c. 1998 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ An independent Baptist pastor from Oregon has apparently become the first U.S. church worker forced out of Russia since last fall’s passage of a law providing the Russian Orthodox Church with special status while limiting the activities of other religious groups.

The pastor, Dan Pollard, left Russia at the end of March after local authorities in the state of Khabarovsky, in the far east of Russia, withdrew his certification and declined to renew his visa. He has since returned to his home in Salem, Ore.”We were legally there and then they passed this new law and I knew from then on that we could be told to go at any time,”Pollard said Tuesday (April 14) in an interview.

Lawrence A. Uzzell, Moscow representative of the London-based Keston Institute, which monitors religious freedom in Russia, said Pollard appears to be the first American church worker to be forced out since passage of the new Russian law limiting religious expression.

The law was designed to protect the Russian Orthodox Church from losing members to religious organizations _ including other Christian groups _ considered foreign by Russian authorities. Among the law’s provisions are restrictions on owning property and conducting worship services by religious groups with less than 15 years of official recognition in Russia.

Since its passage, the law has been unevenly enforced, with local authorities interpreting the measure as they see fit, said Uzzell.

During a just-completed trip to Russia, Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., pleaded Pollard’s case to officials. Smith, chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on European affairs, said Pollard’s case and other instances of what he termed religious discrimination under the new law could jeopardize U.S. economic aid to Moscow. He cited the closing of a Lutheran church in Siberia as another example of a religious discrimination case.

Last year, Congress approved legislation barring about $200,000 in aid from going to Russia unless President Clinton certifies this May that Moscow is not condoning religious persecution.

Pollard, 52, who is affiliated with the Cleveland-based Baptist Mid-Missions, led a congregation of less than 100 people he started about five years ago in the Russian Pacific coast seaport of Vanino.

Mary Amesbury, another missionary associated with the Cleveland organization, remains at the Vanino church, said William Smallman, Baptist Mid-Missions vice president.

However, Pollard said he expects Amesbury, who is from Seattle, also will be forced to leave Russia when her visa expires.”Viktor Nikulnikov (a Khabarovsky official who deals with religious affairs) told me he wants all foreign missionaries out,”said Pollard.

Uzzell said Pollard was forced to leave Russia”because he refused to compromise in the way that some other foreign church officials have in order to be allowed to remain in Russia.” Uzzell said that had Pollard agreed to put a Russian pastor in charge of his congregation and had he affiliated with a Russian church agency he might have been allowed to stay.

However, Pollard said he considered such compromises”an attempt to push us into the same mode that the communists did by getting you into a position where they can control you.” He also cited doctrinal reasons for not joining the Russian Union of Evangelical Christian Baptists. The union, he said,”was not purely Baptist”because it accepted such Pentecostal practices as healing through the laying on of hands and speaking in tongues.

Baptist Mid-Missions supports about 1,200 missionaries in about 50 nations, according to Smallman, who said Pollard’s case marked the first time the organization had run afoul of authorities in Russia.

DEA END RIFKIN