Court. Appeals are due to be heard on 25 and 26 August. On 3 May, ahead of the hearing, five of the eleven also filed complaints to Human Rights Ombudsperson Hairapetyan. Hairapetyan defended the fines. "The fact that Levon Sardaryan and the others broke the law is beyond doubt and the fining of them is lawful," he insisted to Forum 18 on 6 May. On 20 May, the Jehovah's Witnesses filed a complaint with the office of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief. Another Jehovah's Witness was fined 1,000 Armenian Drams, also under Article 206, Part 2, in Shusha on 14 May. This brought to 22 the number of religious believers fined in 2010 for their religious activity in Nagorno-Karabakh, 17 of them Jehovah's Witnesses and 5 from Revival Fire Church. Pastor Sardaryan told Forum 18 that after he and the four other Revival Fire Church members refused to pay their fines, Stepanakert's mayor went to court demanding that court executors seize property from the five in response to the non-payment. Police ordered to tackle "illegal" religious activity On 28 April, religious affairs official Sargsyan told two visiting Jehovah's Witness lawyers representing those facing punishments that he had ordered the police to arrest Jehovah's Witnesses when they meet together as any such meeting would be illegal, Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18. Sargsyan has also instructed that police officers responsible for each small locality and individuals in residential blocks responsible for keeping order should report to the local police when members of an "illegal" religious community spread their faith publicly. He spoke of this order to local journalist Alvard Grigoryan, as she told Forum 18 from Stepanakert on 28 June. As Sargsyan refuses to talk to Forum 18, it has been impossible to confirm these orders, find out why he has issued them and whether he has the authority to do so. (END) Further coverage of freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Nagorno-Karabakh is at <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?query=&religion=all&country=22>. A printer-friendly map of the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh is available at <http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=azerba> within the map titled 'Azerbaijan'. (END) © Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855 You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to F18News http://www.forum18.org/ Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at http://www.forum18.org/ =================================================

Rostov: Pentecostal Church denied building permit because of Orthodox pressure

noreply@blogger.com (Moscow Ministries) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 00:19:00 +0000

07/08/2010 14:02

RUSSIA

by Nina Achmatova
The Christ the Saviour Pentecostal Church was planning to build a place of worship in the Cossack village of Veshenskaia. A petition with only 20 signatures (out of a population of 10,000) was enough to get the Protestant Church labelled “morally corrupt”.

Moscow (AsiaNews) – Minorities continue to suffer from discrimination and have limits put on their right to religious freedom in Russia. Like Jehovah’s Witnesses, Evangelical Pentecostals are now having a rough time because of the rising influence of the Russian Orthodox Church on the country.

The complaint comes from the Slavic Centre for Justice and Law (SCJL). In an interview, lawyer Inna Zabrebina told the SCJL that the administration of Sholokhov (Rostov Province) refused to grant Christ the Saviour Pentecostal Church a permit to build a house of worship in the Cossack village of Veshenskaia. The decision was taken after a group of local Orthodox Christians led by Archpriest Vladimir Poliakov objected to the construction arguing, “we do not need more churches.”

For lawyer Zabrebina, local authorities acted unlawfully. “No doubt, representatives of the local government should pay attention to the opinion of residents of the district and heed it.” However,” a “refusal must be legislatively based.” In this case, “It is not clear why the administration of the district heeded these 20 Orthodox citizens, while in the Cossack village of Veshenskaia there are around 10,000 residents.”

“There have never been any complaints against the ‘Christ the Saviour’ Pentecostal Church of Christians of the Evangelical faith,” Ms Zabrebina said. “The land has been prepared in the required form, the parcel of land is the legal property of the KhVE Church, and it was purchased for the construction of a house of worship.”

In this case,” the lawyer added, “the decision to refuse the Church permission to construct a house of worship was made in favour of another religious organisation” on the basis of an “appeal signed, inter alia, by an Orthodox priest,” using “a confrontational tone, offensive to the Protestant Pentecostal Church which allegedly ‘corrupts people morally’."

This, she insisted, violates the constitution of the Russian Federation, which “guarantees the equality of rights without respect to religious affiliation.”

