Heavy Pressure Forces Postponement of Building Church

(Forum 18) – Soon after news emerged that an ethnic Macedonian association had bought a plot of land in Novi Sad to build Serbia ‘s first Macedonian Orthodox church, religion minister Milan Radulovic declared publicly that the state has a duty to prevent the building of the church. “Radulovic’s statements deny us one of our most basic rights – the right to freedom of confession,” Dragan Veljkovski, president of the Association of Macedonians in Vojvodina which bought the site, told Forum 18 News Service. He complained of “very heavy pressure” since the news became public which has led to the building plans being postponed. Macedonians contrast the Serbian government’s strong defence of the persecuted Serbian Orthodox Church in neighbouring Macedonia with its moves to restrict non-Serbian Orthodox jurisdictions at home.