RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


Duma deputy defends Orthodox bishop against Jehovah's Witnesses

YAROSLAV NILOV: SPECIAL SENSITIVITY NEEDED IN DISCUSSION OF RELIGIOUS ISSUES

Committee on Affairs of Public Associations and Religious Organizations, 24 November 2015

 

Commenting on the situation regarding the appeal by adherents of Jehovah's Witnesses to law enforcement agencies for the opening of a criminal case against Metropolitan of Arkhangelsk and Kholmogory Daniil, [see "Jehovah's Witnesses try to use justice system against officials"] the chairman of the State Duma's Committee on Affairs of Public Associations and Religious Organizations, LDPR Deputy Yaroslav Nilov, who oversees work in the Arkhangelsk province, noted that he does not see good cause for such measures.

 

As was reported, the vice-governor of the Arkhangelsk province, Roman Balashovdal, [gave--?] his assessment of the activity of the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in an interview, which was posted on the website of the Arkhangelsk diocese of the Moscow patriarchate.

 

Yaroslav Nilov expressed surprise since "assessments given in the interview are not the assessments of the metropolitan, but they express the personal opinion of the official: value judgments based on information that the latter has, no clear signs of extremism are seen in the text."

 

In Nilov's opinion, the statement of the vice-governor that any countermeasures should be conducted exclusively in the legal field is especially important. "Special sensitivity is needed in discussion of religious issues," the deputy emphasized, recalling that a number of Jehovah's Witnesses' books in their turn were found by a court to be extremist, and adherents of this religious organizations themselves have confronted similar accusations.

 

Yaroslav Nilov also recalled that the LDPR [Liberal Democratic Party of Russia] has consistently spoken against article 282 of the Criminal Code of the RF and it is sufficient to recall the egregious example of the "tobacco case" in Arkhangelsk province which attempted to convict for comments in social networks, and only after intervention by the LDPR and public organizations was the case closed.

 

"In addition, article 282 involves responsibility for inciting hatred or strife along with denigration of human dignity. I would like to call to your attention that I have known Vladyka Daniil personally for a long time and I appreciate greatly his vital position stressing the importance of creativity, empathy, humaneness, and the development of spirituality. On the basis of my personal observation, it is completely uncharacteristic of him to denigrate and display hostility," Yaroslav Nilov noted. (tr. by PDS, posted 27 November 2015)


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