{"id":3608,"date":"2025-12-17T09:21:45","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T10:21:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/?p=3608"},"modified":"2025-12-19T13:48:31","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T13:48:31","slug":"eu-nation-disrupting-normal-religious-life-un-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/17\/eu-nation-disrupting-normal-religious-life-un-experts\/","title":{"rendered":"EU nation \u2018disrupting normal religious life\u2019 \u2013 UN experts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The Estonian government is creating an \u201cadversarial environment\u201d for the country\u2019s largest denomination, a panel has warned<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Estonian authorities are undermining religious freedoms by fostering an <em>\u201cadversarial environment\u201d<\/em> for the country\u2019s largest church community because of its spiritual ties to Russia, a panel of experts advising the UN Human Rights Council has warned.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement issued on Monday, the experts criticized Tallinn\u2019s approach toward the Estonian Orthodox Christian Church (EOCC), which maintains canonical links with the Russian Orthodox Church. They pointed to a series of administrative actions, a court decision that stripped the EOCC of state funding on security grounds, and a proposed legislative amendment that the panel said would <em>\u201cdisproportionately affect a single religious community.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cCanonical identity, ecclesiastical hierarchy and spiritual allegiance are integral components of the freedom of religion and are fully protected under international law,\u201d<\/em> the three-member panel emphasized.<\/p>\n<p>The experts highlighted as particularly troubling a bill being advanced in the Estonian parliament despite objections from President Alar Karis. He has argued that the proposed ban on religious organizations accused of links to a foreign entity labeled a security threat by the government would violate the constitution.<\/p>\n<p>\n        <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/russia\/624890-estonia-orthodox-church-law\/\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n            <span>READ MORE: <\/span>Baltic parliament defies president<br \/>\n        <\/a>\n    <\/p>\n<p>The panel also condemned refusals to grant rent agreements and residency permits to clergy, stating: <em>\u201cSuch actions disrupt normal religious life and may undermine the autonomy that should be granted under freedom of religion or belief.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Moscow has long accused Estonia of pursuing discriminatory policies allegedly driven by entrenched Russophobia. The Estonian Orthodox Christian Church includes both ethnic Estonians and members of the country\u2019s sizable Russian-speaking minority among its faithful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Estonian government is creating an \u201cadversarial environment\u201d for the country\u2019s largest denomination, a panel has warned Estonian authorities are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3608"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3608"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3609,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3608\/revisions\/3609"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}