AMENDMENTS INTRODUCED INTO DRAFT LAW ON SACRED SCRIPTURE
by Andrei Savitsky
Izvestiia, 5 November 2015
The State Duma, on second reading of the draft law "On introducing changes into the law 'On combating extremist activity,'" is ready to introduce corrections spelling out the concept of the word "Bible" as the Old and New Testaments. Izvestiia was told this by the chairman of the duma's Committee on Affairs of Public Associations and Religious Organizations, Yaroslav Nilov (LDPR). Also, according to Izvestiia's information, a dispute is going on between two committees—on religious organizations and on combating extremism—about expanding the list of religious texts for which examination for extremism is prohibited. On 23 October, the State Duma adopted on first reading the president's bill according to which texts of sacred books—the Bible, Quran, Tanakh and Kangyur—may not be considered as extremist materials.
However, "by the word 'Bible,' various Christians confessions subsume different texts," the vice-chairman of the Russian Orthodox Church's synodal Department for Relations of Church and Society, priest Roman Bagdasarov, explained in a conversation with Izvestiia. He added that there is a need for expanding the list of Orthodox religious literature that according to law should not be examined for extremism, and the Russian Orthodox Church is prepared to facilitate this.
"Resolutions of local, ecumenical, and bishops' councils, canonical rules, works of saints, and theological texts. . . . The Russian Orthodox Church is prepared to present a complete list of those books of sacred scripture that need to be protected from attempts to subject them to examination for extremism. So that there will not be a situation where books of scripture that we consider important turn out to be not included in this list," Roman Bagdasarov said.
In the opinion of Yaroslav Nilov, it is still premature to talk about this, since "the draft law has a more preventative character."
"With an expansion of the list, it is possible to create an unnecessary situation where it will be simply impossible to take everything into account. I do not rule out that the concept of 'Bible' as the Old and New Testaments will be spelled out, since there exists not only the canonical translation," Yaroslav Nilov said. "Some clarification is possible, but not an expansion of the list."
The State Duma Committee on Security and Combating Corruption stated that it is ready to consider the possibility of expanding the list of religious literature that cannot be inspected for extremism if appropriate suggestions are submitted.
"I think it is necessary to support representatives of religious confessions. I suppose that if some suggestions come to us, we will consider them," the first vice-chairman of the committee, Magomed Vakhaev, assured.
The draft law on protecting sacred books arose after the infamous decision of a South Sakhalinsk court. On the basis of a lawsuit of Prosecutor Tatiana Belobrovets, Judge Natalia Perchenko ruled the book Prayer to God, with suras from the Quran, to be extremist. (tr. by PDS, posted 9 November 2015)
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