Paul
Goble
Staunton, May 30 – The Putin regime
has had undeserved success in presenting itself as a defender of Christianity,
but its campaign against Russia’s 170,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses, who now face
criminal charges and abuse just for practicing their faith, not only shows how
false those claims are but also represents a threat to all Christians and
others in that country.
Not only have Russian courts
classified the Witnesses as “an extremist organization” on a par with Al-Qaeda
and ISIS, but the regime has sent a signal that some in Russian Orthodox
fundamentalists have taken to mean that they can attack the followers of this
denomination with impunity.
The staff at the world headquarters
of the Jehovah’s Witnesses have compiled a list of 50 violations of the rights
of believers just since the April 20 Russian ban was imposed. These range from
official warnings to dismissals to refusal to allow Jehovah’s Witnesses to
perform alternative service to acts of violence, arson and vandalism (dropbox.com/s/
Among the most
horrific of these incidents were an April 30th fire set at the
Jehovah’s Witness hall in Lutsino on April 30, vandalism of a hall in Voronezh
oblast, threats to parishioners in Yekaterinburg oblast, a pogrom of violence
directed at Jehovah’s Witnesses in Izhevsk, and the firebombing of a hall in
Zheshart in the Komi Republic.
Importantly, reports on these crimes
have been corroborated by rights activists in Russia itself (znak.com/2017-05-29/svideteli_iegovy_soobchayut_o_pogromah_i_podzhogah_ih_pomecheniy_po_vsey_strane), but those responsible have yet to be brought to
justice.
If
such actions had been inflicted upon almost any other religious group, there would
have been an international outcry; but sadly, that has not been the case in
these instances. However, for the reasons
Pastor Niemueller outlined nearly 80 years ago in Nazi Germany, there
should be lest those who are attacking the Jehovah’s Witnesses today attack
others tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment