Missionaries Face Fines for Sharing Their Faith

Ordinary believers face fines for sharing their faith with strangers in the metro or on the street under amendments drafted by the Justice Ministry that are stirring worries among Protestant groups about a clampdown on religious freedom.

Under the proposed changes to the Law on Religious Activity, only leaders of registered religious groups and their officially authorized missionaries would be allowed to pass out religious literature, preach and talk about their faith in public, according to a draft of the amendments published in Kommersant on Wednesday.

Anyone else who shares their faith would face a fine of 2,000 rubles to 5,000 rubles ($65 to $170) for individuals and 5,000 rubles to 7,000 rubles ($170 to $230) for legal entities.

Currently, no permits are required for missionary activities.

The amendments are expected to benefit the dominant Russian Orthodox Church, which rarely engages in missionary work, to the detriment of other Christian groups, which it regularly accuses of poaching believers.

Some Protestant groups said Wednesday that the amendments were a violation of Jesus’ call in Matthew 28:19 to “go and make disciples of all nations.”

“Missionary activity is part of the Christian religion, and these proposals target not only our church but the Christian religion itself,” said Elder Mikhail Fadin of the Moscow Central Church of Evangelical Christians-Baptists.

He said it would be “unrealistic to issue permits to preach” and the amendments contradicted the Constitution, which guarantees religious freedom.

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