Adapting to change: LDS missionaries will be called 'volunteers' in Russia

[uhnope]

Source: AP

Mormon missionaries in Russia will now be known as “volunteers” to comply with a new anti-terrorism law that puts restrictions on religious practices.

Eric Hawkins, a spokesman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said Tuesday that the change is the first step as leaders determine how to keep several hundred missionaries there while obeying a law Russian President Vladimir Putin signed earlier this month. Hawkins says an email is being sent to parents and relatives of missionaries in Russia informing them of the change.

In a statement issued July 8, the LDS Church said that missionaries will respect the measure that Putin signed into law. “The church will honor, sustain and obey the law,” the statement reads. “The church will further study and analyze the law and its impact as it goes into effect.”

The rules, which took effect Wednesday, dictate that religious work can only be done in houses of worship and other related religious sites. Critics say this aspect is way too restrictive. It would mean no Mormons could share their faith online or in a home to which they have been invited, both common practices for LDS missionaries worldwide. Missionary workers in Russia will now be working under more stringent rules. They include a requirement that missionary work be done by people affiliated with registered organizations. Missionaries and organizations caught praying and disseminating materials in private residences could be subject to fines. They range from $780 per missionary and $15,500 for an organization.

Read more: http://news.hjnews.com/ap/international/adapting-to-change-lds-missionaries-will-be-called-volunteers-in/article_bc219108-d170-50f4-a04e-ad702d6c5764.html

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This article is Mormon-centric but the new law provides another way for the Putin regime to shut people up and throw them into prison--but it won't happen to Putin's allies in the Russian Orthodox church:

The legislation, signed into law earlier this month by Russian President Vladimir Putin, had already drawn scorn from critics in and outside of Russia.

Known as the "Yarovaya Law," the measure includes new police and counterterrorism measures that directly echo the sweeping powers wielded by the KGB to stifle dissent and repress opposition activists throughout the Soviet era.

But one largely overlooked aspect of the law is garnering new scrutiny and worry: tight restrictions on the activities of religious groups, particularly smaller denominations.

The new restrictions "will make it easier for Russian authorities to repress religious communities, stifle peaceful dissent, and detain and imprison people," said Thomas J. Reese, who heads the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a federal government agency that monitors religious expression around the world. "Neither these measures nor the currently existing antiextremism law meet international human rights and religious freedom standards," he said in statement released last week.

http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-yarovaya-law-religious-freedom-restrictions/27852531.html

[rpannier]

1. Not surprised about the Russian Orthodox Church

That's Putin's base
My sister-in-law's mother lives near Moscow, is very Orthodox and she loves Putin

[newthinking]

2. Our concept of missionary is foreign to them. R. Orthodox create new churches

they don't generally do "home evangelism".

I think this is primarily about restricting jihadists cells. They have a much larger population and much larger potential of home based cells as they have a far larger population of Muslims.

So missionaries will need to teach in a group setting and likely they have informants who watch for extremism (as we do).

We live in a period when all countries are scaling back civil liberties. We need to get at the root of the problems.