Freethought & Rationalism Archive

hinduwoman · 07-16-2002, 04:50 PM

<a href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020714/ap_wo_en_po/belarus_religion_1" target="_blank">http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020714/ap_wo_en_po/belarus_religion_1</a>

Apparently the Government has passed a bill strengthening the Orthodox Church. One effect had been to deny --- at least the Hindus --- right to register themselves as a religious group. A group of Hindus were arrested for singing outdoors because apprently the meeting was unsanctioned. however there is reason to believe that it was religious persecution.

Quote:

Twelve Hindus from Belarus began a hunger strike on Sunday to protest against what they said was increasing state persecution after this former Soviet republic's lower house of parliament passed a strict new bill on religion.

The seven men and five women were among 17 arrested Saturday evening while singing Hindu songs and hymns in a Belarusian park, said Tatyana Akadanova, who was also arrested but released because she had small children with her.

They were accused of holding an unsanctioned procession and meeting, Akadanova said.

She said the arrest was trigged by a bill passed late last month that prohibits churches will less than 20 years' presence in Belarus from publishing literature or establishing missions and bans organized prayer by denominations with less than 20 Belarus citizens as members.

The bill, which still has to be passed by the upper house of parliament and signed by President Alexander Lukashenko, also enshrines the Russian Orthodox Church's dominant role in the country.

"Persecution has already begun," said Akadanova, adding that the group had earlier been refused permission to officially register and denied the use of a hall to hold their religious services.

...
The Russian Orthodox Church, which had supported the bill, complains in Belarus and Russia that other religions are poaching converts from people who historically would have been Orthodox believers.

christians complaining of conversions? Great!

Anyway is this not extreme --- from State atheism to State religion?

Toto · 07-16-2002, 05:08 PM

This is what happens when you have an established religion. The established religion (in this case Eastern Orthodox Christians) uses state power to oppress other religions.

In the case of the former Soviet Union, the impetus was that American missionaries were flooding Russia and other former soviet states with Bibles, food, money, etc. The poorer and less media-savvy Orthodox churches could not compete with these marketing efforts. The Hindus were not the object of the laws, but were caught up in its provisions.

There are (or were) similar laws in Greece forbidding non-Orthodox Christians from attempting to convert Orthodox Christians.

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07-16-2002, 05:08 PM	#2
Toto Contributor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Los Angeles area Posts: 40,549	This is what happens when you have an established religion. The established religion (in this case Eastern Orthodox Christians) uses state power to oppress other religions. In the case of the former Soviet Union, the impetus was that American missionaries were flooding Russia and other former soviet states with Bibles, food, money, etc. The poorer and less media-savvy Orthodox churches could not compete with these marketing efforts. The Hindus were not the object of the laws, but were caught up in its provisions. There are (or were) similar laws in Greece forbidding non-Orthodox Christians from attempting to convert Orthodox Christians.

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