Religious Liberty Prayer List - No. 190 - Wed 09 Oct 2002

***** PLAN TO PARTICIPATE IN IDOP - 10/17 NOVEMBER 2002 ***** * The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church * * For resources and links to national websites - * * http://www.idop.org * *************************************************************

----------------------------------------- BELARUS: OPPRESSIVE RELIGION LAW VOTED IN -----------------------------------------

There has been a lot of interest in the situation in Belarus. God provided the Church with a marvellous opportunity to witness to the authorities. As God said to the prophet Ezekiel, "You must give them my messages, whether they listen or not." (Ezekiel 2:7).

As it turned out, the government and Orthodox Church have chosen not to listen to the minority churches. On 2 October, with the full support of the Orthodox Church, the Belarus Upper House voted 46 for, 2 against with 4 abstentions, to accept the proposed new religion law. The law has now gone to President Lukashenko to sign within ten days and it comes into force ten days after that.

Keston Institute <http://www.keston.org> describes the new religion law as the most repressive of its kind in Europe. All religious organisations in Belarus will now have to re-register over the next two years to bring their statutes into line with the new law. All unregistered religious activity will be illegal and foreigners will not be permitted to lead religious groups. Any group that did not have a registered community in 1982 (at the height of Soviet oppression) will be banned from becoming a "religious association", the status necessary for publishing and importing literature, or running any charities and education.

Keston quotes Artur Livshits, a lawyer and a member of the Civic Initiative for Freedom of Conscience as saying, "The first people to suffer will be the Protestants and all the non-traditional faiths." Sergei Karnyushenko, spokesman for the Pentecostal Union, told Keston Institute, "This law will affect all our communities, especially the small ones." Keston Institute reported that Vasyl Yurevich, the administrator of the New Life Protestant Church, protested outside parliament during the session.

Georgi Vyazovsky, pastor of Christ Covenant Church, a Reformed Baptist church in Minsk with nine associated congregations, told Keston on 2 October that the law was "very bad" and "against the Gospel". He said he believed it was adopted to support the Russian Orthodox Church. "If the president signs this law," said Vyazovsky, "we will be driven into illegality. None of our communities will pass the re-registration." (Only one is presently registered.) But he continued, "I'm a Calvinist. I believe in providence. We shall find a way to continue to meet, worship and publish literature. Even in the Soviet times people did this. God will provide the way."

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY:

* that President Lukashenko will not sign the religion law.

* for spiritual wisdom and peace for all evangelical Protestant pastors and leaders whose ministries and congregations are threatened by this law, that they may have grace to lead well.

* for the Protestant churches, both large and small, to remain bonded in a spirit of love and solidarity. "Always keep yourselves united in the Holy Spirit, and bind yourselves together in peace." Ephesians 4:3

* EXTRA PRAYER REQUEST FOR SUDAN

Peace talks are set to resume between the Government of Sudan and the Southern People's Liberation Movement/Army on Monday 14 October 2002, in Kenya. Humanitarian aid flights have resumed to most areas.

SUMMARY TO USE IN BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE: ------------------------------------------------------------ BELARUS PARLIAMENT VOTES FOR OPPRESSIVE RELIGION LAW

On 2 October, the Belarus Upper House voted overwhelmingly to adopt the oppressive proposed religion law, which is now with President Lukashenko, awaiting his signature. Keston Institute describes the new religion law as the most repressive of its kind in Europe. Many small groups will not pass the requirements for re-registration and will be rendered illegal. Other groups that did not have a registered community in 1982 (at the height of the Soviet era) will be banned from ever becoming a "religious association", a status necessary for publishing and importing literature, or running charities and schools or theological education.

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The WEA Religious Liberty Commission sponsors this RL Prayer List to help individuals and groups pray specifically and regularly for religious liberty issues, and in particular to uphold the Church where it is suffering persecution.

RL Prayer is moderated by Ron Clough, a commissioner of the WEA RLC and convenor of the Australian EA RLC.

Elizabeth Kendal researched and authored this message.