BY TYLER HUCKABEE
LET’S S TA R T WITH
If you are a Russian citi-
knack for propaganda and a healthy dose of
zen in 2018, it is current-
good, old-fashioned fake news. But as Russia’s
ly illegal for you to share
aims become clearer and the fortunes of its re-
the Gospel with a friend
ligious minorities less certain, experts are saying
in your home. It’s illegal
it’s imperative for Christians—and fans of reli-
for you to invite others to
gious liberty in general—to start paying attention
your church. VKontakte—
to what’s going on. And, they caution, what’s hap-
the Russian equivalent of
pening in Russia could happen elsewhere.
Facebook—can’t be used to
It already is, if you know where to look.
spread anything that might be
THE
considered
“evange-
THE LAW OF THE LAND
lism.” In fact, all religious
In the early summer of 2016, Russia passed a
dialogue has been banned
little-noticed pair of laws broadly billed as “an-
outside of churches and
ti-terrorism” in their nature and intent.
other religious sites.
The laws became known as the Yarovaya Law,
On the street. Online.
BASICS.
Even in your own home.
named for Irina Yarovaya, the hawkish head of the Parliamentary Committee for Security and
This is not the most re-
Anti-Corruption. The laws increased the scope of
cent or even most brazen
Russia’s already vast law enforcement agencies,
of Russia’s recent attempts
expanding their legal surveillance capabilities
to curtail religious freedom within its borders,
and data mining operations.
but it is illustrative of the Kremlin’s new attitude
Those measures were concerning enough,
toward religion. The Russian Orthodox Church
reportedly causing discomfort even among the
is deeply intertwined with Russian identity,
Putin-friendly parliament. But they were able to
closely connected to national politics and given
pass a vote, riding on a wave of national unease
broad legal preference over minority religions
after ISIS downed a Russian commercial plane
in the country. While the Soviet Union famously
over Egypt in 2015.
attempted to stamp religion out completely, Rus-
Tacked onto the Yarovaya Law was the provi-
sian President Vladimir Putin has embraced the
sion against evangelism or “missionary work”
Russian Orthodox Church and, critics say, trans-
outside of specific, designated spaces. The law
formed it into another arm of his infamous pro-
defined missionary activity as: “The activity of
paganda machine.
a religious association, aimed at disseminating
By granting it liberties either restricted or flat-
information about its beliefs among people who
out denied to other religions and sects, there is
are not participants (members, followers) in that
strong suspicion Putin has embraced the state
religious association.”
church solely because he’s able to remake it in his own likeness.
“It would be fair to say that various actors have been seeking for quite a long time to get some
But how did we get here? How did a country
so-called ‘anti-missionary’ package through and
that seemed to be bucking decades of Orwellian
that this turned out to be the convenient way of
control slip back into authoritarianism, and why
pushing it through,” John Kinahan says.
haven’t more churches in the West spoken up on behalf of their fellow Christians abroad?
Kinahan is the chief editor at Forum 18, an organization that monitors religious freedom in
The answers are twisted up in a murky web
countries like Russia, Belarus and some central
of politics, nationalism, Putin’s aforementioned
Asian countries. In his view, the Yarovaya Law is
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RELEVANTMAGAZINE.COM