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Franklin Graham Will Not Hold Summit in Russia Due to Religious Freedom Restrictions

  • Veronica Neffinger

    Veronica Neffinger wrote her first poem at age seven and went on to study English in college, focusing on 18th century literature. When she is not listening to baseball games, enjoying the…

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  • Updated Aug 04, 2016

The Rev. Franklin Graham has announced that a summit on Christian persecution which was set to take place in Russia next year, will instead take place in the U.S. due to Russia’s new laws restricting religious freedom.

ChristianToday.com reports that Graham has announced the World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians will now be held in Washington, D.C. instead of in Moscow.

"Earlier this year I announced that the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association would hold the World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians – the first event of its kind in Moscow,” Graham wrote on Facebook.

"We were looking forward to this significant event being held in Russia because no one knows modern Christian persecution better than the church that suffered under communist rule,” he continued.

The summit has been moved to the U.S. after Russia recently enacted laws that are supposedly aimed at preventing terrorism, but have had a negative impact on religious freedom.

The laws prevent Christians and those of other religions from evangelizing except in churches and other religious gatherings. Additionally, house churches have been banned.

The Protestant Churches of Russia have called the laws “the most draconian anti-religion bill to be proposed in Russia since Nikita Khrushchev promised to eliminate Christianity in the Soviet Union.”

It appears that the summit on Christian persecution that Graham is organizing is needed now more than ever.

Publication date: August 4, 2016