A report titled “Discrimination and Persecution of Evangelical Christians in Poland” based on examples of the New Covenant Church and Against the Tide TV in Lublin was published yesterday. The report presented specific examples of persecution and discrimination of Protestant Christians by the Polish Government, Department of Justice and other Public Agencies. Among it’s many examples is the burning of the car of Mr. Grzegorz Dolecki, a Christian from the New Covenant Church also associated with the Against the Tide TV. The vehicle was set on fire next to Mr. Dolecki’s home, where little children were present. The report was delivered to the Polish Government, and its English version to USA’s State Department.

ENG The discrimination against and persecution of Evangelical Christians KNP IPP

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The New Covenant Church in Lublin is a Christian church enlisted in the Register of churches and religious associations of the Ministry of Interior and Administration, sec. A, No. 132, operating under the Guarantee of Freedom of Conscience Act of May 17, 1989 (Journal of Laws No. 2017.1153 – June 14, 2017). Theologically, the Church falls within the lines of mainstream Evangelical Protestantism. The Church maintains relationships with Liberty University, the Biblical Counseling Institute, One For Israel, Jews for Jesus and the European Coalition for Israel. The Church also organizes international conferences in collaboration with other ministries such as Answers in Genesis and Creation Today.

Against the Tide TV (further referred to IPP TV – telewizja Idź Pod Prąd) is a Christian television set up by the New Covenant Church in Lublin. It presents the opinions and views of evangelical Christianity in Poland. The television is involved in building a civil society (the Against the Tide Clubs operating in Poland and abroad, among Polish diasporas) and in combating communist influences in Poland and the world. It carries out international campaigns (e.g. a petition to US President Donald Trump to hold the Chinese government accountable for the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, which has obtained 100,000 signatures or #ChristiansForUSA campaign to support President Trump).

IPP TV organizes international conferences with the participation of guests such as: Solomon Yue – a high-ranking American politician, entrepreneur and a senior RNC member, General Robert Spalding – B2 military pilot and former adviser to Donald Trump, Ondřej Kolář – mayor of the largest district of Prague, Jan Jekielek – senior editor of “Epoch Times” New York and host of “American Thought Leaders”, Man-yan Ng – Head of “Epoch Times” Europe.

The television has foreign correspondents, such as pastor Bob Kraft from Hong Kong, editor Hanna Shen – a journalist from Taiwan, editor Eli Barbur – founder of TelAviv Online Portal from Israel, Yvette Malczewska-Höfler from Austria, Katarzyna Wierbol from Canada and Marek Dybacki from New York.

EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS DEPRIVED OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS IN POLAND

Biblical Christians belonging to the New Covenant Church in Lublin, as well as its sympathizers, are subject to religious discrimination from the Polish government, which does not comply with the constitutional and statutory principles, as well as the principles of international law regarding fundamental human and civil rights and freedoms, but condones acts of discrimination and actively combats the members and community of the New Covenant Church in Lublin, by means of the denominational criterion.

Examples of discrimination by state authorities:

  1. A three-time refusal by the Ministry of the Interior and Administration of the Law and Justice party to sign a separate agreement regulating relations between the New Covenant Church in Lublin and the Republic of Poland (two decisions in April 2020 and one in August 2020), although art. 25 sec. 5 of the Constitution explicitly provides such a possibility, stating: ” The relations between the Republic of Poland and other churches and religious organizations shall be determined by statutes adopted pursuant to agreements signed between their appropriate representatives and the Council of Ministers”. Other churches of a similar nature, such as the Baptist Union of Poland in Poland and the Pentecostal Church in Poland, have such agreements.Reference: a copy of a letter from the Ministry of Interior and Administration

