Russian-occupied Ukraine is a land of modern martyrs, writes Gary Marx, president of Defenders of Faith and Religious Freedom in Ukraine and the former executive director of the Faith and Freedom Coalition.
“In Ukraine, as we speak, the Russian military is imprisoning evangelical pastors, bombing churches, arresting people for praying in public and threatening innocent Ukrainian Christians for their faith,” writes Mr. Marx.
“Ukraine has religious freedom. Russia has a state-controlled religion. In Russia, the Kremlin controls the Russian Orthodox Church and uses it as an arm of its propaganda,” he writes, noting that Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate has called Russia’s attack on Ukraine a “holy war,” which is synonymous with the Muslim concept of jihad.
“Ukrainian Christians simply want to live in a free society and worship God as they see fit, just like American evangelicals,” writes Mr. Marx. “They want to be able to sing hymns, pray in public, hold Bible study groups and preach the Gospel, all of which are illegal now in the Russian-occupied territory of Ukraine.”