On such issues, Russian officials often violate the law or even ignore it, the lawyer said, not realising that they are breaking the law.

Missionaries Face Fines for Sharing Their Faith

noreply@blogger.com (Moscow Ministries) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 01:03:00 +0000

03 December 2009
By Alexander Bratersky

Under the proposed changes to the Law on Religious Activity, only leaders of registered religious groups and their officially authorized missionaries would be allowed to pass out religious literature, preach and talk about their faith in public.

Russian Orthodox Priest Critical of Islam Shot Dead

noreply@blogger.com (Moscow Ministries) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:48:00 +0000

November 20, 2009

MOSCOW (AFP) - An Russian Orthodox priest who was an outspoken critic of both Islam and ultra-nationalist groups was shot dead in his Moscow church by a masked assassin, investigators said Friday.

Daniil Sysoyev, a well known figure who appeared on television talk shows and published a blog, had received threats over his extensive missionary work among Muslims in what was a highly unusual activity for a Russian priest.

"An unknown man in a mask walked in and fired no less than four shots at the priest of the church," the investigative committee of prosecutors said in a statement.

The killer also wounded the choirmaster, named as Vladimir Strelbitsky. The priest died of his wounds in the ambulance after the shooting late on Thursday, the investigative committee said.

The man walked into Saint Thomas's church in southern Moscow and asked for Sysoyev by name, the head of the investigators' Moscow branch Anatoly Bagmet told the RIA Novosti news agency.

The murder was most likely committed for religious reasons, Bagmet added.

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill in a statement warned against placing the blame on any group while the investigation continues.

Kirill described Sysoyev as "a zealous pastor who worked hard in the field of enlightenment and devoted himself to the end to serving God and people."

Sysoyev received several threats from Muslims, said a statement on the web site of the missionary training centre he founded.

"Father Daniil said several times that he received threats from Muslims, but the word of Christ was more important to him," the statement said.

Sysoyev, who was criticized by Muslim organizations for his statements on Islam, had contacted the federal security services several times over threats, Interfax reported, citing a security source.

Russia is estimated to have a population of more than 20 million Muslims and observance of the religion has grown stronger since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Last year, a Muslim journalist, Khalida Khamidullina, asked the Moscow prosecutors to investigate Sysoyev for extremism, saying he insulted Islam and allegedly called it a "green plague." The case ended in nothing, experts said.

In 2007, the co-chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Nafigulla Ashirov, called Sysoyev "a Russian Salman Rushdie" after he wrote a book called "Marriage to a Muslim Man" that criticized the treatment of women.

The head of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Ravil Gainutdin, condemned the killing, saying that "the murder of an Orthodox priest is a terrible sin."

Experts said that Sysoyev had broken a tacit rule among Russia's main religious confessions not to carry out missionary activity among the adherents of another religion.

Roman Lunkin, an expert from the Slavic Legal Center for Law and Justice, said that Sysoyev began missionary activity among Muslims from 2001.

"He felt that he had to preach actively among Muslims. In that respect, he was an exception," Lunkin said. "He wasn't politically correct in that way, he didn't respect the canonical territories."

"In our country, it's accepted that among the main religions, people don't preach in each other's circle of influence," said Alexander Verkhovsky of the Sova Centre. "It's a political practice."

Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid posted a video on Friday showing Sysoyev's missionaries preaching to Central Asian street cleaners. It quoted Sysoyev as saying that he had baptised more than 80 Muslims over the last two years.

Sysoyev also worked with former members of religious sects and wrote a book on Seventh Day Adventists and Jehovahs' Witnesses.

He also spoke out against nationalists and Stalinists, whom he criticized on his blog for ignoring the murder of innocent people.

A prominent Orthodox theologian, Father Andrei Kurayev, told the Echo of Moscow radio station that "Father Daniil's fiery, polemic character increased the circle of his opponents, which included pagans and radical Muslims and even some chest-beating Russian patriots."

Patriarch Kirill to Islamic states: More attention to Christian minorities

noreply@blogger.com (Moscow Ministries) — Sun, 10 May 2009 00:06:00 +0000

05/09/2009 10:06

RUSSIA

Meeting with the ambassadors of 20 Arab states. Moscow Patriarch praises the tradition of Russian Islam and calls for an alliance "to face the challenges of globalization." Orthodox churches in Arab countries and mosques in Russia "are a symbol of friendship between Christians and Muslims."