    1. The passiveness of the prosecutor’s office and the police in the event of physical attacks against pastors, members, and supporters of the New Covenant Church in Lublin. This applies to cases involving: incinerating a car, damaging the paint of a car, puncturing the inner tubes of the car, unscrewing the screws in the wheels of a car several times, smearing feces on walls of buildings belonging to the New Covenant Church in Lublin. This passivity also manifests in the persistent disregard of punitive threats against Church members.
      All investigations and inquiries carried out by the prosecutor’s office or the police concerning actions against the New Covenant Church in Lublin – including punishable threats (death threats, rape, etc.), anti-Semitism, criminal threats against Jews cooperating with IPP TV, persistent harassment by means of surveillance and denunciations, offensive posters calling for discrimination against public figures (e.g. a policeman) involved in the activities of the New Covenant Church in Lublin – are discontinued, despite the identification of the perpetrators who boast about these acts on the internet. The inaction of the prosecutor’s office and the police creates a feeling of impunity and encourages the escalation of criminal activities against Christians.Both the Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro and Polish President Andrzej Duda were personally informed about this negligence or deliberate discrimination. To our knowledge, they didn’t intervene effectively in the above-mentioned cases of discrimination.
    2. Persistent refusal to present our views in the public media, although such an obligation exists based on Art. 21/1 of the Act of December 29, 1992, on radio and television (Journal of Laws 2020.805, of 05.05.2020), which states: “Public radio and television performs a public mission, offering, on the terms specified in the Act, to all Polish citizens and its individual parts, diversified programs, and other services in the field of information, journalism, culture, entertainment, education, and sport, characterized by pluralism, impartiality, balance and independence, as well as innovation, high quality and integrity of the message”. We regularly send information about various activities and initiatives taken by IPP TV to public broadcasters, such as Telewizja Polska S.A., Polskie Radio S.A., and the governmental Polish Press Agency, but these institutions methodically silence us, although many of our activities are reported by foreign media, e.g. in Hong Kong, USA, Japan or Taiwan.
    3. Civilian Rights Ombudsman Adam Bodnar, willingly intervenes in cases of persecution of LGBT minority groups, but he persistently refused to address the issue of harassment and incitement to hatred against the New Covenant Church in Lublin.
      Reference: letters from the Church and the Ombudsman’s reply.
    4. While consistently silencing the activities of the New Covenant Church in Lublin and IPP TV, the media uses hate speech and hateful campaigns discrediting the Church and IPP TV. As a result, many members and supporters of the Church, as well as their children (in public schools), were harassed. After one publication, the car of one of the pastors of the Church was vandalized the hood of the car read “F*ck sects!” Twice, the public television was called on to stop and apologize for such actions. In response, we received a letter justifying these activities. Due to this persecution, we took legal action against Telewizja Polska S.A.

  1. The prosecutor of the Republic of Poland indicted a Christian (IPP TV viewer), accusing him of “persistently reading the Bible to his child”. According to the prosecutor, it is an act punishable by up to 3 years imprisonment. The case is handled by att. Andrzej Turczyn (for details, please call: +48 502 525 535).
  1. A Christian from the New Covenant Church in Lublin who runs a family orphanage – a family assistant and social probation officer – was informed that due to his change of faith (having left the Catholic Church), he wouldn’t be able to further receive children under his care, although he has previously been awarded by the governor of his province for carrying out the duties entrusted to him.
  1. In May 2015, students (members of the New Covenant Church in Lublin) planned, with the consent of the authorities of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (public university), a debate entitled “Where did we come from?” between creationist professors from British universities and Polish evolutionist scientists. Two weeks before the event, the authorities refused to make the hall at the faculty available, although the organizers had previously received a document confirming the availability of the hall. The university then sued the Christian students for criticizing their authorities.
    Reference: https://idzpodprad.pl/aktualnosci/eunika-chojecka-wygrala-z-umcs/

A factor that may play a role in the persecution of the New Covenant Church in Lublin and IPP TV is the fact that the communist authorities in China expressed disapproval of IPP TV’s anti-communist actions and called for its silencing by means of:

  1. A demand issued by the Global Times, owned by of the Communist Party of China, to restrict the activity of IPP TV (belonging to the New Covenant Church in Lublin), in response to the #SayYesToTaiwan #SayNoToCommunistChina online campaign. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland responded to the above-mentioned statement – October 2018.Reference:

  1. Censorship in the form of the long-term removal of pastor Paweł Chojecki’s Twitter account due to then upcoming 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, on June 4th, 2019, which was commemorated by the Against the Tide TV community throughout Poland, by distributing leaflets and picketing at the embassy and consulates of the People’s Republic of China in Poland.
    Reference:
  1. A physical attack by the Chinese militia on a group of people from the IPP TV community and attempted bribery due to a picket held on Krakowskie Przedmieście in Warsaw in September 2019 opposing the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of communist China and diplomatic relations between the People’s Republic of China and communist Poland.

  1. Text messages sent in Chinese, to IPP TV’s online store mobile number.

The above evidence proves that evangelical Christians in Poland, especially those involved in anti-communist activities, are persecuted and discriminated against both for faith-related reasons (State’s authorities strongly identifying with the Catholic Church; Jarosław Kaczyński, chairman of the ruling Law and Justice party in his speech on May 4, 2019, stated: “Anyone who raises his hand against the [Catholic] Church, wants to destroy it, raises his hand against Poland” and “Every good Pole must know what is the role of the [Catholic] Church, and must know that outside [of the Catholic Church] there is – nihilism”), and by people associated with agents of communist dictatorships, in particular the People’s Republic of China. 

The state authorities of the Third Polish Republic behave passively in the face of these persecutions and are often actively involved in them. This situation shows that religious freedom as well as the protection of freedom in the Third Polish Republic is a fiction, applicable only in theory of constitutional or statutory writings.

Attachments: documents, photos of examples of discrimination by state bodies; photos, articles; complaints.

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