The below is an article reprinted from the Omaha World Herald
on July 15, 1993 in the "World News" section.  Permission was
not given, and the views it represents are not my own.

Russian  Lawmakers Vote  to Ban  Foreign
               Preachers


MOSCOW (AP) -- Lawmakers voted Wednesday
to  ban  foreign    missionaries    from
proselytizing in Russia.   One  critical
lawmaker said the move was aimed at U.S.
evangelist Billy Graham.

The amendment to Russia's law on freedom
of  religion   applies  specifically  to
foreigners  and  bans  missionary  work,
publishing,     business    deals    and
advertising,  the  Interfax  news agency
reported.

The measure, which needs Boris Yeltsin's
approval before  becoming  law, requires
religious  groups to  become  affiliated
with  Russian churches or  organizations
or    to   obtain  state  accreditation,
Interfax said.

"If  you  fail  to  get accreditation...
you  are finished.  Even if God  himself
sent  you   to  Russia,"  the  newspaper
Izvestia said in a commentary Wednesday.

The  Russian  Orthodox    Church,  which
claims more than 60 million believers in
the former Soviet Union, strongly backed
the  move.    The church has  complained
about  the  influx of foreigners seeking
Russian converts.

Missionaries  have  become  increasingly
visible in the former Soviet Union since
the collapse of communism.

American  preachers  such  as  the  Rev.
Robert Schuller, Jimmy Swaggart and  Pat
Robertson    have  appeared  on  Russian
television,  the   Mormon  Church  began
sending missionaries last  year, and the
Rev.    Sun  Myung   Moon's  Unification
Church has conducted regular seminars.

Graham  drew  about  30,000  people   in
Moscow's    Olympic    arena  during  an
American-style  prayer    meeting   last
November.