MOSCOW, AUGUST 12 (from RIA Novosti's Anatoli Mikhailov) - "Empty talk," says Metropolitan Cyril of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, as he shrugs off public alarm, especially Western, over a harsh and constitutionally non-compliant bill, "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organisations".

Moscow Patriarchate official in charge of external church relations, the hierarch addressed a news conference on church information policies today.

The bill cannot hurt, let alone insult any sane person, he insisted. It was passed by the State Duma and received the approval of His Beatitude Patriarch Alexis II. The federal President, however, vetoed it on allegations of constitutional non-compliance.

True, the Constitution stipulates universal freedom of conscience. But then, aliens, insofar as they are granted rights equal to nationals', are supposed to be equally restricted by the Russian legislation, which, without clashing with constitutional premises, limits their social, political, economic and religious activities in the fields where the government deems such restrictions necessary, argued the Metropolitan.

The Russian Orthodox Church firmly insists on these restrictions, necessitated by Aum Shinryi Kyo's gas attack in the Tokyo metro, the White Fraternity's hysterical rites, and the "fiendish fanaticism" of many sinister cults, said Cyril.

Young religious communities will not enjoy the status of juridical persons for fifteen years since their establishment, according to the bill, which robs them of property and legal defence rights. In this context, Metropolitan Cyril assured Roman Catholics and Protestants, in particular, Baptists, that their denominations have long established themselves in Russia and so will not be subject to creed and activity inspections.

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Johnson's Russia List

#1120

13 August 1997

djohnson@cdi.org