A demonstration was staged on the streets of Moscow by a small group of Russian Christians to protest against policies that they say violate their religious freedom. According to sources, 200 members of an evangelical church protested about the hardships their church was facing to get the authorities to grant the provision of land to use as places of worship.
"Our task is to teach people how to defend their rights," church leader Alexander Purshaga said to the gathering.
Russian journalist Sergei Blagov, a correspondent for CNSNews.com, wrote in a story that "The protest was the latest sign that all is not well when it comes to freedom to worship in Russia, where some Protestant groups are lumped together with sects and all regarded as troublesome.
"Last month, police raided a Pentecostal Church seminar in Izhevsk, a city northeast of Moscow, briefly detaining dozens of believers.
"In the Chekhov district south of Moscow, local Baptists are struggling to hold onto their new church, built to replace their previous one, which was destroyed in an arson attack last September. Similar attacks have occurred elsewhere."
According to Blagov, the two U.S. lawmakers who chair the Washington-based Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe wrote to the Chekhov district administration in February 2005. The letter expressed concern about threats of violence against the congregation and alleged official efforts to demolish the place of worship rebuilt newly.
He reported that in an annual report released this month, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom argued that conditions in Russia "have deteriorated in recent years."
"Growing government authoritarianism was a problem, as was the favoured treatment enjoyed by the Russian Orthodox Church," the report said.
