PICKETS AT CHURCH OF CHRIST THE SAVIOR
Christians in defense of freedom of conscience
by Maria Ryabikova
Sota.Vision Moscow, 8 September 2018
Today, 8 September, the interconfessional movement "Christian Action," which opposes repression from Christian positions, conducted a series of solitary pickets at the church of Christ the Savior in defense of freedom of conscience—specifically it is against criminal prosecution of atheists "for hurting believers' feelings" and the prosecution of Jehovah's Witnesses for meeting together.
Recently, in many cities, there have occurred mass arrests of Jehovah's Witnesses, in violation of all possible norms: doors smashed unnecessarily, people beaten. . . . On the other hand, in Barnaul three criminal cases were begun for reposting of pictures, and a fourth is being worked up.
Who else should speak out for freedom of conscience, if not Christians—Orthodox, Catholics, and protestants, who in the very recent past were themselves being persecuted?
As has now become tradition, our action consisted of three parts: we began with joint prayers for political prisoners and the ceasing of repressions and torture in Russia; then we wrote letters and postcards to prisoners at the Main Post Office; and the third stage was pickets, to which we also went together.
In planning the event we forgot that the day selected falls on the "Day of the City." Therefore, the context turned out to be unusual. Loud music—from military, patriotic, and soviet songs to opera arias—created a strange backdrop.
People reacted differently. There were both an aggressive hysterical reaction, and simple curiosity, and photos on telephones. And the text of our placards also varied: both protest against prosecution of people for their convictions and biblical quotations.
A first policeman approached us as soon as Evgeny Mishchenko stood up with a "biblical" placard; he did not understand anything, but he made no charges and even suggested that we contact him if there were any problems. That is, he behaved just as a policeman was supposed to conduct himself.
Another policeman approached me along with a plain-clothes person while I was holding a poster pertaining to the criminal cases for reposting in Barnaul. He called this poster provocative. Since the policeman did not have documents with his photograph, I refused to show him my documents, after which other guardians of public order came running to our protest.
We had already been standing for an hour and a half and therefore we did not want to tempt fate any further and after talking a bit with the policemen about the topic of our pickets, we ended them.
Thanks to all who came and to the journalists who supported us! It is very important that the topic of freedom of conscience resound from Christian positions. (tr. by PDS, posted 12 September 2018)
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