Seems you never know how freedom will last, especially in some countries. It has been all over the news this week about the rulling of a Moscow Court To Ban Witnesses. (Of course since I am TV inept... I missed on this information, but the internet has gotten me back up to speed. It was even in the Huntsville Times. But my study got me up to speed).
The Extended Entry has the article from the New York Post.
Seems those against the witnesses never give up.
Moscow Court Bans Jehovah's Witnesses from Practicing in City
By SETH MYDANS
Published: March 27, 2004
OSCOW, March 26 — After six years of civil proceedings, a court here on Friday banned activities by Jehovah's Witnesses in what members of the group said could be a first step toward a nationwide ban.
A spokesman for the Christian religious group said the decision would be appealed. But he said the ruling increased the danger of violent attacks directed at Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia and other former Soviet areas.
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The spokesman, Christian Presber, said the group, which is federally registered, had 11,000 adherents in Moscow and 133,000 throughout Russia. Since the first trial started, in 1998, he said, city authorities have repeatedly frustrated its attempts to buy or rent places to hold worship services.
In 1999, members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, a monitoring body made up of European legislators, warned, "The case is a cause of concern for other religious groups who also expect to be banned if the Jehovah's Witnesses were to lose."
Mr. Presber said, "The prosecutor said in open court that this is just the beginning. When she's banned the Jehovah's Witnesses in Moscow, the goal is to start the process for the rest of Russia."
He said the basis for the ruling involved a 1997 law on freedom of conscience and religious association that the prosecutor interpreted as showing that the group was an "antistate organization."
A lawyer for the group, Artur Leontyev, said the case did not deal with any alleged incidents of wrongdoing but rather with the question of whether the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses were legitimate.
"This question has already been decided numerous times by the European Court, which ruled that it is not within a state's prerogative to examine the legitimacy of religious beliefs, much less pass sentence on them," he said, referring to the European Court of Human Rights.
A Canadian legal counsel for the Moscow group, John Burns, said the grounds for the ruling were cited as "inciting religious discord, breaking up families, violating individual Russian citizens' rights, inclining people to commit suicide and luring teenagers and minors."
He said that the allegations were not supported by evidence and that studies and testimony presented to the court refuted them.
"The big concern is what the extremists are going to do in Moscow and Russia when they hear about this decision," Mr. Burns said. "How many people are we going to see beaten up?"
Human rights groups say religious and racial intolerance have become intertwined with notions of nationalism in Russia.
In a report issued on Friday, the Moscow Bureau on Human Rights, an independent monitoring group, said that according to polls it had conducted, about 60 percent of people living in Russia "have a xenophobic attitude and agree that representatives of ethnic minorities should be barred from political life and from living in large cities."
It added, "An estimated 5 to 6 percent are ready to carry out pogroms."
In 2001 a Moscow court ruled in favor of the Jehovah's Witnesses, but the case was reinstated and proceedings resumed after an appeal by the prosecutor's office.
Posted by itzjerm at April 1, 2004 07:09 AMSo it starts. The begining of the end...its going to get a lot uglier. Don't forget to pray for our brothers and sisters
Posted by: Danny at April 1, 2004 08:38 AMUmm, the beginning of the end started about 90 years ago. I don't think this signals the time of the great tribulation. Countries have been trying to ban witnesses as long as witnesses have been in countries. And many countries have succeeded. Jehovah always protects his loyal servants though and insures that his work gets done.
Posted by: Jon Houser at April 1, 2004 09:49 AMWow, thats something. It is a thought though, I mean, will the rest of the world feel compelled to follow this pattern? Perhaps, these are exciting events, that we will all hopefully get to see unfold. How faith strengthening it will be (in accord with Jon's post), to see Jehovah stretch out his hand, and protect his people. How inspiring!
Posted by: adyre at April 1, 2004 11:15 AMJon, loved your post, so true, so true. You're cool, and I dont even know you, you shall have to email me sometime. And Jeremy, I have to talk to you about us being cousins...
Posted by: adyre at April 1, 2004 11:16 AMThat's a good point Jon. This really isn;t an event that should be considered surprising, as the trial has been in the news pretty much non-stop for 6 years. And the ruling can't yet stand because of the appeal, so we really don't know what Jehovah has in store for the work in Russia right now. We definitely need to keep on the watch though, because this could be a major sign, but again we don't know. All that can be done is pray for the brothers and sisters like Danny said, and keep our sites on ourselves - it's not impossible to see this very thing happening here in the States (or the Socialist Canada (even Mexico has a growing Socialist and Right-Wing party (and we need not forget France, another Socialist state (I'm going for a parentheses record here)))).
Posted by: keats at April 1, 2004 11:18 AMFor more information on this, go to: www.forum18.org
scroll down until you see:
29 March 2004 RUSSIA: Court bans Jehovah's Witnesses
That should prove to be interesting. I'm sure that whatever the consequences from this trial, Jehovah will bless the work of the faithful Russian brothers. I'll not speculate what this means, but I do know that this type of oppression can't go on much longer.
