American Baptist leaders in Wisconsin have launched a prayer and social action campaign to support beleaguered faith, humanitarian and LGBTQ groups in the Republic of Georgia.
The effort follows the May passage of a law requiring Georgian organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from outside the country to register as foreign agents and submit to strict government controls. The legislation was modeled after a similar statute in Russia and has sparked concerns the former Soviet Republic is falling further under the sway of its war-waging neighbor.
“The reason we should care about this in the U.S. is that Georgia is in the same place now that Ukraine was about 10 years ago — being pressured by the Russian sphere which is trying to bring it back into their circle of influence rather than EU and NATO,” said Sean Cornell, an ordained minister and office administrator for the American Baptist Churches of Wisconsin.
Sean Cornell (right) preaching on Good Friday at the Arminian Apostolic Cathedral of St. George in Tblisi.
Among the organizations anticipating severe consequences under the law is the Evangelical Christian Baptist Church of Georgia and the Peace Cathedral, the denomination’s mother church in Tbilisi.
Founded originally as First Baptist Church, the cathedral led by Bishop Malkhaz Songulashvili is home to Christian, Jewish and Muslim congregations and is known as a staunch champion of LGBTQ rights and for serving refugees in a nation generally unwelcoming to those populations. The congregation is a formal partner of the Alliance of Baptists and its dedication to interfaith, ecumenical and gender and sexual diversity has won it the moral and financial support of moderate faith groups in the U.S. and Europe.
The cathedral and the handful of other Baptist churches in Georgia fall under the domain of the new law by relying heavily on foreign money to serve Ukrainian refugees, the poor and the marginalized LGBTQ community.
“The reason they need as much support as they do is because they make up a very small percentage of Georgian society and because the wider Georgian cultural context is very monolithic,” said Cornell, adding that nearly 85% of the population is Orthodox Christian.
During an Eastern Holy Week visit to Tbilisi this year, Cornell said he witnessed government crackdowns on Georgians protesting the law and its provisions for surveillance, intimidation and oppression.
Mindi Welton-Mitchell
In response, Cornell and Mindi Welton-Mitchell, executive minister of ABC Wisconsin, issued letters to denominational and church leaders to pray for those affected by the law and to press members of Congress to seek diplomatic actions against Georgia.
“They passed the law. Now we are on the streets, and I don’t know what the next steps are,” Baptist Bishop Rusudan Gotsiridze of Central Georgia said in the letter issued by Cornell. “International support will be crucial now. I don’t know how, I don’t know from which direction this help will come from. … Sanctions, personal sanctions will help (politically), nothing else.”
Bishop Malkhaz Songulashvili cited Martin Luther King Jr.’s concept of the “arc of the moral universe” bending toward justice. “Without it, there is no freedom, no democracy, no appreciation of diversity, no brotherhood and no unity. What is happening now in the capital city and in the whole country of Georgia is indeed the fight for justice.”
Rusudan Gotsiridze
“We call upon our churches as well as partner organizations to raise awareness of the law, and to contact their elected officials about the concerns of citizens in the Republic of Georgia and to support political sanctions against the Georgian government,” Welton-Mitchell’s letter states.
“We publicly support the citizens of the Republic of Georgia in their quest for democracy. We especially support our Baptist siblings and encourage American Baptists to exercise their civic duties in contacting their U.S. senators and representatives to speak on behalf of religious freedom for all.”
The campaign is also intended to support other groups affected by law, including the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church, Jewish synagogues, Sunni and Shia mosques and various humanitarian organizations. The Georgian Orthodox Church is not targeted by the law.
“This isn’t just about Baptists helping Baptists,” Cornell said. “This law impacts other churches, Tbilisi Pride, nonprofits and even media organizations that rely on foreign sources for income. This has serious potential to follow the Russia route and go downhill for humanity as a whole.
“And the prayer part of this is real. This is calling for prayer in a real-world setting, where the rubber is hitting the road.”
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