dsg@mhuxi.UUCP (David S. Green) (10/08/84)
[golem, golem, golem] This article by Kevin Freeman ( Jewish Telegraphic Agency?) appeared in last week's Jewish Press. ___________________________________________________________________ The Rev. Billy Graham, back from a 12-day tour of the Soviet Union, said oppression of Soviet Jews has lessened in recent years when compared to the period immediately following the Bolshevik Revolution and the years of the Stalin regime. Since the Leonid Brezhnev regime in the '70s, Graham said, "there seems to be far less oppression" of religious freedoms in the Soviet Union. He added that this "trend which started under Brezhnev seems to be continuing." Asked whether he felt that oppression of the Soviet Jewish Community has decreased since Brezhnev's era, Graham said: "I don't know if there is more oppression or not in the Jewish community." When he returned from a trip to the USSR in 1982, Graham caused controversy when he indicated that he thought there was a "measure of religious freedom" in the Soviet Union, a position disputed by many. Graham said his recent tour of the Soviet Union was at the invitation of the Russian Orthodox Church and the All-Union Council of the Evangelical Baptists of the U.S., which includes a number of denominations other than Baptists. The visit was sanctioned by the Soviet Government, he said. "I talked with Soviet officials about the possibilities for more Jews to emigrate as the number has decreased in the last two years," he said. Graham said he raised matters of concern to the Christian and Jewish community in private meetings with Soviet officials. He said he would not elaborate. Soviet Jewish activist groups here and abroad have persistently pointed to stepped-up harrassment and persecution of Soviet Jews. Emigration for Soviet Jews has reached its lowest levels since the mid-1970s, with little indication of the emigration doors being opened to Jews. Graham said that in addition to visisting the two synagogues in Moscow and Leningrad, he attempted to visit synagogues in the Siberian community of Novosibirsk and also in Tallin. He said he was told by officials they did not know of any Jews living there or of any synagogue. On the plane back to the U.S., Graham recounted, and unidentified passenger told him that there were in fact Jews who resided in Novosibirsk, many of them Soviet Scientists. __________________________________________________________________ No comment. Shalom(Peace), David S. Green ..mhuxi!dsg phone 201-564-4468