Forum 18News Summary: Belarus; Kosovo; Nagorno-Karabakh
20 September 2006
BELARUS: "IF THEY TRY TO STOP GOD ONE WAY, WE'LL TRY ANOTHER"
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=842
Despite tight restrictions on missionary activity in the highly restrictive Belarusian religion law - and approval for such activity hard to get - religious believers still have one unexpected way of sharing their faith in public: through popular music. Salvation - a Christian group from the western region of Brest - has often won top place each week on state television's "Silver Marathon" pop music programme since the summer, while several Hare Krishna groups - among them rap artists - have performed at the prestigious annual Slavic Bazaar festival in the
north-eastern city of Vitebsk in recent years. Asked by Forum 18 News Service whether the prevalence of religious themes in Belarusian popular music might be the consequence of extensive state restrictions on organised church activity, Aleksandr Patlis - lead singer of another Christian band New Generation - remarked "if they try to stop God one way, we'll try another".
22 September 2006
BELARUS: "WE ARE RELYING ON GOD, NOT THE COURTS"
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=844
In Minsk, the embattled charismatic New Life Church has yet to receive the written verdict of a July court decision forcing it to sell the building where its thousand members worship. Neither was the church informed about another recent court hearing to consider its right to use the land beneath the building. Now, however, "we are relying on God, not the courts," the church's lawyer told Forum 18. New Life has still not been given any explanation why a city Development Plan - offered, apparently against Belarusian law, as the reason why the church must sell its building to the state - may not be altered to include a Protestant church, except that this is "not envisaged". Once New Life receives what it believes is a greatly reduced price for its building, it has ten days in which to move out.
20 September 2006
KOSOVO: RELIGION LAW FAILS TO TACKLE CONTENTIOUS LEGAL STATUS QUESTION
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=843
While some Protestants are jubilant that the new religion law approved by the Kosovo Assembly on 13 July has been amended by the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) to specify five of the faiths by name that enjoy rights and freedoms (Muslims, Orthodox, Catholics, Jews and Evangelicals) others are critical. "If it is true that the Evangelical (Pentecostal) church is mentioned it is not right, since all should be mentioned or none," Adventist pastor Nikola Aslimovski complained to Forum 18 News Service. UNMIK promulgated the law on 24 August, but only made this public on 20 September. The law fails to tackle the highly contentious issue of how and which religious communities will get legal status. "Everything should be nailed down in one law," one religious freedom expert told Forum
18. "Nothing should ever be left vague to be returned to later."
18 September 2006
NAGORNO-KARABAKH: UNCERTAINTY FACES BAPTIST CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=841
It is unclear whether the authorities will take further action against a young Baptist conscript who refuses to swear the military oath and bear arms on grounds of conscience, Forum 18 News Service has found. Gagik Mirzoyan was freed from prison at the end of a jail sentence, held by the Military Police and, after eight days, transferred to a military unit. "They are still pressuring him to swear the military oath and take up weapons," Baptist pastor Garnik Abreyan told Forum 18. "He still has three months to serve of his military service and we just don't know what they will do with him." Albert Voskanyan, of the Centre for Civilian Initiatives - who has regularly visited both Gagik Mirzoyan and jailed Jehovah's Witness conscientious objector Areg Hovhanesyan - told Forum 18 that "the danger is real that Mirzoyan could be imprisoned again." Deputy Foreign Minister Masis Mailyan told Forum 18 that he does not know what the military will now do.
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