RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


Long-standing Baptist custom of out-of-doors baptism attacked

HANDCUFFS FOR FAITH. BAPTIST PASTOR FINED 20,000 RUBLES FOR CONDUCTING WATER BAPTISM
by Roman Lunkin

Religiia i Pravo, 23 November 2018

 

A court in Naberezhnye Chelny in the republic of Tatarstan on 23 November 2018 fined the pastor of the Regeneration Church of Evangelical Christians-Baptists [EKhB], Leonid Povorov, 20,000 rubles on the basis of part 2, article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Violations of Law of the RF, "Violation of established procedure of organizing or conducting a meeting, rally, demonstration, procession, or picketing—organizing or conducting a public event without giving notification of conducting a public event in the established form."

 

Yesterday, that is, 22 November 2018, Pastor Povorov was arrested and placed in custody so that on 23 November he would be brought into the courtroom. Within the context of an administrative case, the pastor was led in handcuffs into the courtroom, although he did not intend to refuse to participate in this trial. It is completely obvious that from the point of view of law enforcement agencies, the arrest of the pastor could be used for intimidation of a minister of the EKhB church. It is possible that it was then already clear to police officers that the case against the church was built on fantasy and the violation of elementary common sense.

 

Lawyers intend to appeal not only the court's decision about the fine and the opening of an administrative case in itself, but also the fact of the illegal detention of the pastor in such a category of cases on a flimsy basis.

 

Actually the case in Naberezhnye Chelny against Pastor Leonid Povorov was opened because he conducted a ritual of baptism in the Kama River with believers—members of the church—without any kind of notification.

 

In and of itself, the baptism was organized by the efforts of the Baptist congregation back on 29 July 2018. According to information of church members, only believers were present, about 100 persons. In the opinion of the senior operations chief of emergency management of the Russian MVD directorate for the city of Naberezhnye Chelny, A.R. Galimov, the public event was also evangelistic activity and the ritual of baptism had the goal of attracting attention and disseminating information about its religious teaching. Galimov appealed to part 5 of article 16 of the federal law on freedom of conscience, from which it follows that religious rituals in public places, requiring the assurance of order, are conducted by the procedure established for conducting rallies, processions, and demonstrations.

 

In the opinion of Pastor Leonid Povorov, he did not agree with the indictment presented to him, since, as he said, this was actually a family outing where there were no outsiders. In addition, there was no distribution of religious materials.

 

As attorney Anatoly Pchelintev notes, the actions of the law enforcement agencies were based on a prejudiced attitude toward the church, ignorance of the law, and of the definition of a "public event," which is given in part 1 of article 2 of federal law No. 54-FZ, and of a definition of what organizing a public event according to article 4 of federal law No. 54-FZ is. There was no evangelistic activity during the baptism, nor could there be, inasmuch as everything happened in a deserted spot on the bank of the Kama River, and it concluded with a tea that was arranged by members of the church themselves. It turns out that the level of knowledge on the part of several law enforcement personnel was unusually deficient.

 

Naberezhnye Chelny has become one of the centers of discrimination with regard to churches of evangelical protestants. An operation of intimidation (as one can only call an arrest and fine for a baptism) was conducted against one of the churches of the largest association in Russia, the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists. Besides this, personnel of law enforcement agencies previously conducted raids and searches and broke up a worship service in the largest Pentecostal church of Tatarstan in Naberezhnye Chelny, a congregation of the Russian Church of Christians of Evangelical Faith. Representatives of various government agencies, it turns out, at the same time did not pay attention to the fact that the notions of religious diversity and peace within Russian society are being violated. Is it possible to interrupt worship services and put on handcuffs for a baptism and this it not somehow an offense to religious feelings? Then a dumb question itself arises—what kind of feelings remain? (tr. by PDS, posted 24 November 2018)


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