(Jewish Telegraphic Agency Mail Service)
Dr. J. H. Rushbrooke, President of the Baptist Union, who has just returned to London after an interview at Bucharest with General Averescu, the Prime Minister of Roumania, has informed the “Daily News” that the Government has made important concessions respecting the treatment that Baptists have received in Roumania. He found a resolute attitude of opposition to the freedom of Baptist preachers.
The Prime Minister, according to Dr. Rushbrooke, “said with regard to the Baptist Churches in Roumania which had been closed by the authorites, that this action was illegal. The forbidding of Baptist conferences by the Ministry of Worship was not right and its consent to hold the conference was not required. Nothing more was necessary than to give reasonable notice beforehand to the Ministry of the intention to hold a conference.
Regarding the operation of the ministerial edict which made it illegal for Baptist preachers to visit their outlying stations, the Prime Minister, said Dr. Rushbrooke, had promised to confer with the Minister of Worship on the subject. On the main issue as to the liberty of Baptist preachers in Roumania, the Prime Minister had sought to justify the Government’s position by urging the exceptional conditions of Roumania–exposed to Bolshevistic and subversive intrigue of every kind.
The Baptist World Alliance has already determined on a world protest, added Dr. Rushbrooke, and the question now arises whether there is any adequate reason for holding back from this step.
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