The Target Europe conference, held in Sofia last month, aimed at spreading Christianity on the continent. But, according to the US State Department, some missionaries have had difficulty in getting visas for Bulgaria.
THE U.S. State Department’s annual 2002 International Religious Freedom Report includes sharp criticism for Bulgaria for withholding registration of certain religious groups.
“The Bulgarian Government restricts religious freedom through a registration process that is selective, slow, and nontransparent,” the report released on September 7 by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour said.
For most registered religious groups (30 denominations) in Bulgaria there were no restrictions on attendance at religious services or on private religious instruction, the report says. The local legislation prohibits the public practice of religion by groups, which are not registered.
“Bulgaria has not fully met all requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,” President Georgi Purvanov said, referring to the completion of cases within a reasonable time frame, which is part of judicial reform, and guarantees for the individual and collective exercise of freedom of religion.
While the observance of religious freedom has improved for some nontraditional groups, other groups have faced official disfavour and been disadvantaged by the Government’s persistent refusal to grant registration.
Purvanov does not accept claims that the application of the European Convention on Human Rights is an obstacle to the effective combating of crime. He said so in his speech at the celebration of the 90th anniversary of Bulgaria’s accession to the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms last week.
“Although partial progress has been made through the introduction of an opportunity to refuse compulsory military service and through some amendments to legislation, there is no modern and democratic legal basis of religious faiths yet,” Purvanov said. The new law on religious faiths should help mend the rift in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, as well as strengthen the role of the traditional religion without introducing discriminatory privileges.
The Bulgarian constitution appoints Eastern Orthodox Christianity as the traditional religion financially supported by the Government. Equal status is given to the Muslim, Roman Catholic, and Jewish faiths, which also are considered traditional.
There is a split within the Bulgarian Orthodox Church between those supporting Patriarch Maxim and the alternative Synod, who view his tenure as illegitimate because he was selected in 1971 under Communist rule. The 1992 schism continued despite attempts by the latest Government to heal the rift. The separation bedevils both efforts to pass new legislation on church-state relations and to resolve outstanding claims relating to formerly Orthodox properties still held by the Government. The Muslim community claims at least 17 properties around the country as well as the Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church, and Methodists. Former Jewish properties mostly have been recovered over the past 10 years, with two exceptions in central Sofia that have not been returned.
The legal requirement that groups whose activities have a religious element must register with the Council of Ministers remained an obstacle to the activity of some religious groups, such as the Unification Church and the Sofia Church of Christ. Other church groups have obtained registration from the national Government, but continued to face some discrimination from many local governments, U.S. State Department experts said. Bourgas, Plovdiv, and Stara Zagora are among the municipalities that have reported the greatest number of complaints of harassment of nontraditional religious groups. The City Council in Bourgas maintained its refusal to register the local branch of Jehovah’s Witnesses, despite the fact that they were registered by the central Government. They asked for proof that they had not been banned in any European Union country in order to be registered. In October 2000, a Government licensing commission denied without explanation approval for a new nondenominational Christian radio station Glas Nadezhda (Voice of Hope), despite the support of the Government’s Directorate of Religious Affairs and the issue is presently before the European Court of Human Rights. Another case of religious obstructionism dates from November 2001 when the city of Kurdzhali refused to issue the Christian Unity Biblical Association a permit for a planned public gathering stating that the evangelical association preached ideas that were alien to local people.
The reports said that obtaining and renewing residence visas in Bulgaria appeared to be subject to the whim of individual authorities. New amendments to the Law on Foreign Persons, from May 1, 2001, have created problems for foreign national missionaries and religious workers. The law has no visa category which explicitly applies to missionaries, or religious workers, and procedures have been tightened in ways that seemed to make it more difficult for religious workers to qualify.
“I have been asked to give bribes and even after doing so I have been refused to be given a visa,” a source involved with the Adventist religious faith, who wanted to remain anonymous, told The Echo.
American evangelical missionaries in Stara Zagora reported confusion and delays in their visa application process from October 2001 to June 2002, including bureaucrats demanding unexpected fees or bribes. Missionaries therefore may have to limit the time and purpose of their visits to the 30 days accorded to tourists. Ahmed Musa, a human rights attorney, asserted that his expulsion was motivated by the desire of the police to seize the assets of a religious foundation.
