Documentary disinformation

Persecution | Russia's Orthodox Church spearheads a televised, nationwide smear campaign | Greg Dabel

KRASNODAR, Russia -- When graduate student Dima Belozyorov took a late-night study break from his Russian literature assignment and turned on the television in his Krasnodar apartment, he was aghast to see a documentary disparaging evangelicals. "The program reported the Adventist Church in Krasnodar was printing Satanic Bibles and using human blood for ink," he told WORLD. "They also alleged that the church commits a dozen ritual murders each year."

The television program that aired in Russia's southwestern agricultural region is part of a yearlong, nationwide media campaign sponsored by the Russian Orthodox Church. The pseudo-documentaries are designed to persuade the Russian people that evangelicals are crazed members of heretical "sects." According to Mr. Belozyorov, "Another episode depicted Christians as demented cult members convulsing on the floor and frothing at the mouth."