Spiritual opposition seeks changes

“Freedom of conscience and religion” – this issue was discussed in the Belarusian People’s Front (BPF) office. Those who are convinced that these principles are violated in Belarus took part in the discussion. An address to authorities was written afterwards.

Leader of the movement “For Freedom!” Aliaksandar Milinkevich who opened the discussion said there was no time left and it was necessary to fight for the human dignity in the current unfavorable situation, “Deutsche Welle” reports.

Laws must be changed

In this regard Milinkevich offered well-known people, religious figures in particular, to sign a special address to authorities. The address contains an appeal to bring the “Law on freedom of conscience and religious organizations” and other standard acts to conformity with international legal norms and the Belarusian Constitution. Moreover, the executive power is urged not to interfere with the activity of religious organizations. Otherwise, as Milinkevich emphasized, “We claim the right to fight for our rights will all legal means. And to my mind, the legal means don’t include only addresses. These are meetings, demonstrations, and pickets.”

Devil and details

If you say that believers’’ rights are breached in Belarus, you will anger any official who will show your churches that are being constructed. Most of the churches belong to the Russian Orthodox Church. But as surveys show, the majority of the Belarusian nation is Orthodox, the official will remark. If you say that it is prohibited to pray in a group of more than two without a state authorization, the official will reply: “bless you, no! We protect our citizens from destructive sects and dangerous cults.” Indeed. But the devil is known to hide in details. According to lawyer Dzina Shautsova, we\re now facing the situation when the freedom of conscience and religion is limited at the legislative level:

“Even registered religious organizations cannot gather in rented premises without official authorization. The development of organizations, new religions particularly, is also restricted as it is prohibited to carry out their activity outside their territory. We have faced mass deportation of foreign priests with no particular reason.”

Civil actions way

Having cited numerous examples, Dzina Shautsova summed up saying the Constitution is violated together with the international agreements. Nevertheless, as Shautsova remarked, it is impossible to influence the authorities legally; hence, there is only one way left – civil actions.

Lawyer of the Protestant Church “New Life” Siargey Lukanin brings collection of signatures against the present law “On freedom of conscience and religion” as an example of these actions.

“More than 37 thousand signatures have been collected. We have no doubts that we’ll get 50 thousand or even more. Our bishop has met with representatives of various official institutions who repeated all the time: please, stop collecting signatures, please, don’t do that. They seem to have no more arguments.”

Mentality must be changed

Nevertheless, the participants of the discussion made it clear that the main reason for resistance of the authorities is their fear of changes and spiritual opposition. Pastor of the Church “New Life” Viachaslau Gancharenka emphasized:

“Only the one who comprehends what spiritual struggle is can operate in the world of spirit. Those who have faith perceive this struggle. And our prayers release different atmosphere. They release the ways that changes come.”

Gancharenka recalled prophet Moses who led his people in the desert for 40 years till those who remembered slavery died. The contemporary believers whose role is to change the mentality of the nation lead democracy and freedom, as the pastor said:

“If a nation with slave mentality is given a brilliant leader, a conflict is inevitable and the people will push the leader down to their level. Hence, in order to achieve global changes in the country, the mentality itself must be changed. And the role of believers, by the way, is very essential in this matter.”