wfn.org | Russian court ruling could benefit local Methodist churches

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Dec. 6, 1999 News media contact: Linda Bloom·(212) 870-3803·New York
10-21-71B{655}

By United Methodist News Service

A recent court interpretation of Russia's 1997 religion law should help
local United Methodist congregations as they register or re-register with
the government, according to Bishop Ruediger Minor.

Russia's Constitutional Court issued a Nov. 23 ruling on the law after a
complaint was filed in October 1998 by a congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses
and a Pentecostal group. The religion law basically forbids religious groups
that have been in Russia for less than 15 years from owning property,
conducting public worship, distributing literature or bringing in
non-Russian clergy.

Although the court upheld the law, it ruled that religious organizations
registered before the law was passed in September 1997 would not be required
to register again. The court also ruled that local branches of denominations
registered as "centralized" religious organizations - including the United
Methodist Church -- do not have to prove a 15-year history.

Methodists began evangelizing in St. Petersburg in 1889, and the Methodist
Church received legal status in Russia in 1909. Eventually, political
changes forced much of the church to disband.

The United Methodist Church's Russia Annual Conference was re-registered as
a centralized organization last January. However, Minor told United
Methodist News Service that the conference was still in the process of
re-registering established congregations and registering new ones.

"Therefore, it is positive for us, too, that the court clearly ruled that
the 15-year clause is waived for those who belong to a centralized
organization," Minor said. "And we remain concerned about the discrimination
against independent organizations."

Minor noted that United Methodists were not invited to a November gathering
in Moscow that drew representatives from 33 traditional Christian
communities of the former Soviet Union, including the Orthodox, Roman
Catholics, Baptists, Lutherans, Seventh-day Adventists and Pentecostals.

"While some church leaders continue their discriminatory practice against
Russia's United Methodists," he said, "we are grateful for grass-roots
contacts and not only with other Protestants."

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United Methodist News Service
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