Moscow (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow has urged the governments of Muslim majority states to respect Christian minorities.

Meeting ambassadors from 20 Arab States, September 4, Kirill said that " More attention to the needs of the Christian minority [in Islamic countries] would be an additional factor in the Christian-Muslim dialogue".

During the talks, held in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, the Patriarch also stressed the theme of reciprocity by stating that "Christian Orthodox churches in Arab lands the same as numerous mosques in Russia are a symbol of the friendship of Christians and Muslims, an indication of our intentions to live in friendship and mutual respect".

In recent years, several Arab countries have allowed the construction of Orthodox churches on their territory. At the same time, the Kremlin has recently redoubled efforts in relations with Islam. President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin have repeatedly met with Muslim leaders and expressed the government's intention to promote a new Russian way in which Islamic religion, which in the Federation has about 20 million followers, 16% of the population.

"The recovery of the Islamic tradition” advocated by Putin at the inauguration of the Islamic University of Russia in Grozny, Chechnya (see AsiaNews, 22/08/2009," Russian Islamic University opens in Grozny, with Putin’s blessing") goes hand in hand to the Kremlin's policy against Muslim extremist groups, inspired by Wahhabism, which operate in the Federation.

Patriarch Kirill said that "Islam in Russia is recognized as a traditional religion that has been present in this land throughout the history of Russia " In his speech he called " fidelity to tradition a way to draw the country closer to the Arab world" and the road to make Orthodoxy and Islam "allies in the battle against the challenges of globalization."

In the meeting with the ambassadors Kirill also announced his intention to visit the Middle East in the next two years, in particular the Patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem, and in the framework of these visits to hold talks with secular and Muslim leaders of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and the Palestinian Administration "to discuss vital issues of mutual interest."

Evangelicals hope new Orthodox patriarch will improve ecumenical relations.

noreply@blogger.com (Moscow Ministries) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:11:00 +0000

Susan Wunderink
posted 3/12/2009 09:38AM

Protestants and Catholics in Russia are hoping the change in Orthodox leadership this winter will bring a thaw in ecumenical relationships in 2009.

In January, the Russian Orthodox Church enthroned its first new patriarch since Soviet days. Kirill, who led external relations for the church for 20 years, succeeds Alexy II, who died in early December.

Many evangelical churches in Russia currently experience discrimination under unevenly applied laws. Non-Orthodox organizations are not permitted to offer religious education and sometimes have trouble registering with the government for a legal identity. (Some organizations refuse to register on principle.) Also, changes to visa laws in 2007 have affected missions in Russia by requiring foreigners to leave the country for 90 out of every 180 days.

Evangelicals in particular are struggling against the concept that non-Orthodox Christianity is foreign and even unpatriotic. William Yoder, spokesperson for the Union of Evangelical Christian-Baptists of Russia (RUECB), explained the popular conception of religion in Russia: "If you're Russian, you must be Orthodox. By the same equation, if you're Baptist, you must be an American."

"Technically, religious freedom for all groups is protected in the law. But there is often infringement of this at the local level—often, unfortunately, at the instigation of the Orthodox hierarchy," said Anita Deyneka, president of Russian Ministries. "Protestants and Catholics are treated as interlopers. From Kirill's past, I don't think it's likely that this is [going] to be reversed."

The 16th Moscow patriarch in the history of the church, Kirill has been described by Western media as a savvy, prominent, and even glamorous modernizer. However, he emphasized his own conservatism and that of the Russian Orthodox Church in the run-up to his election, asserting in speeches that "I speak out categorically against any reforms."

When Alexy II refused to see Benedict XVI in 2007 due to what he described as the Catholic Church's "expansionism," it was Kirill who received the pope. A meeting with Kirill in his role as patriarch, however, is unlikely "until the Catholics take steps which would be considered improvements by the Russian Orthodox Church," says Serafim Gan, chancellor of the synod of bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. Gan expects Kirill to continue Alexy II's policies rather than expand on his former role in external relations.

