Religious freedoms have come under serious threat in Russia, after President Putin signed measures into law to restrict "missionary activities".
This new law, under the guise of anti-terrorism measures, will ban "preaching, playing, proselytising, and disseminating religious materials” outside state designated sites. This includes the distribution of religious materials via “mass print, broadcast, or online media."
Any Russian individual breaking this law will face steep fines – anywhere between $75 and $765 – and religious groups could be fined up to $15,265. Foreigners caught sharing their faith risk immediate expulsion.
Church and state
With 70% of the Russian population identifying as Russian Orthodox, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) appears to be the only religious group exempt from the legislation – and indeed actively supported it, due to institutionalised "harmonious relations" between the ROC and the state.
Hindering of the gospel
The implementation of these measures could impede the spread of the gospel throughout Russia. Russia is one of the top-ten most populous nations in the world and it contains a large number of unreached people groups.
According to the Joshua Project, almost 10% of the Russian population is unreached, and only 1.2% of the population is evangelical.
Underground church
Amongst many evangelical church leaders, there appears to be general willingness to take the Church underground.
Sergey Rakhuba, president of Mission Eurasia, a Christian organisation which has previously helped train more than 5,000 national church-planters and plant more than 1,000 evangelical churches throughout the former Soviet Union, stated:
"They say: 'If it will come to it, it's not going to stop us from worshiping and sharing our faith.'"
The new bill also lowers the age threshold for terrorist crimes, to 14 years from the current 16.
This raises the potential of children being punished for sharing their faith, and may result in increased debt amongst outspoken Christians. This is particularly dangerous as the average national monthly salary is $500, somewhat less than the $765 maximum fine for an individual.
Please pray for the church in Russia and for its leaders to know how to react to the legislation.
Related Links:
Russia Enacts Law to Restrict Religious Freedom and Missionary Activities (The Gospel Coalition)
EU clamps down on free speech
Inspections of church youth groups to go ahead without registration