The Baltic states, Georgia, and Ukraine, among a number of other countries, have joined the US-created alliance of religious freedoms, said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a statement.
“The establishment of the alliance is the first example in history when an international coalition meets at the level of national leaders to promote the issue of religious freedoms around the world,” said Pompeo. According to him, the participants adopted a declaration of principles and intend to combat the violation of religious freedom.
The new alliance, in addition to the United States, included Austria, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Brazil, Great Britain, Hungary, Gambia, Greece, Georgia, Israel, Kosovo (recognised by a number of countries), Colombia, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Togo, Ukraine, Croatia, and the Czech Republic.
Donald Trump’s administration relies, among other things, on the support of conservative American Christian voters. The administration understands religious freedoms as primarily the right of religious organisations to teach holy scripture in schools and not to recognise some public institutions legitimised in the United States, such as same-sex marriage. The administration also states the need to protect religious minorities, especially Christians, around the world and in particular in the Middle East and the People’s Republic of China.
This situation is actually much more powerful than tomos, schmomos, and other stuff.
Here is the point: the US is doing some kind of association of countries and religious organisations in order to obtain rights to regulate religious life. What does it mean? Exactly that secular people with obscure religious beliefs and moral concepts intend to decide which religious structure or state require support, and which should be suppressed as an aggressor. Here is a good example for understanding the situation. It is necessary, for example, to suppress or destroy some Church: secret agents create a schismatic formation on its territory. After that, they complain that in the Church they are called schismatics, and in the state they are not properly treated. The US then holds a vote or simply a decision is made by the alliance leadership that the religious freedom of a group of people is being suppressed. And after that, in a voluntarily/forcible way, an order is given to all members of the alliance’s management center that such a Church violates the rights and freedoms of believers and that there is a need to provide support to the freedom-loving schismatics.
Now imagine for a moment that since it is a secular structure, what decisions will be taken if the leadership of this alliance includes a man who hates some Church or Christianity in general.
In fact, even saying that salvation is only in the Church, not in schisms and heresies, can be considered as discrimination and suppression of the consciousness of believers. Simply put, with this structure it is possible to do anything, including to exert enormous pressure on the Church. And I have no doubt that this is what it will lead to – because the US has realised that it needs not only puppet rulers, but also puppet church structures, and therefore they act on the same pattern – let us fight for freedom and democracy (but now also in the church space).
Alipiy Svetlichny
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