US concerned over religious persecution in the occupied territories of Ukraine
On the eve of the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, a roundtable discussion on religious persecution in the occupied territories of Ukraine was held in the building of Congress.
The event was organized with the support of Eurasia Christian mission and the organizers of permanent Round Table on International Religious Freedom, Institute of Religious Freedom.
The meeting was attended by experts and politicians from the Ukraine and the USA, including Congressman Trent Franks of from Arizona, Members of Ukrainian Parliament and German Bundestag, pastors and ministers of the Evangelical Churches of Ukraine, Central Asia and the USA.
Oleksandr Zayets, Chairman of the Institute of Religious Freedom shared his impressions: “The fact of a round table discussion on restraint of religious freedom and the denial of the rights of believers in the Crimea and certain territories of Donbas controlled by militants, shows that these issues will be given attention and support at the international level.”
During his speech, head of the Institute for Religious Freedom cited facts motivated persecution of believers by separatists in eastern Ukraine, and explained what problems faced Ukrainian churches in occupied Crimea.
“For the first time, the issue of restricting religious freedom, violence and murder towards the religious groups in the occupied territories of Ukraine was raised at a representative level,” said MP Pavlo Ungurian, a minister of the Union of Baptists of Ukraine.
At the same time German Bundestag member pastor Frank Heinrich reminded of the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the EC as of January 29, 2015, on the need to protect Christians in Europe and the Middle East.
“The developments in Ukraine alarmed not only neighboring countries and politicians involved in the conflict, but also the global Christian community. In many discussions the conversation was focused not only on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but also on the conflict between Eurasia and Europe, Russia and the West, Orthodox ‘Russian World’ and ‘secularized Protestant-Catholic civilization’, ‘orthodox values’ and ‘universal human rights,’‘traditional order’ and freedom,” Professor Mykhailo Cherenkov, Vice-President of Spiritual Renewal Association stressed in his report.
The participants of the round table discussion were Ukrainian pastors Ihor Bandura and Petro Dudnyk. The participants carefully studied the situation of the churches and religious activities of believers in the occupied territories of Ukraine, and discussed ways to help Christians in Crimea and Donbas.
At the end of the roundtable recommendations to the UN, OSCE, and US Congress and the Administration of President Barack Obama were adopted. The participants urged Christians all over the world to pray for peace in Ukraine and to support persecuted fellow believers.