It is unclear what this will mean for Russia's registered Baptists. Yoder points to work between Kirill and the RUECB on promoting family values. He says that before he was elected patriarch, Kirill had suggested that their talks resume.

While some consider Kirill the most independent of the candidates for patriarch, most assume he will have a close relationship with Russia's political leaders, even if he helps his church regain some autonomy.
"The state pretty much has the upper hand," said Felix Corley, editor of Forum 18 News, a religious freedom watchdog. "The Russian Orthodox Church cannot make the state do anything the state does not already want to do."
Despite ongoing discrimination, observers point out that religious freedom has drastically improved in Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union. "You could want better relations, [such as] the right to build bigger and better churches," said Michael Bordeaux, founder of the Keston Institute, which studies religion in current or formerly Communist countries. "Despite the restrictive law of 10 years ago, conditions are pretty good for Catholics and Protestants in Russia today."
Yoder agreed, especially when Russia is compared with surrounding countries such as Belarus and Uzbekistan, where religious rights are worse. Today, he said, "Protestants are fleeing to Russia."

noreply@blogger.com (Moscow Ministries) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 22:46:00 +0000

Expats Digging In for Long Haul

21 January 2009
By Nadia Popova / Staff Writer

Although Russia has found itself among the countries worst-hit by the global financial mayhem, expatriates living here seem to be casting their lots with their adopted country, hunkering down through the economic malaise in hopes of brighter times ahead.

Hurt by salary cuts, the weakening ruble and looming dismissals but equipped with the experience of the 1998 default, expats say they are here to stay.

Many foreigners are paid in rubles, a currency that has lost almost 26 percent of its value against the dollar since July. And with debts and other obligations back home calculated in dollars and euros, some are feeling the pinch.

"I am paid in rubles, so I have to permanently watch the currency rates to hedge my risks," said the UralSib chief strategist Chris Weafer. "We are now facing triple risk of salary cuts, dismissals and currency-rate related losses."

Russian law requires Russian companies to pay salaries only in rubles. And although foreign-owned businesses are exempt, many working in Russia have switched to a ruble payroll over the last two years, said Yevgeny Reizman, a partner at Baker & McKenzie, which advises foreign companies in Russia.

"Now, when the ruble is getting weaker, with every passing day it --becomes harder for foreigners to pay their taxes, mortgages and kids' school fees in their domestic currency," said Neil Cooper, head of the Russian-British Chamber of Commerce.

Adding to the sob story, foreign professionals are witnessing the loss of the sometimes extravagant perks they had grown accustomed to before the financial turmoil.

Gone are the days of $200 restaurant bills charged to the company tab and limitless calls on the corporate cell phone.

Now employees of both domestic and foreign companies are finding their receipts scrutinized and their airline tickets decidedly economy class.

But the most painful problem, foreign employees say, is the reduction of their salaries and bonuses.

"My salary was cut by 15 percent in December," said a foreign specialist working at a Russian investment bank, who asked not to be identified, citing the privacy of the matter. "And I think there will be further cuts in spring as business conditions deteriorate."

Florian Hoser, Lufthansa's director for finance and administration in Russia, has seen similar cuts. "In some foreign companies, bonuses are not being paid, as the budgets of 2008 have not been met," he said.

"The attraction of an overseas posting is either job experience or the possibility of getting paid more than at home," he said. "Under these conditions the only experience many are getting is a crash course in how to make ends meet."

While many firms are forced to reduce wages just to balance the budget, experts say some companies are overreacting, cutting wages first and asking questions later.

"Sometimes the impression is that some of the foreign employers overreact on the crisis because of the market's psychological pressure," Reizman said.

"For example, in December many foreign employers were planning around a 10 percent salary cut. But now they are cutting 20 percent or even more despite the decrease in the economic standing of the company was generally not worse than expected," he said.

But if the economy has been maligned in many respects, foreigners can at least take advantage of the now-affordable housing market. The economic downturn has caused rental prices in Moscow to drop, and tenants and prospective renters are now able to get a better deal than before.

"On the positive side rents are more easily negotiable," Hoser said.

