Free Pastor Balayev
July 24, 2007
Ethics Daily reports
The leader of Baptists in the central Asian republic of Azerbaijan has requested international support for a pastor arrested during a worship service May 20. Zaur Balayev, 44, is being held on charges of “violent resistance” of arrest. Authorities say Balayev, described by acquaintances as a “thin” man, beat up five policemen and damaged a police car during his arrest. … Tony Peck, general secretary of the European Baptist Federation, called on the 800,000 Baptists of Europe to protest the arrest. He suggested that each EBF member body address Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, requesting that he enforce justice and religious liberty in his country.
Peck is right to urge Europeans to take action and get involved in this case. But Europeans aren’t the only ones who should. Christians everywhere need to write the address above and urge the government to free the Pastor who has been so wrongly accused. And Baptists in particular should take a moment and do so. Come on, folks, it won’t take but a moment to write and say “As persons concerned with the fate of a fellow Christian, we urge you, sir, to order the release of Pastor Balayev.”
