Most Christians would say that following the law is the right thing to do; some would even take it further and say that one can't be a Christian and not follow the law. The Bible even tells us to submit to those in authority and follow the laws of the land. Seems straight forward; very black and white. But what do you do if you live in a country where the law prohibits you from practicing your faith? If you are not part of an officially registered church, all of your activities are illegal. Even if you are registered, you still might not be allowed to train your clergy or print and distribute pamphlets or Bibles. What do you do then? Can one knowingly break the law and still be a Christian? While everyone must wrestle with this question themselves, I would say to remember the response of the early church leaders when they were told by those in authority to stop spreading the Gospel. "But Peter and John answered and said to them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:19-20) "But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: "We ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). In America we have been blessed to have the freedom to share our faith freely. It may not always be well received, but we have the right to share it. We have not been faced with the choice many Christians in Belarus and other countries experience. Do I stay silent and follow the law, or do I speak out and break the law? As we pray for Belarus this month, let's draw strength from their conviction that allows them to say 'yes' to God, even if that means saying 'no' to the law.
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Belarus
U.S. Commission
on International Religious Freedom: USCIRF maintains a Watch List of
countries that commit serious violations of religious freedom, though not as serious as some other countries. The
purpose is to provide advance warning of negative trends that could develop
into severe violations of religious freedom, and Belarus has been on that list
since 2003. In the 2014 report, the
USCIRF continues to monitor Belarus, where the government tightly regulates
religious communities through an extensive security and religious affairs
bureaucracy, which has driven some religious groups underground. Officials are
particularly hostile towards religious groups viewed as political opponents,
such as Protestants, and strictly control foreign citizens, including Catholic
priests, who conduct religious activity.
Government: The government of Belarus continues to commit serious violations of the freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief, both in law and in practice. Belarus has a highly authoritarian government, with most political power concentrated in the hands of President Aleksandr Lukashenko and his small circle of advisors. The Lukashenko regime maintains extensive and intrusive structures to control and restrict religious communities, causing some human rights groups to compare the current religious freedom situation in Belarus to that under the former Soviet Union. In addition, the government has engaged in serious human rights abuses, including involvement in the disappearances of several key opposition figures, the imprisonment of political opponents and journalists, and strict controls on the media and civil society.
Laws: The country’s 2002 religion law set up severe regulatory obstacles
and major bureaucratic and legal restrictions on the activities of religious
communities. Essentially, the 2002 law prohibits all religious activity by
unregistered groups, limits the activity of religious communities to their
areas of official registration, bans foreign citizens from leading religious
activities, forbids unapproved religious activity in private homes except
small, occasional prayer meetings, denies religious communities the right to
train clergy, and requires official permission for the printing, import, or
distribution of religious materials. The religion law also set up three
categories: religious communities, religious associations, and national
religious associations, with varying legal rights and registration
requirements. A complex registration process requires extensive personal
information about the members of religious congregations. The 2002 Belarusian
religion law is viewed as the most repressive in Europe, particularly because
of its ban on unregistered religious activity. Participation in the activities
of unregistered religious groups may result in a maximum two-year term of
imprisonment. The government maintains an extensive bureaucracy that closely
supervises religious life throughout the country, and continues to harass and
fine members of some religious groups, particularly Protestants and others
viewed as “foreign” or as having a political agenda. In fact, in recent years
there has been an increased use of large court-imposed fines for unregistered
religious activity. Foreign religious workers continue to face many official
obstacles, including deportation and visa refusals. Since registration is compulsory, the religion law
makes no provision for those who do not wish to register, such as the Council
of Churches Baptists.
Challenges to the Religion Law: In 2007,thousands of individuals from diverse religious communities, as well as
nonbelievers, initiated a petition to the Belarusian government to protest the
country’s 2002 religion law and other restrictions on freedom of religion or
belief. In March 2008, the petition gained the 50,000 signatures required for
the document to be considered by the Belarusian government; it was sent to the
Constitutional Court, Parliament, and Presidential Administration. The
Constitutional Court rejected it that same month on the grounds that only the
head of state or other government officials can question the constitutionality
of laws. Parliamentary and presidential authorities also rejected the petition,
claiming that there were no religious freedom violations in Belarus. In April
2008, three human rights defenders were fined the equivalent of two months
average monthly wages for their involvement with the petition.