Rental prices have fallen off, with apartments plummeting in cost from 20 percent to 30 percent since July, depending on the class of apartment, according to Penny Lane Realty. Business premium apartments that the firm used to sell for $12,000 a month now go for $8,000.

Yet every silver lining has a dark cloud. Some expats invested in the real estate market while it was booming, hoping to cash in on what seemed like Moscow's most lucrative sector.

Real estate prices have plunged in recent months, sending the average Moscow apartment price down to $5,186 per square meter from $6,122 per square meter since November, according to the real-estate analytical center IRN.ru.

"I bought an apartment in the center of Moscow late in 2007 and considered it a very good investment at the time," said Luca Gandino, who was recently laid off by Jones Lang La Salle.

Sberbank analysts expect apartment prices to drop by 50 percent in dollar terms by the end of this year.

"I know a lot of foreigners who came to work here and bought an apartment when the Russian real estate market was a never-ending upward spiral," Cooper said. "It is not that rosy now."

Other foreign professionals, while safe in their own jobs, look upon the current situation with a twinge of guilt.

"All of us here live with a thought saying 'I'm a very expensive guy,'" said the head of the Moscow office of a U.S. machinery-building company, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

"They rent an apartment and a car for us, pay for our kids' kindergarten," he said. "I recognize that it all costs my company a lot of money."

Despite the challenges, many expats say they aren't going anywhere.

Although Gandino was laid off by Jones Lang La Salle in December, he never doubted that he would stay in Russia.

"Moscow is the place to be, especially now," Gandino, a former associated partner at the development consultant said.

Hundreds of expats who have been given pink slips over the last few months think the same way.

The Russian-British Chamber of Commerce has been inundated by the resumes of laid-off professionals, mainly from the real estate, construction and banking sectors.

"The prospects here are way better than at home," Cooper said. "Russia is way more developed than 10 years ago when the default struck, so we believe in a quick recovery."

Until then, expats will stick around and think about brighter days — or try to.

"When the crisis broke out in 1998, you could hide from it, just leaving your office," Weafer of UralSib said. "Now, with your BlackBerry on, the crisis is always with you, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week."

noreply@blogger.com (Moscow Ministries) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:26:00 +0000

FAITH UNDER FIRE
Russia plans 'liquidation' of ministries
Dozens of Christian organizations on the list

Dozens of Christian organizations that have been social services ministry and other help inside Russia are being targeted for "liquidation" by the nation's Ministry of Justice, according to a new report.
The information comes in a newsletter from a leader with an American Christian organization, Youth With A Mission, who reported he found a declaration recently on the webpage of the Russian Ministry of Justice listing the pending "liquidation" of 56 religious organizations.
The American ministry leader was out of the country and unavailable today, but his wife, contacted by WND, explained the pressure on evangelical groups is coming from a combination of resurging Russian hatred for the West, and pressure from Orthodox churches to ban outside organizations.

However, the ministry leader's wife asked that her husband's name not be used, because he continues to work in Russia, and could be targeted for retaliation.
She told WND all of central Asia is seeing an increasing level of persecution of Christians, since there are Muslim majorities in many locations.
"[Russian authorities] definitely want [Christians] out. They are targeting them," she said. "They are allowing only three-month visas, and then you have to leave. Obviously you can't do long-term ministry there."
The American ministry leader's original newsletter said other groups also were targeted in Russia, including Buddhist, Jewish and Islamic organizations.
"Yet at least 35 of the 56 listed qualify as Protestant organizations," the newsletter said. "These include the humanitarian 'World Vision' and 'Youth with a Mission." At least six Baptist organizations are listed. These include one established by the Russian branch of the 'Billy Graham Evangelistic Association' and three regional districts of the 'Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists,'" he said.
"Apparently; several entire churches are up for liquidation, including the 'Union of Churches of Presbyterian Christians' and the 'Assemblies of God.' Even the 26-congregation-strong 'Union of Churches of Evangelical Christians' is scheduled for elimination," the newsletter said.
The leader continued, "The situation in Russia has continued to worsen this past year as the new visa law went into effect. This limits missionaries to three-month stays after which they need to leave for three months then reapply for a new expensive three-month visa. This has made it especially difficult on families and many have been forced to leave. This has affected every mission.
"We have been spared this in some of the rural areas where some of our workers have received residency permits, but in the cities this has been impossible and has reduced our numbers to the nationals themselves," he said.
"Our Russian YWAMers have continued the work in a number of places but further restrictions could be coming," he continued.
"Things seem to be heating up for the surrounding countries as well. Georgia remains in somewhat of a delicate state as well as Ukraine. Meanwhile the Central Asian countries where we have seen so many breakthroughs in the last decade are also beginning to follow Moscow's example."

