RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


Varieties of reactions to Putin's law from religious leaders

PROTECTION OF SACRED TEXTS FROM JUDICIAL REVIEW CONFIRMS IN PRACTICE THE SPECIAL STATUS OF TRADITIONAL RELIGIONS OF RUSSIA—CHURCH

Interfax-Religiia, 15 October 2015

 

The Russian Orthodox Church welcomed the draft law introduced by the Russian president into the State Duma, forbidding finding the Bible, Quran, Tanakh, and Kangyur to be extremist texts.

 

"Unquestionably, we welcome this decision inasmuch as for sacred scriptures of the traditional religions of Russia it is very important that the status of traditional be confirmed not only by words and declarations but also on the legislative level," priest Roman Bogdasarov, the secretary of the Inter-religious Council of Russia and vice-chairman of the synod's Department for Relations of Church and Society, told an Interfax-Religiia correspondent.

 

He noted that "immunity for the sacred scriptures of traditional religious of the country at the present time is very pertinent in connection with actions of various provocateurs, including representatives of bodies of governmental administration."

 

"Unfortunately, we often face situations where, out of ignorance or out of lack of sufficient qualifications, believers' feelings are offended because their most treasured spiritual books are subjected to review in court and the statements of prophets and saints become the object of review by district judicial instances," the priest said.

 

Meanwhile, he thinks, today it is "much more important to unite the efforts of religious organizations of the country, government authority, and public forces in the struggle against manifestations of extremism and religious intolerance and in the enlightenment of youth in order to avoid the movement of our young people to the side of the terrorists." (tr. by PDS, posted 16 October 2015)

 

MUFTI TAJUDDIN CALLS PRESIDENT'S INITIATIVE ON JUDICIAL IMMUNITY OF SACRED TEXTS "VERY GREAT STEP"

Sanjay Lama thinks sacred scriptures of traditional religions of Russia are valuable baskets, storing the country's heritage

Interfax-Religiia, 15 October 2015

 

The supreme mufti of the Central Ecclesiastical Board of Muslims of Russia, Talgat Tajuddin, gave a high assessment of the draft law introduced by the Russian president prohibiting finding the Bible, Quran, Tanakh, and Kangyur and quotations from them to be extremist materials.

 

"The initiative of our president, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, on the judicial immunity of sacred scriptures is a very great step, approved not only by believers of the traditional religions, but also by God," the mufti told an Interfax-Religiia correspondent. He pointed out that already for several decades there has existed in Russia a council of heads of religions and confessions in the Russian presidential administration.

 

"We not only talk but we also act. Calm, mutual understanding, and brotherly cooperation constitute a phenomenon not only of the present day but it has been forged for centuries in Russia. Our politicians found the golden rod, but also like flowers, if they are not watered and cleansed of weeds, it may wilt very quickly," T. Tajuddin said, commenting on the legislative step of President V. Putin in the area of protecting sacred texts.

 

In his turn Andrei Balzhirov, a representative of the head of the Buddhist traditional sangha of Russia in Moscow, Sanjay Lama, called the president's initiative "very correct."

 

"The sacred scriptures of the traditional religions of Russia are four valuable baskets in which our spiritual heritage is kept; they are the whales on which Russia stands," A. Balzhirov told the news agency. (tr. by PDS, posted 16 October 2015)

 

JEWS PROPOSE WIDENING BOUNDARIES OF DRAFT LAW FORBIDDING ASSESSMENT OF BIBLE, QURAN, TANAKH, AND KANGYUR IN COURT

Interfax-Religiia, 15 October 2015

 

The Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia [Federatsiia Evreiskikh Obshchin Rossii--FEOR] considers the Russian president's legislative initiative forbidding finding the Bible, Quran, Tanakh, and Kangyur extremist to be insufficient.

 

"The president's draft law is certainly a step toward combating the theatre of the absurd, but we cannot get out of this very theatre until there is removed from this law the spirit of the stupid possibility of nit-picking, and it is made effective in the struggle with extremism," the head of the FEOR department of public relations, Borukh Gorin, told an Interfax-Religiia correspondent.

 

At the same time he emphasized that the protection of the spirit of the new law should be provided by independent specialists, who do not exist in Russia, since experts in the area of theology, as a rule, are representatives of religious communities.

 

B. Gorin also pointed out that in each of the religions, there are several more sacred books than just one scripture, and "when there is a will, it is possible to find extremism in any medieval theological work."

 

"Instead, it is necessary to combat the very legislative spirit of cynicism and attempts to assess ancient texts from positions of the 21st century," the representative of FEOR said, suggesting  that extremism be sought only in modern texts. (tr. by PDS, posted 16 October 2015)


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