[img]https://www.sermonindex.net/images/forum/2004/may/featured_news.gif[/img]AUTHORITIES RAID BAPTIST CHURCH IN UZBEKISTANS CAPITAL CITYPolice in Tashkent, the capital of the Central Asian country of Uzbekistan, raided Bethany Baptist Church during worship on Sunday, Oct. 17, declaring the service to be an illegal religious meeting. Authorities demanded that Pastor Nikolai Shevchenko promise to stop all the churchs activities, but he refused. After confiscating samples of literature found in the church sanctuary and classrooms, the officers left, telling the pastor and eight members that they would be called to answer in court. A member of the Baptist Union, Shevchenkos church has been seeking official registration in vain for the past eight years. Despite a three-year lull in police actions against their activities, the church remains caught in an apparent standoff between local city regulations and the governments restrictive registration laws instituted in 1998.From the news flow at Intercessors Network
_________________Lars Widerberg