Salvation Army ousted

Aid programs shut down in Moscow

CW Staff
— Moscow —

The Salvation Army in Moscow faces the same problem as many of the poor it endeavours to help—homelessness.

The Army was forced to shut down a food program and evicted from a church building and administrative offices as the December 31 deadline for re-registration with the Moscow government passed, says Kenneth Baillie, head of the Army's CIS/Russia command.

One congregation of about 60 was told they could no longer rent the building where they meet. "That corps was told December 31 that they should not come back the following Sunday," says Baillie in an on-line interview with CW. "I happened to be there as that is where my wife and I worship when we are in the city. It was very sad for the congregation."

In a similar situation, a landlord at the administrative offices gave the Army notice of eviction with just 10 days notice. "The landlord insisted we had to move out by year end," says Baillie. "But there was no where else to go. What were we to do—stack the desks and files outside in the snow? Our people are still there, pleading for the landlord's understanding, but we don’t know what will happen next."

In another Moscow neighbourhood, the Army was forced to shut down a social program providing hot meals for the elderly. "The social service person called to say that because of the lack of registration she could not cooperate with us any longer," says

Baillie. Ministries to prisoners, drug and alcohol addicts, neglected children and AIDS sufferers might also be shut down.
The re-registration law passed by the Russian government in 1997 requires all religious groups in the country less than 15 years to re-register. If an organization is not registered, it could be dissolved, lose its rights to meet in public, own property or distribute materials.

According to the Keston Institute, a British organization monitoring religious freedom in the former Soviet Union, the majority of religious organizations in Russia have successfully re-registered. Initial refusal was given to the Jehovah's Witnesses and Seventh Day Adventists, but granted once they amended their charters.

The Salvation Army's bid to register in Moscow, however, was repeatedly turned down, although it has been registered since 1992 and successfully re-registered in the other Russian cities.

Some people are very concerned for the future, says Baillie. “Those who are our officers and employees are afraid for their livelihoods; they've given up former careers to do Christian ministry, and they fear sudden unemployment. But there are others who just shrug their shoulders and say etah Rosseeya —'that's Russia', by which they mean that strange twists of injustice are not particularly surprising, and that in time someone will find a way through the problem."

The Army has applied for country-wide registration as a Centralized Religious Organization (CRO) and is seeing favourable progress there, says Baillie. "The national Ministry of Justice people have been positive and professional in their dealings with us, and we have hopes that our CRO will be granted soon. If so, we will go back to Moscow with CRO in hand and ask for reconsideration."