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This is What It’s Like to Be a Jehovah’s Witness in Russia

Jehovah Witnesses Russia

Russian Jehovah’s Witnesses struggle to keep their faith and worship.

The current Russia ruled by Putin is an Orthodox-based state. This has brought about the banning of certain religious groups such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ since according to the banning passed by the Supreme Court, the religious movement is actually considered a group of religious “extremists” the same name given to ISIS members as well as the neo-Nazis.

This is What It’s Like to Be a Jehovah’s Witness in Russia[/tweetthis]

This has been a challenge for worshipers of Jehovah as they have not been able to worship their God in peace. Having to undergo different challenges such as police brutality, raiding of Kingdom Halls as well as private homes, injustice, among many other vices done to the group. Appeals to try to counteract the law have all been rejected hence leading to the continuation of state sponsored persecution of the so-called-foreign-influenced religion.

As the saying goes, history repeats itself. Jehovah’s Witnesses’ have been under attack for decades. The situation has become worse under Putin as it just reminds the state of the worst days of Stalinism except that during Stalin’s era, the dispute was between the secularists and Jehovah’s Witnesses while today the threat is normally between the Russian Orthodox and the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Strategies Put in Place for Keeping the Faith and Worshiping

As much as the government might have outlawed the religious movement, they have found a loophole around the system and it has ended up working for most if not all the time.

Some loopholes the believers were able to come up with include:

Effects of the Persecution

As much as there has been a lot of persecution among the worshipers of the Jehovah’s Witness, this has just made them more resilient, and they still are sharing the gospel with other individuals through proselytizing. They believe that if they were able to survive during different reigns of different leaders such as Hitler, Stalin, The Gulags as well as Siberia, then there is a God.

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