Among the latest Forum 18 reports of the intensifying persecution of Christians are the following (with the links taking you to Forum 18's detailed stories of each):Government police raided a peaceful home meeting in Azerbaijan where12 children were listening to Bible stories. Police questioned the children, by then crying under the tension and harsh treatment, yet police refused to allow parents to be present or to take their children home. Three Baptists were detained and fined for "illegally spreading Christianity and other faiths". One of the policemen gloated, "We have long been after you and now we've caught you!"
A Belarusian Christian rehabilitation program for alcoholics and drug addicts run by a registered social organization, Cliff House, has been targeted by an ideology official. There have already been two frightening police raids, the latest coming when 5 people were in the house singing Christian songs before drinking tea. Not surprisingly, there has been a chilling effect. "Some people got afraid after the first police visit and stopped coming" said Cliff House's coordinator, Lyudmila Batyuk.
In a revealing example of how the state religion can work as an anvil to the government's hammering other, more authentic Christian congregations, a Russian Orthodox priest recently participated in a raid on a group of Baptists in Uzbekistan. Father Igor Skorik of Almalyk's Assumption of the Mother of God Church pressured Baptists not to attend unregistered worship and to come to his church instead. Church members were arrested, and police claimed Baptists were "at risk of danger in the case of a terrorist act which could be carried out by people in their home".