There was an improvement in the status of respect for religious freedom, and Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg ordered the registration of the Church of the Nazarene, a fruit of six years hard efforts by the church, with the support of the US embassy.
Of a population of 7.9 million, according to a 2001 survey by Bulgaria’s National Statistical Institute, about 83.6 percent of citizens are Orthodox Christians and approximately 12.1 percent are Muslims, while the rest include Roman Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Gregorian-Armenian Christians and Unite Catholics. The report also said that missionaries in the country include representatives of evangelical Protestant churches and more than 100 missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons).
The report said that there were disputes within the country’s Muslim community. Most Bulgarian Muslims, the majority of whom are ethnic Turks, practice a moderate form of Sunni Islam. Some are concerned that Muslims of Slavic ethnicity (Pomaks) and Roma Muslims, particularly those living in remote areas, are susceptible to fundamentalist (often referred to locally as Arab or Wahabi) influences associated with foreign funding of mosque construction and the training of imams in Arab countries. Unsubstantiated charges of failing to counteract or even fomenting the spread of Islamic extremism have been levelled at the Chief Mufti by some of his opponents within the Muslim community. Former Chief Mufti Nedim Gendjev wants to implement a $15 million plan to convert members of the Roma community to Islam, it was revealed to The Sofia Echo by sources wishing to remain anonymous.
The Annual Report to Congress on International Religious Freedom describes the status of religious freedom in each foreign country, government policies violating religious belief and practices of groups, religious denominations, and individuals, and US policies to promote religious freedom around the world. It is submitted in compliance with the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.
The US seeks to promote freedom of religion and conscience throughout the world as a fundamental human right and as a source of stability for all countries.
Assist newly formed democracies in implementing freedom of religion and conscience, assist religious and human rights NGOs in promoting religious freedom and identify and denounce regimes that are severe persecutors of their citizens or others on the basis of religious belief. The US Embassy in Bulgaria monitors religious freedom meeting with Orthodox clergy members (from both sides of the schism), the Chief Mufti and other senior Muslim leaders, with religious and lay leaders of the Jewish community, as well as with the leaders of numerous Protestant denominations.
“The Bulgarian Government restricts religious freedom through a registration process that is selective, slow, and nontransparent,” the report released on September 7 by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour said.
For most registered religious groups (30 denominations) in Bulgaria there were no restrictions on attendance at religious services or on private religious instruction, the report says. The local legislation prohibits the public practice of religion by groups, which are not registered.
“Bulgaria has not fully met all requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,” President Georgi Purvanov said, referring to the completion of cases within a reasonable time frame, which is part of judicial reform, and guarantees for the individual and collective exercise of freedom of religion.
While the observance of religious freedom has improved for some nontraditional groups, other groups have faced official disfavour and been disadvantaged by the Government’s persistent refusal to grant registration.
Purvanov does not accept claims that the application of the European Convention on Human Rights is an obstacle to the effective combating of crime. He said so in his speech at the celebration of the 90th anniversary of Bulgaria’s accession to the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms last week.
“Although partial progress has been made through the introduction of an opportunity to refuse compulsory military service and through some amendments to legislation, there is no modern and democratic legal basis of religious faiths yet,” Purvanov said. The new law on religious faiths should help mend the rift in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, as well as strengthen the role of the traditional religion without introducing discriminatory privileges.
The Bulgarian constitution appoints Eastern Orthodox Christianity as the traditional religion financially supported by the Government. Equal status is given to the Muslim, Roman Catholic, and Jewish faiths, which also are considered traditional.
There is a split within the Bulgarian Orthodox Church between those supporting Patriarch Maxim and the alternative Synod, who view his tenure as illegitimate because he was selected in 1971 under Communist rule. The 1992 schism continued despite attempts by the latest Government to heal the rift. The separation bedevils both efforts to pass new legislation on church-state relations and to resolve outstanding claims relating to formerly Orthodox properties still held by the Government. The Muslim community claims at least 17 properties around the country as well as the Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church, and Methodists. Former Jewish properties mostly have been recovered over the past 10 years, with two exceptions in central Sofia that have not been returned.
