Belarus officials: Religion not welcome in public

Belarus officials: Religion not welcome in public

BABRUYSK, Belarus — State authorities have insisted that religious literature was lawfully confiscated from a street library in eastern Belarus.

Babruysk city executive committee Vice Chairman Mikhail Kovalevich said the Baptists had both “ignored” and “violated” the legal procedure for holding religious events by acting without state approval.

“Religious events should be in a house of worship, not on the street,” Kovalevich said about the street evangelism.

The Baptists have been told by the head of the local state Ideology Department that the confiscated literature — including copies of the New Testament — would be sent for expert analysis and might not be returned at all and that a court will soon resolve the issue.

In another recent case, a Baptist in Brest has been fined for leading an unregistered religious organization.

Local Baptists have protested against this, pointing out that, under Articles 18 and 20 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.”