By
bruceq
Russia Bans Jehovah’s Witnesses After Religious Right Hailed Putin As Christian Hero
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For years, American Religious Right activists praised Russian president Vladimir Putin as
Hello guest! Please register or sign in (it's free) to view the hidden content. and Hello guest! Please register or sign in (it's free) to view the hidden content. , Hello guest! Please register or sign in (it's free) to view the hidden content. Hello guest! Please register or sign in (it's free) to view the hidden content. , including evangelical Christians and groups like Jehovah’s Witnesses. Putin even Hello guest! Please register or sign in (it's free) to view the hidden content. and Hello guest! Please register or sign in (it's free) to view the hidden content. . None of this seemed to matter to the U.S. Religious Right Hello guest! Please register or sign in (it's free) to view the hidden content. . It was Barack Obama, they said, who was truly persecuting Christians by supporting equal rights for LGBTQ people in America and around the world.
Today, Russia moved even further in its crackdown on religious freedom when the nation’s supreme court sided with the government in outlawing the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a long-persecuted group.
As the Washington Post
Hello guest! Please register or sign in (it's free) to view the hidden content. , the high court “ruled that the group’s St. Petersburg headquarters and 395 churches could be seized and liquidated. All church activities, including worship and door-to-door evangelizing, were banned. Those who defy the ruling face a fine of several thousand dollars and six to 10 years in prison.” The Russian government argued that the denomination threatened “public order and public security” and Hello guest! Please register or sign in (it's free) to view the hidden content. .
The Post added that Jehovah’s Witnesses have already faced “assault, vandalism, seizures and raids on houses of worship and dozens of arrests,” and some fear that the decision “may make it easier for the Kremlin to go after religious minorities in general.”
Like Jehovah’s Witnesses, many evangelical Christian groups are also
Hello guest! Please register or sign in (it's free) to view the hidden content. , which has Hello guest! Please register or sign in (it's free) to view the hidden content. , as cults and extremist organizations. Newsweek Hello guest! Please register or sign in (it's free) to view the hidden content. that the government has targeted not only Jehovah’s Witnesses and evangelical Christians but also Mormons and Seventh-Day Adventists.
Evangelist Franklin Graham is among the American conservatives who have
Hello guest! Please register or sign in (it's free) to view the hidden content. , thanking him for “protecting Russian young people against homosexual propaganda” and “protecting traditional Christianity.”
Graham even
Hello guest! Please register or sign in (it's free) to view the hidden content. as a location for his conference on defending the freedoms of Christians. However, organizers had to cancel once Hello guest! Please register or sign in (it's free) to view the hidden content. .
We will wait to see if Graham and others will stand up for the long-persecuted Jehovah’s Witnesses.
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