noreply@blogger.com (Moscow Ministries) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 20:26:00 +0000

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II Dead at 79

05 December 2008By Nikolaus von Twickel / Staff WriterPatriarch Alexy II, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church who oversaw a post-Soviet religious revival amidst allegations of being a former KGB agent and a proponent of nationalist conservatism, died Friday outside Moscow, the Moscow Patriarchate said. He was 79 years old.

The church said Alexy died at his residence in the town of Peredelkino in the Moscow region, though it did not give a cause of death. Alexy had long suffered from heart problems.

During his 18-year reign, the church was transformed from an organization that was once persecuted and later tightly controlled by Soviet authorities to an assertive symbol of nationhood, embraced by much of the country's political elite.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called Alexy's death a tragedy. "He was a luminous man. His death is a great loss," he said Friday during a meeting with his Armenian counterpart Tigran Sarkisyan in the White House.

President Dmitry Medvedev, who was on an official visit to India when the news broke, called Alexy a "great citizen" who "suffered all the critical tests the country experienced during the 20th century."

"The soaring of the Russian Orthodox Church, the affirmation of freedom of conscience and confession are tied directly to his name," Medvedev said in a statement posted on the Kremlin's web site Friday.

Medvedev added that Alexy was also an advocate of reconciliation and consensus in his ethnically and religiously diverse country.

His church's flock is today estimated to include about two-thirds of Russia's 142 million citizens, making it the world's largest Orthodox church.

Albir Krangov, a deputy chairman of the Muslim Central Spiritual Administration, praised Alexy's efforts to restore religion's prominence.

"All the activities of this man were devoted to unifying our country, developing state-religion relations and the dialogue of Russia's traditional faiths," RIA-Novosti quoted Krangov as saying.

With up to 20 million Muslims, Russia is also Europe's largest Muslim nation.

The country's chief rabbi, Berel Lazar, said in a letter that Alexy was "a man of moral principles who never made compromises on key issues of faith."

Yet critics maintain that Alexy could have done more to reconcile the country with its past and its religious and ethnic minorities.

During the two Chechen wars, he was a vocal supporter Moscow's campaign in the North Caucasus. State television frequently showed priests blessing tanks and heavy weaponry.

The liaison between the church and the military and other state security bodies continues to this day. In a ceremony at Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow last fall, priests chanted prayers in honor of the Defense Ministry's 12th Main Directorate, responsible for the storage and maintenance of the country's nuclear arsenal. And in 2002, Alexy himself blessed Moscow's Church of St. Sofia of God's Wisdom, the official church of the Federal Security Service.

He was also an outspoken traditionalist on social issues. In October 2007 he told the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly that homosexuality "is an illness, a distortion of a human being."

Alexy was born Alexei Mikhailovich Ridiger on Feb. 23, 1929, in Tallinn, the capital of then-sovereign Estonia, where his father, Mikhail Ridiger, worked as an engineer. Ridiger, who is said to have been of either Swedish or German descent, was a devout Orthodox Christian who had fled revolutionary Petrograd in 1917.

Ordained as a priest in 1950, Alexy rose in the Orthodox hierarchy, becoming Bishop of his native Tallinn in 1961 and Metropolitan of Novgorod and Leningrad in 1986.

Felix Corley, a British scholar on eastern European religious affairs, said that documents kept in Estonian archives prove that Alexy was recruited by the Soviet secret police just before becoming bishop.

"It was quite clear that the KGB saw him as a high-flier, destined for high things," Corley said Friday in a telephone interview from London.

The church has repeatedly denied the allegations.

