July 2009
Russian Experts Examine New Freedom of Conscience Violations
2 July 2009 Moscow, Russia...A conference, “Urgent Problems in Realizing the Freedom of Conscience in Contemporary Russia”, organized jointly by All-Russian Public Organization for Protecting Religious Freedom, IRLA and the Center for Religious Studies of the Russian State Humanitarian University, was held in Moscow on July 2, 2009. Leading experts dealing with religious studies along with representatives of religious organizations took part in this conference. The state employees were also invited to present the viewpoints of their offices.
Having heard and discussed the presentations “The Current Crisis and Its Influence Upon Religious (or Spiritual) Sphere of Russian Society”, “ Conceptual Problems of Relationship Between the State and Religious Associations in the Present-day Russia”, “Religious Radicalism and Xenophobia”, “Legal Nihilism as a Source of the Restrictions on Religious Freedom” and others, the participants agreed on the following:
The most pressing problem in realizing the principle of freedom of conscience in present-day Russia is the necessity to oppose the ongoing violation of this principle at the federal, regional and local level.
The participants in the conference are expressing deep concern about the decision taken by governmental bodies to enlarge the powers vested in the Council of Experts for Religious Studies under the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, and allow this Council to exercise control over the activities of religious associations, which is a crying violation of the Law “On the Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations”. The membership of the Council was radically changed to include mainly the governmental and church functionaries not having any experience of religious studies outside the scope of their own confession, with Mr. Alexander Dvorkin – a person not having a necessary education, who is a staff member of the educational institution governed by a certain religious organization – as a chairman. This decision of the Ministry of Justice clearly demonstrated what kind of policy they would like to pursue and how seriously they took the implementation of the constitutional provisions and the principles of law.
The participants are pointing out the violation of the provisions of the Law “On the Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations” (Article 4, par. 4) that unambiguously forbids governmental officials, persons employed by other public agencies and local authorities, and members of the armed forces, to abuse their office in favoring some or other religious attitude.
The actions of said persons represent actually gross violation of the constitutional provisions, according to which the Russian Federation is considered a secular state, the religious associations being independent of the state and equal before the law.
For instance, the public employees are sometimes decorating their offices with specific religious symbols. On the initiative of some commanding army officers, the priests are consecrating weaponry. From 1990s the religious symbols have been added to various government awards.
The violation of the rights of believers can be illustrated by the following example. In the Belgorod Region, a community of Evangelical Christians-Baptists appealed to the Russian Federation ’s Ombudsman in connection with a ban imposed by regional authorities on the distribution of the Holy Scripture in health-care, educational, penal and other institutions. According to applicants, the administrators of said institutions sometimes suggested them, first of all, to secure consent of the head of regional eparchy of the Russian Orthodox Church. Similar advice was given to members of different confessions and religious organizations in response to their official applications by authorities in other Russian Federation ’s subjects (the presentations contain numerous examples). It should be noted that constitutional rights of believers to dissemination of their religious views have been infringed verbally, thus closing out any chance of appeal.
No less urgent a problem in realizing the principles of the freedom of conscience in contemporary Russia is the classification of religions as “traditional” and “non-traditional”, called forth by wrong interpretation of the preamble to the Federal Law “On the Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations”, in which the religions “that are constituting the inalienable part of the historical heritage of Russia’s people”, are listed. Consequently, the concept of “non-traditional religion” has been arbitrarily identified with the concept of “sect”, the latter being a nonlegal term that has a clearly negative connotation. Without relying on the Russian Constitution or the current laws, the standard regulations and press releases of the state and local authorities are sprinkled with such terms as “sect”, “destructive cult”, or “adepts”, which are arbitrarily and maliciously applied to characterize certain confessions, thus having the most unfavorable consequences for the affected religious organizations.
The participants in the conference are calling on the responsible politicians and religious leaders in Russia to eliminate numerous breaches of the constitutional principles in state-confessional relations that are threatening the peace in Russian society. There is a pressing need to return to the observance of the Constitution, national laws and international commitments of the Russian Federation .
[Vladimir Iyevenko, ESD Secretariat Translator]
First Religious Liberty Festival in Jerusalem Draws Hundreds
Freedom of belief experts address diversity, discrimination in region
28 Jul 2009, Jerusalem, Israel...Hundreds of religious liberty proponents from Israel and the Palestinian Territories gathered in Jerusalem Sunday for the symbolic city's first festival of religious freedom.
The event generated a "climate of good understanding" among attendees that organizers hope will spur increased tolerance in the region, said John Graz, secretary-general for the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA), which sponsors festivals worldwide to encourage freedoms of religion.
Hosting the event in a city holy to three major world faiths -- Judaism, Islam and Christianity -- was particularly significant, said Graz, who also directs the Seventh-day Adventist Church's department of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty (PARL).
Left to right: Dr. Eugene Hsu King-Yi, Vice-President of the International Religious Liberty Association; Dr. John Graz, Secretary-General of the International Religious Liberty Association; Pastor Richard Elofer, President of the International Religious Liberty Association in Israel; Rabbi Ya’acov Lebeau, Director of the Fushberg Center for Conservative Judaism in Israel; and Pastor Harald Wollan, General Secretary of the European office of the International Religious Liberty Association.
While Christians enjoy broad freedoms and are allowed to conduct outreach on a limited basis in largely Orthodox Jewish Israel, treatment of Muslims is a subject of international controversy, according to the Religious Freedom World Report, a PARL publication.
Conservative Jews, who embrace a non-fundamentalist interpretation of the Jewish faith, also face hurdles to religious freedom, said Rabbi Yaacov Lebeau, who spoke at the event. Because of the dominance of Orthodox Judaism, weddings and other ceremonies conducted in Conservative synagogues are not fully recognized, he said.
"It could be very easy to be influenced by extremist groups and fall into exclusivism," said Richard Elofer, president of the International Religious Liberty Association in Israel. "Given the 'multi-cultural and multi-region' makeup of Israel, defending inclusive freedoms is a priority to ensure that doesn't happen", he added.
The International Religious Liberty Association in Israel (Haamutah Habenleumit Lechirut Hadat BeIsrael)was established in 1998 at the time of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Its objective is to promote, defend and protect religious liberty in Israel.
Some 300 religious liberty advocates from Jewish and Christian communities attended the event. [ANN & IRLA Staff]