Forum 18, 10 August 2021 (excerpts)
The Luhansk People’s Republic has added four Christian books to an official list of Extremist Materials.
A court ruled in May that the books were “extremist” and they were therefore banned.
There are now 18 Christian works on the list, including a Russian version of the Gospel of John.
The four books include The Door is Open by nineteenth century Baptist preacher C.H. Spurgeon and Born to Die by US evangelist Billy Graham.
The books were seized from the Council of Baptist Churches in the city of Sverdlovsk.
The books, argued the Prosecutor’s Office, “incite religious discord”, contain “propaganda of exceptionalism, superiority and inadequacy of the individual on the basis of religious adherence or attitude to religion”, and thereby “violate the rights, freedoms and legal interests” of others.
The banning of the books was necessary, it added, for “defending the interests of the younger generation and securing the safety of the Republic”.
The Luhansk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, declared itself independent from Ukraine in 2014.