Corley said the church could not really choose someone without KGB ties because virtually all leading clergymen had been recruited. "You could not get a leading position in any [Soviet] religious organization without working for the KGB," he said.

Corley added that nevertheless Alexy was probably a "sincerely faithful man who wanted to see his church flourish."

"There is evidence that he saved some churches during the onslaught on religious buildings in the early 1960s, including Tallinn's [Alexander] Nevsky Cathedral," he said.

When he was elected Patriarch of Moscow and All-Russia in 1990, Alexy was the first church leader to be chosen without government pressure.

He first concentrated on reclaiming a massive amount of church property that had been nationalized by the officially atheist Soviet Union.

His leadership was also characterized by strife with rival churches, most notably the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, whose independence is not recognized by Moscow, and with the Roman Catholic Church, which Alexy accused repeatedly of seeking to convert Russians.

But in what has been seen as significant improvement of inter-church relations, Alexy recently oversaw the reconciliation with the Orthodox Church Outside Russia after more than 80 years of bitter separation following the 1917 Revolution.

Ties with the Catholic Church also improved somewhat, and it was reported this fall that a meeting between Alexy and Pope Benedict XVI was planned late next year.

Corley said that Alexy refused to bring the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia under his patriarchate's control after they were recognized as independent by Moscow after the August war with Georgia.

A spokesman of the patriarchate said Friday that he could not comment immediately on this.

Alexy had been visibly in poor health recently, yet he kept up his busy schedule.

In the fall of 2002, the patriarch was hospitalized during a visit to the southern town of Astrakhan, after which national media reported that he had suffered a massive heart attack.

In the spring of 2007, speculation was rife that Alexy had died after he failed to attend the funeral of former president Boris Yeltsin.

But afterwards the patriarch lashed back with a rare show of humor: "You can see that I feel healthy, I am serving, I am alive," he was quoted as saying.

Only this week Alexy had returned from Munich, Germany, where he underwent a medical check-up and met with local church representatives.

"He celebrated the Liturgy with us last Sunday and he was in a good state," Konstantin Litvichenko, a novice at the Orthodox Church Outside Russia in Munich, said by telephone Friday.

Litvichenko said that the patriarch had regularly seen doctors in Munich.

The church's ruling body, the Holy Synod, is to convene Saturday and will consider holding his funeral in Moscow on Dec. 9, sources in the Russian Orthodox Church said, Interfax reported Friday evening.

***Staff writers Svetlana Osadchuk and Francesca Mereu contributed to this report.***
>

noreply@blogger.com (Moscow Ministries) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:22:00 +0000

SERGEI L. LOIKO / TPN

Russian Orthodox priest Vadim Sorokin, who teaches 'Basics of Orthodox Culture,' instructs pupils, many of them immigrants, on Slavic alphabet day.

Russian revolution: Some schools teaching religion

By Megan K. स्टैक

Los Angeles Times

KOSTROVO, Russia —
Today they would learn about drawing, Russian Orthodox saints and God. The 7-year-olds sat at their desks; the teacher set a birch branch before the children and told them it was fragile and unique, like their souls.
'If you think you can't draw properly, who will help you?' she asked.
'God will help us,' a boy called out.
'Yes, God will guide your hand, so be confident, have faith.'

This is Tuesday, one of the two days a week dedicated to Orthodox education at a sleepy public school in Kostrovo, outside Moscow. All the girls and women are wearing skirts, and every student is learning Christian catechism along with reading, writing and arithmetic.

It's an unlikely scene, not least because this is a public school in a country that, a few decades back, prided itself on institutional atheism. It's also a strange sight because up half of the pupils are Muslim, with a few Jews, Buddhists and nonbelievers mixed in. Many of their families arrived recently from Central Asia and the Caucasus in search of better schools and jobs.

At school, the students paint massive murals of Jesus, memorize myriad details about Orthodox saints and discuss New Testament stories with the local priest, who barrels into class in flowing black robes to oversee the students' spiritual formation. At home, some of the children are learning to read the Quran in Arabic.