The legal requirement that groups whose activities have a religious element must register with the Council of Ministers remained an obstacle to the activity of some religious groups, such as the Unification Church and the Sofia Church of Christ. Other church groups have obtained registration from the national Government, but continued to face some discrimination from many local governments, U.S. State Department experts said. Bourgas, Plovdiv, and Stara Zagora are among the municipalities that have reported the greatest number of complaints of harassment of nontraditional religious groups. The City Council in Bourgas maintained its refusal to register the local branch of Jehovah’s Witnesses, despite the fact that they were registered by the central Government. They asked for proof that they had not been banned in any European Union country in order to be registered. In October 2000, a Government licensing commission denied without explanation approval for a new nondenominational Christian radio station Glas Nadezhda (Voice of Hope), despite the support of the Government’s Directorate of Religious Affairs and the issue is presently before the European Court of Human Rights. Another case of religious obstructionism dates from November 2001 when the city of Kurdzhali refused to issue the Christian Unity Biblical Association a permit for a planned public gathering stating that the evangelical association preached ideas that were alien to local people.
The reports said that obtaining and renewing residence visas in Bulgaria appeared to be subject to the whim of individual authorities. New amendments to the Law on Foreign Persons, from May 1, 2001, have created problems for foreign national missionaries and religious workers. The law has no visa category which explicitly applies to missionaries, or religious workers, and procedures have been tightened in ways that seemed to make it more difficult for religious workers to qualify.
“I have been asked to give bribes and even after doing so I have been refused to be given a visa,” a source involved with the Adventist religious faith, who wanted to remain anonymous, told The Echo.
American evangelical missionaries in Stara Zagora reported confusion and delays in their visa application process from October 2001 to June 2002, including bureaucrats demanding unexpected fees or bribes. Missionaries therefore may have to limit the time and purpose of their visits to the 30 days accorded to tourists. Ahmed Musa, a human rights attorney, asserted that his expulsion was motivated by the desire of the police to seize the assets of a religious foundation.
There was an improvement in the status of respect for religious freedom, and Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg ordered the registration of the Church of the Nazarene, a fruit of six years hard efforts by the church, with the support of the US embassy.
Of a population of 7.9 million, according to a 2001 survey by Bulgaria’s National Statistical Institute, about 83.6 percent of citizens are Orthodox Christians and approximately 12.1 percent are Muslims, while the rest include Roman Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Gregorian-Armenian Christians and Unite Catholics. The report also said that missionaries in the country include representatives of evangelical Protestant churches and more than 100 missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons).
The report said that there were disputes within the country’s Muslim community. Most Bulgarian Muslims, the majority of whom are ethnic Turks, practice a moderate form of Sunni Islam. Some are concerned that Muslims of Slavic ethnicity (Pomaks) and Roma Muslims, particularly those living in remote areas, are susceptible to fundamentalist (often referred to locally as Arab or Wahabi) influences associated with foreign funding of mosque construction and the training of imams in Arab countries. Unsubstantiated charges of failing to counteract or even fomenting the spread of Islamic extremism have been levelled at the Chief Mufti by some of his opponents within the Muslim community. Former Chief Mufti Nedim Gendjev wants to implement a $15 million plan to convert members of the Roma community to Islam, it was revealed to The Sofia Echo by sources wishing to remain anonymous.
On a mission
THE Annual Report on International Religious Freedom, issued each September contains an introduction, executive summary, and a chapter describing the status of religious freedom in each of 195 countries throughout the world. Mandated by, and presented to, the U.S. Congress. The designation by the Secretary of State (under authority delegated by the President) of nations guilty of particularly severe violations of religious freedom as “countries of particular concern” under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 and its amendment of 1999, can lead to further action, including economic sanctions, by the US.The Annual Report to Congress on International Religious Freedom describes the status of religious freedom in each foreign country, government policies violating religious belief and practices of groups, religious denominations, and individuals, and US policies to promote religious freedom around the world. It is submitted in compliance with the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.
The US seeks to promote freedom of religion and conscience throughout the world as a fundamental human right and as a source of stability for all countries.
Assist newly formed democracies in implementing freedom of religion and conscience, assist religious and human rights NGOs in promoting religious freedom and identify and denounce regimes that are severe persecutors of their citizens or others on the basis of religious belief. The US Embassy in Bulgaria monitors religious freedom meeting with Orthodox clergy members (from both sides of the schism), the Chief Mufti and other senior Muslim leaders, with religious and lay leaders of the Jewish community, as well as with the leaders of numerous Protestant denominations.
