Washington Post

24 July 1997

[for personal use only]

Editorial

RUSSIA AND RELIGIOUS RIGHTS

BY COINCIDENCE Russia takes up a bill curbing religious freedom just as the United States embraces religious freedom as an explicit standard for its overall foreign policy. But the makings of a collision are there all the same.

The Russian bill, as passed by the Duma, seems to have issued from an appeal by the Russian Orthodox Church for protection against the competition of missionary groups or faiths new to Russia. The bill would create two kinds of religious organizations with markedly different privileges to preach, proselytize or build and run a place of worship. President Boris Yeltsin vetoed it in ringing civil-libertarian tones, saying its provisions "curb constitutional human and civil rights and freedoms, make confessions unequal and are inconsistent with Russia's international commitments."

It happens, however, that the U.S. Senate had just amended a foreign aid bill to cut off $200 million to Russia if Mr. Yeltsin signed. This raises the hoary Cold War issue of using American punitive legislation to affect Moscow's treatment of its own citizens. Except that then the United States was putting pressure on a hostile Communist regime that denied its citizens' liberties, and now it is making a threat against a friendly democratic government whose nationalistic hackles are bound to go up as a result. Even some Russian opponents of the bill are reported to fear that parliament may override the Yeltsin veto, partly to show that Moscow is not kowtowing to Washington.

A concern for religious freedom is a right and necessary part of American foreign policy. But both its ends and means have to be handled carefully. The ends must entail respect for the liberties of people of all religious persuasions, not just of Christians, who are the particular focus of the American religious right, the people responsible for the latest surge of official American interest in this subject. The State Department makes this essential point in a detailed report on world religious freedom ordered up by Congress and issued this week.

As to means, there will always be a play between the executive and Congress. But legislated tactics -- such as the Senate's veto-or-else threat to Boris Yeltsin -- cannot possibly be sensitive to changing currents. The State Department report makes a good showing of executive diligence in pursuit of global religious liberties. It is heady stuff for the Senate to see President Yeltsin, days after its warning, veto the bill. But there is political risk, too. The administration has heard Congress on this issue. Congress should step back from the details.

---------------------

Johnson's Russia List

#1081

24 July 1997

djohnson@cdi.org