'Some of the parents doubted. Some were against it,' school administrator Natalia Korolchenko said. 'But I told the parents, because more and more children of different nationalities are coming, something should unite them. Something should be done to make them respect the culture of this country.'

Whereas the United States has haggled over prayer in schools, many Russian schools have swung wildly from Marxist havens to institutions steeped in Orthodox symbols and doctrine. With pictures of Jesus and the saints on the walls, Kostrovo's public school probably would be mistaken for a parochial institution by an uninformed visitor.

Resurgence spurs conflict

A grass-roots movement driven by priests and local school officials has brought 'Basics of Orthodox Culture' classes to regions throughout Russia in recent years.

The constitution orders the separation of church and state, but many observers think the gap is narrowing. Under the eight-year presidency of Vladimir Putin, who is rumored to be a fervent believer, Orthodox leaders took on a new prominence. They blessed the military, praised the country's rulers, encouraged priests to work on behalf of national interests and carefully avoided any criticism of the government's human-rights or democracy record.

In exchange, the government and oligarchs close to the Kremlin lavished the patriarchy with cash to restore monasteries and churches that went to seed during the Soviet era. An Orthodox construction boom is under way across the country.

The government has avoided entanglement in a growing debate over whether the classes are appropriate for public education. The decision over whether to add the classes and the nebulous concept of where culture ends and theology begins have been left in the hands of local school officials.

The advent of religious education has provoked outcry from diverse segments of Russian society: Communists, Muslim and Jewish leaders and wary educators have raised alarms over the growing popularity of the classes.

'This seriously affects the unity of the country,' said Arsan Sadriyev of the Russian section of the Spiritual Directorate of European Muslims. 'This will lead to the breakup of the country. Ethnic groups will consolidate themselves and look for ways to protect their interests.'

But supporters think the courses in Orthodox history and culture will unify Russia by filling an ideological void left by the collapse of the Soviet Union. Orthodox Christianity is the defining core of Russian history and identity, they say, and should be a compulsory subject for every student.
Muslim immigrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus are in particular need of Orthodox understanding, they contend, so they can grasp the culture of their new home.
'If we go to Turkey, we must learn the basics of Islamic culture,' school administrator Korolchenko said. 'When children come here, they should learn Orthodox culture. It will be easier for them.'

A moral framework

Clerics are locked in debate with the Education Ministry over whether the Orthodox courses should be discontinued or standardized, said Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, a spokesman for the Moscow patriarchy.

'Some people are afraid of any religion in the schools,' he said. 'They still want to keep the monopoly of materialism and positivism that existed in Soviet times.'
But Russia is changing. In Soviet days, Kostrovo was home to a homogeneous population of ethnic Russian families that made their living working at the government cattle farm.
Today the region of rolling, fertile hills has been flooded with newcomers: Chechens, Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Tajiks and Uzbeks. Korolchenko said the school is no less dogmatic today than it was when she arrived 30 years ago as a Communist Party member. But now, instead of communism and agriculture, the school is teaching religion to give the children a moral framework.
'If you understand the general Christian dogmas and the moral code of communism, it's the same thing,' she said.

The federal government has made its approval plain. In 2004, the Education Ministry presented the school with an award for 'spiritual and moral rebirth of village residents.'
The town's priest, Vadim Sorokin, is also a former Communist who was an adult when he was baptized. He came to Kostrovo in 1995 and set about reconstructing the ruined hulk of St. Nicholas the Sanctifier Church.

Today, sunlight streams through intricately painted cupolas. Gold chandeliers dangle from an ornate ceiling, throwing light on icons etched with a wolf's fang and set in hand-carved mahogany.
The renovation cost millions of dollars, all donated by the government and wealthy businesspeople. Sorokin started out buying books for the school and slowly worked up to introducing the Orthodox culture classes in 2003.

He haunts the hallways on appointed days, popping from class to class as the pupils, 7 to 17, talk about saints and souls. In an upstairs classroom, Sorokin beamed as teenagers in the oldest class thrashed through a theological discussion.
'What did Cain and Abel do?' the teacher grilled them. 'They both brought gifts to God. So what was the difference?' 'Sincerity and lack of sincerity,' one girl called out.
'Good kids!' the teacher exclaimed. 'You understand!'