Persecution with Registration: Some religious groups have repeatedly been denied
registration and in many cases officials do not provide reasons. One frequent
basis for denial is failure to provide a valid legal address, although in some
cases, registration is required before such an address can be obtained.
Moreover, a religious organization cannot be located at a residential address
unless that location has been re-designated as nonresidential. In 2009,
religious groups continued to have difficulty obtaining local government
permission to convert residential property for religious purposes. Another
basis for denial can be the religious group’s alleged failure to limit
activities to a specified location. Without state registration, religious
communities are subject to state harassment of and interference with religious
activities that sometimes result in fines. In recent years, the Belarus courts
have increased these fines and expanded the range of religious groups subject
to them. Until 2006, such fines usually were the equivalent of about $15, and
were imposed on Council of Churches Baptist congregations that refuse on
theological grounds to register with state authorities. However, since 2006,
administrative fines for unregistered religious activity have increased and
members of other groups have been fined. For example, a disabled 68-year old
pensioner, Yevgeny Bakun, was fined in August 2009 the equivalent of $49 for
holding an unregistered Salvation Pentecostal service in his yard in the city
of Grodno. In September, he was issued another fine the equivalent of $245 for
“holding mass events.” In a late 2009 incident, a member of an unregistered
Baptist group in Brest received an administrative fine the equivalent of $63
(reportedly half her monthly wage) for allowing her home to be used for
worship. Although the religion law, at least in theory, allows people to
pray in private homes, it requires that individuals obtain permission from
local authorities to hold rituals, rites, or ceremonies in homes. However, such
permission usually is denied. For six years, Protestant leaders unsuccessfully
have attempted to resolve this situation. Despite confirmation from the
Presidential Administration’s Department for Communication with Citizens that
religious organizations may legally meet in private homes if local state
authorities agree, police on several occasions in 2009 interfered with private
religious meetings and sometimes fined participants. Some registered religious
organizations, however, including Muslims, Lutherans, and Baha’is, have held
worship services at residential addresses without prosecution.
Persecution with Property: The government also continues to limit the ability of registered groups to own or use property for religious purposes. Authorities reject requests for property registration from many Protestant churches and other groups officially viewed as new to Belarus; these groups also have faced difficulty in renting property from state proprietors. Moreover, Protestants in particular have reported that securing permission to build new churches is almost impossible. In Minsk, city planners will not grant any such permits until 2030, according to official documents. Protestant churches seeking property permits also report that they are treated as commercial organizations and charged fees set by Minsk authorities that may be hundreds of thousands of dollars. Forum 18 also reports that some of the smaller religious communities continue to face great difficulties in rebuilding premises for worship. In 2009 and 2010, officials continued to harass the New Life Full Gospel Church and threaten to seize its building in Minsk. Court executors delivered an order to vacate the building by August 2009, but the congregation refused to vacate. In January 2010, the government charged the church with polluting the grounds around its building with oil. If convicted, the church could be liable for a fine, plus $91,000 for the alleged damage. If the judgment is not paid, the government can seize the church building as compensation. Other laws, regulations, and directives also restrict the activities of registered religious communities. For example, groups are not allowed to function outside their geographic area of registration. Additionally, if a registered religious community does not qualify as a “central association”—meaning it has not been legally recognized for over 20 years or it does not have enough members—it cannot own media outlets or invite people from outside Belarus to work with the community.
Restrictions on Religious
Literature: All religious literature is subject
to compulsory government censorship. Religious publishing is restricted to
religious groups with 10 registered communities, including at least one
that was in existence in 1982. This requirement is onerous, since 1982 was
during the Soviet period when few religious groups were allowed to operate.
Some members of religious communities continue to be harassed and fined
for“illegally” distributing religious literature. In April 2009, the
government confiscated Unification Church materials to prevent “violations of
human rights and freedoms” and “risks to individual psychological and physical
welfare.” In May 2009, a Baptist was fined $745, the largest known fine for
unregistered religious activity in Belarus, for operating a Christian street
library and ordered to turn the materials over to the state.
