Baptists in the U.S.S.R. Some Facts and Hopes, J. H. RUSHBROOKE, 1943

hed pacifist tendencies — one recalls the teachings of Leo Tolstoy — became strong and passionate con¬ victions. The recoil from war was decisive, and nowhere stronger than among the Baptists. Some of their leaders became outspoken and aggressive opponents of military service in every form, and laboured to commit the denomination to the unqualified assertion that no Christian may lawfully bear arms. This upsurge of feeling coincided with the first steps in the organisation of the Red Army — an indispensable instru¬ ment for the defence of the Revolution. Soviet officials found it difficult to believe in the sincerity of those who just at that time declared a conscientious objection, and refused to be con¬ scripted. “ Baptists served in the army of the Tsar ; they refuse to serve in the army of the people.” However honest the plea that the change of view applied to war in general, the suspicion of counter-revolutionary feelings persisted. Scores of young men were shot for refusing to enlist; but within a comparatively short time the regulations were 10 relaxed, and a certificate of conscientious belief signed by the responsible officials of a religious body was accepted as a ground for permitting alternative service.^ For their part, the Baptists refused to admit into fellowship, except after ex¬ tended probation, young men liable to a call-up ; they took this decision in order to exclude any persons who might offer an insincere religious profession whilst in fact seeking to evade their legal responsibilities. Russian Baptist Statement (June, 1928). Both groups of Baptists having, after some internal strain, expressly repudiated anti¬ militarism as an element of their generally accepted doctrine, continued their work with¬ out serious disturbance until the close of the year 1928 and the opening months of 1929. In June, 1928, delegates of the two Unions were permitted to attend the Baptist World Congress in Toronto, where the Baptist leader P. V. Ivanoff-Klishnikoff was able to say to the assembly : ® “ The constitution of our country decrees and realises in practice the complete separation of the Church from the State — a principle of peculiar value for Baptists at all times. Further, in accordance with the Constitution of the Soviet Republic, every citizen can propagate any religion. Religious freedom and anti-religious propaganda is the right of all 5 A Minute of the Baptist World Congress in Stockholm, following the text of a resolution on International Peace, indicates the position in June, 1923. (See the Official Report, pp. xxx-xxxi