BELARUS (ANS) — Belarus has imposed a fine of more than two months average wages on a Baptist who organized choral singing and talked about religious issues outside Ushachi public market. Belarus is located in Eastern Europe, east of Poland. A story by Geraldine Fagan writing for Forum 18 News Service reported that after a plain clothes policeman told a group of Baptists from outside the area to stop, Vladimir Burshtyn replied that they were not disturbing public order. He cited religious freedom guarantees in Belarus’ Constitution, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The fine is, to Forum 18′s knowledge, the highest yet imposed on Baptists for unregistered religious activity. Higher fines have been levied against members of other communities. Forum 18 said that Olga Karchevskaya, an official who witnessed the incident, defended … Read entire article »