The Privileged Status of the Belarusian Orthodox Church: The 2002 religion law recognizes the “definitive role” of the Orthodox Church in the development of Belarusian traditions, and the historic “traditional faiths,” Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, and Evangelical Lutheranism, without mentioning the Old Believers and Calvinist Churches, both of which have roots in Belarus dating to the 17th century. Since he assumed power in 1994, President Lukashenko has discriminated in favor of the Belarusian Orthodox Church (BOC), an Exarchate of the Moscow Patriarchate Russian Orthodox Church. In June 2003, the Belarus government and the BOC signed a concordat on the Church’s role in public life, thereby further enhancing its privileged position. Despite the concordat, however, BOC instruction has not been introduced into the state education system. In March 2004, the Belarusian government granted the BOC the sole right to use the word “Orthodox” in its title. The Belarusian government has denied registration to several Orthodox churches that do not accept the authority of the Moscow Patriarchate, including the Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and the True Orthodox Church. Archbishop Jovan of the Holy Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (BAOC), a religious freedom activist, continued to be denied entry into the country in 2009. The Russian Orthodox Church Abroad is also denied registration, and in recent years its members have had to pay numerous fines for private worship services. However, despite its privileged status, the BOC also has not been immune from government harassment. Belarusian officials have discouraged the BOC from commemorating those Orthodox Christians killed in Belarus during the Soviet period due to their religion. The Belarusian KGB has tried to convince BOC clergy to remove icons of the Orthodox “New Martyrs” from the city of Grodno cathedral, although the local bishop refused to do so. In addition, KGB officers often monitor visitors to the town of Kuropaty, where New Martyrs are among the mass graves; a BOC chapel planned for the site has never been built.
Religion and Public Education: The religion and education laws specify that the state education system is secular, and that state education institutions can work with registered religious organizations only outside school hours. Belarusian official school textbooks continued to promote intolerance towards religions officially considered “non-traditional” to Belarus. One textbook, a chapter entitled “Beware of Sects” included language about Seventh-Day Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Another book labeled Protestants and Hare Krishnas as “sects,” although according to the State Department, the authorities promised to change the language in the next edition.
Restrictions on Foreign Religious Workers: In 2008, Belarus further tightened strict government regulations on foreign religious workers. A government official, the Plenipotentiary for Religious and Nationality Affairs, has the sole discretion to decide whether religious activity by foreign citizens is necessary. In addition, that official is not required to provide reasons for denials of a foreign religious worker’s request to visit. Moreover, there is no avenue for appeal of denials. A foreign religious worker must be invited by a registered religious association. The visa application must include relevant work experience, the timetable and syllabus of the relevant religious educational institution and proof of knowledge of the Belarusian and Russian languages, as well as the proposed dates and reason for the visit. The application procedure for visits by foreign religious workers is usually lengthy and highly bureaucratic. Belarusian authorities continue to question foreign religious workers, humanitarian workers, and local citizens on the sources and uses of their funding. There were also credible reports that foreign religious workers were under surveillance by security personnel. Since 2004, a total of 33 foreigners, about two-thirds of whom are Catholics, have been expelled or have been denied extension of their residence permits due to their religious activities. In January 2010, two Catholic priests who had worked in Belarus for several decades reportedly were ordered by authorities to halt religious activities but were not barred from the country. Furthermore, if foreign citizens have not explicitly stated that they plan to participate in religious activities in Belarus, they can be reprimanded or expelled. In February 2009, two Danish visitors to Belarus were detained by police and banned from the country for one year due to their expressions of “ideas of a religious nature,” in the words of the deportation order. Both were attending—but were not leading—a church service in the city of Gomel.
Government control: In addition to the top-ranking official, the Plenipotentiary for Religious and Ethnic Affairs, each of the country’s six regions employs multiple religious affairs officials, as does Minsk city. Officials from local Ideology Departments and the Belarusian secret police (which proudly retains the Soviet-era designation of KGB) are also involved in religious controls. Religious meetings in private homes must not be regular or large. Houses of worship and any public exercise of religion must have state permission, which is rarely granted for disfavored groups, particularly Protestants. Orthodox and Catholic communities are less affected, partly due to the state’s more positive attitude towards them, but also because they are more likely to occupy historic churches. Unregistered religious activity is usually treated as an administrative offense punished by a fine.
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(2006)
(2014)
