25 Лістапада 2004
Brest region's authorities grant re-registration to 629 out of 652 religious
Thirty-three out of the 652 religious communities have failed to obtain re-
registration in the Brest region, Vasily Marchenko, a departmental head with the Brest regional government, told BelaPAN on Wednesday.
Seventeen communities were liquidated by their founders because of the lack of the required number of members, he said.
Among those re-registered are 320 communities of the Orthodox Church, 142 of the Christians of Evangelical Faith (Pentecostals), 68 of the Evangelical Christian Baptists, 54 of the Roman Catholic
Church, seven of the Full Gospel Christians and three of the New Apostolic Church.
Six Baptist communities failed to get re-registration because their leaders flatly refused to state the communities' addresses in the charters, Mr. Marchenko said. According to him, they claimed that a
community is not a legal entity and the requirement prevents them from preaching the Christ everywhere.
Mr. Marchenko noted that the matter may be settled only in court.
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