Posted by: Young Javann at April 1, 2004 01:20 PMHasn't the work been banned B-4 in Russia, or am I thinking of something totally differant? (The latter is a total possibility)
Posted by: Mel at April 1, 2004 01:47 PMThanks, I didn't really expect to get any kind of kudos for my post, but whatever. I actually have a friend that just moved to russia to be a CO, so I hope he's handling this well. I know Jehovah will bless his efforts, but it's still hard not to be concerned for the poor little capitalist white boy.
Oh yeah, where's creative writing thursday? Oh well, I suppose this is an important topic to discuss.
Posted by: Jon Houser at April 1, 2004 02:00 PMI was just thinking the same thing, Mel. It seems like it was banned before, but there's always a good chance I'm confused...
Posted by: Allyson at April 1, 2004 02:07 PMwow... i'm officially old...
of course the USSR banned all religions. I remember with the Iron Curtain fell... seems odd that everyone doesnet rmemeber that. But yes USSR as a comunist state definitly banned all relligions (as communisim does China for instance)
Get out those year books people .... wait wasnt we supposed to watch a video on this... why yes.
Posted by: itzjerm at April 1, 2004 03:14 PM..oh and cool we're cousins? (Indian Cousins... long live the peace loving Cherokee).
Posted by: itzjerm at April 1, 2004 03:15 PMCherokees...peace loving...so you mean I shouldnt be reading "How To Master the Death Dealing Tactics of Adolf Hitler" anymore? Hahahah, kidding people, kidding. I didnt know you were part Cherokee too Jerm! Cool beans and salsa! (sorry, thats my hispanic side). But we should be cousins Jerm because we are like the only people in our cong not related to somebody! So I figured, you can never have too many cool cousins, and since I have yet to discover any of those in my family yet (wow), then we should appoint each other as cousins (doesnt hurt that we are maybe sorta kinda in a my mama's cousin's dad's wife's mother's sister in law kind of way related). What'd ya say? We're both sick so much we may actually BE related...
Posted by: adyre at April 1, 2004 06:06 PMThis doesn't surprise me at all given how Russia's infant democracy has greatly eroded since Yeltzin left office. Putin claims to be a democratically elected leader but the recent election was a sham (anyone see the news story a few months ago about how the other major candidate/opponent, a rich billionaire was kidnapped and drugged for days during the recent election?). Satan has his leaders well placed but Jehovah's spirit will prevail. It was at least good to see though that the extremist Orthodox priest in Georgia who has instigated so much persecution against our brothers was finally arrested. He finally mouthed off too many times to the government and they cracked down on him. The infuriating thing about this is it seems no matter how many times someone wins a free speech trial in Russia, if the prosecuter and his/her minions are mad at the outcome, they can just say "Hey we want a new trial" seemingly as many times as they want until they get the biased result they desire. -Dylan
Posted by: Dylan at April 1, 2004 06:08 PMThis is really sad. It's several steps backward for everyone in the world regardless of his or her religion or background when an event like this happens. I am not a Witness, but I will hold your Brothers and Sisters in my prayers and hope that the Russian courts will change their decisions.
Posted by: Opal the Psychotic at April 1, 2004 07:46 PMI honestly never thought i'd be writing about the oppression of Jehovah's people in modern times. While i am confident that Jehovah our merciful and compassion Creator will protect his people and allow his spirit to help them, i'm still nervous about what will occur in our own country in the future. Now's the time to strengthen our faith and also stick close together. I love you all soooo much! Even the ones i dont know.
Posted by: sheesheesheesheeshee at April 1, 2004 07:59 PMWell well, this we all must see and take to heart brothers and sisters. This really is the time of the last days and we all must make sure not to misplace this in our lives. We must remember just like many of our brothers and sisters have posted this is just the begining we have alot more comeing our way. So, now really is the time more then ever to keep our heads up high and keep up the preaching work. Satan is going to come from all different directions at us all. We have to keep all this in our prayers and remember how real this really is. We mit not have as much stuff going on like in the U.S with the extremists, but their will be a time when they will be all over us all. This is great info to keep in mind and food for thought........... Jehovah is our creator and if we stick with him we will never be lost or wonder what is going to happen
Posted by: Robert J at April 2, 2004 02:29 PMMy younger brother has summed things up before with the following: "Face it, Witnesses in America have had it reeeaaally easy for a long time. Sooner or later it will end." With the increasingly paranoid U.S. govt, dept of homeland security, broader powers, ect. it is definitely something to think about more and be ready for. I remember our new DO brother Gaskin (what a great speaker!) saying at our fall assembly back in October (the theme of which if you remember was being prepared for tribulation): "The hotel has a big sign in the lobby 'Welcome Jehovah's Witnesses.' Isn't that nice? But it isn't always going to be like that, is it?" -Dylan
Posted by: Dylan at April 2, 2004 07:03 PM