A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 6 Number 42 - Tuesday, October 19th, 2004 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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The Orthodox Christian Laity
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The Orthodox Christian News Service |
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MINSK, Belarus (AP)--Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko lavished praise Monday on the dominant Russian Orthodox Church and accused his opponents of plotting to sow disorder in the former Soviet republic by promoting other faiths. Speaking during a meeting of the Belarusian Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church , Lukashenko said his political opponents and their "foreign accomplices" have sought "to narrow the activity of traditional faiths ... by broadening the presence of various sects and beliefs that are not tradition for our country." "Their aim is to deliver a blow to the most highly valued achievement of our country - sociopolitical stability, peace and order," the authoritarian leader said. "We have common tasks: preventing hatred, conflicts and chaos on Belarusian land," he said, adding that he was confident "the authorities, the Belarusian people and the Orthodox faith can overcome all temporal difficulties." Lukashenko, who controls parliament, signed a law in 2002 enshrining the Russian Orthodox Church 's dominance and restricting the activities of smaller religious groups. According to government figures, 80% of Belarusians are Orthodox Christians and 14% are Catholics. There are also about 28,000 Jews in the nation of 10 million, which had a much more substantial Jewish minority before the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Lukashenko often accuses foreign and particularly Western forces of interfering in Belarus. First elected in 1994, he has made himself an outcast in the West by stifling dissent and increasing and extending his power through votes derided as unfair. He is holding a referendum Sunday in a bid to abolish term limits and allow him to run for president again in 2006 and beyond.
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