{"id":2866,"date":"2017-04-17T19:53:15","date_gmt":"2017-04-17T19:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/news\/2017\/04\/17\/us-says-russias-jehovahs-witnesses-ban-is-latest-sign-moscow-views-independent-religions-as-a-threat\/"},"modified":"2021-08-18T10:25:30","modified_gmt":"2021-08-18T07:25:30","slug":"us-says-russias-jehovahs-witnesses-ban-is-latest-sign-moscow-views-independent-religions-as-a-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/us-says-russias-jehovahs-witnesses-ban-is-latest-sign-moscow-views-independent-religions-as-a-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. says Russia’s Jehovah’s Witnesses ban is latest sign Moscow views independent religions as a threat"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Russian\u00c2\u00a0justice ministry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s call for the country\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses headquarters to be shut down represents an attempt to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153eliminate the legal existence\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of the religion, said the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). The USCIRF is a bipartisan federal commission, with commissioners appointed by the president, the Senate and the House.<\/p>\n

The justice ministry suspended the Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses headquarters in St. Petersburg last month, alleging that its activities \u00e2\u20ac\u0153violate Russia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s law on combating extremism.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The Russian branch of the U.S.-based religion said a ban on its headquarters would directly affect around 400 local branches in the country and all 2277 of its religious groups, with their 175,000 followers.<\/p>\n

Russia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Supreme Court is set to rule on the matter Wednesday. The USCIRF said that if the court sides with the justice ministry\u00c2\u00a0it would constitute the first time Russia has banned an organized religious organization.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Russian government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s latest actions appear designed to eliminate the legal existence of Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses in Russia,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Thomas J. Reese, S.J.,\u00c2\u00a0chair of the USCIRF, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, said in a\u00c2\u00a0statement<\/span>\u00c2\u00a0released Monday.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153If the Supreme Court rules in April that this group is \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcextremist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 it would mark the first time that Russia legally has banned a centrally-administered religious organization and would effectively criminalize all Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 activity nationwide. USCIRF calls on the Russian government to stop its harassment of this peaceful religious group.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The statement from the group added: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The treatment of the Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses reflects the Russian government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s tendency to view all independent religious activity as a threat to its control and the country\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s political stability.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The Russian branch of the Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses has\u00c2\u00a0vehemently denied the Kremlin’s charges<\/span>, stating that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153extremism is profoundly alien to the Bible-based beliefs and morality\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of members of the faith. It warned of the far-ranging impact in the country for religious liberty.<\/p>\n

Russia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dominant religion is Russian Orthodox Christianity, which comprises about 72 percent of the population, up from just 31 percent in 1991,\u00c2\u00a0according to analysis from the Pew Research Center<\/span>.\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Millions of believers around the world consider the action of the Ministry of a big mistake,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the group said.\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153If the claim is satisfied, it would entail catastrophic consequences for the freedom of religion in Russia.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/div>\n
\u00c2\u00a0<\/div>\n
http:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/russia-jehovahs-witnesses-ban-religion-579045\u00c2\u00a0<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Russian\u00c2\u00a0justice ministry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s call for the country\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Jehovah\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Witnesses headquarters to be shut down represents an attempt to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153eliminate the legal existence\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of the religion, said the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-news","category-russia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2866"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5653,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2866\/revisions\/5653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jwforum.net\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}