I'm glad to be offended

A bill providing for prison sentences for insulting the feelings of believers and desecrating shrines has been submitted to the State Duma, said Yaroslav Nilov, head of the Committee on Public Associations and Religious Organizations.

“The bill has been introduced. A type of crime associated with insulting religious beliefs and feelings is being introduced,” Nilov told Interfax.

According to him, the bill provides for the maximum punishment for such a crime as three years in prison; a fine of up to 300 thousand rubles or compulsory work of up to 200 hours is also possible.

In addition, the document also provides for such a type of crime as desecration of objects and objects of veneration and destruction of such objects. For this, a fine of up to 500 thousand rubles, or compulsory work of up to 400 hours, or imprisonment of up to five years is already expected.

The bill also introduces a new offense into the Administrative Code - public desecration of religious literature, signs, emblems, as well as their damage. It is proposed to punish this with a fine of 30 to 50 thousand rubles.

Chairman of the Synodal Information Department of the Russian Orthodox Church Vladimir Legoida considers the bill timely and necessary.
“Criticism of religious beliefs or even criticism of the lack thereof should not offend people, encroach on their sacred sites, involve violence, slander and bullying. This is not just a wish, but an indispensable condition for civil peace between people of different faiths and beliefs,” he said in an official response for the project. At the same time, “The Russian Orthodox Church in no way stands for the transformation of reasonable restrictions on freedom of speech that exist throughout the world into some kind of state-protected “monopoly on religious truth,” which is what they are trying to accuse us of.

There are a number of articles in Russian laws that are actually used to protect the feelings of believers, but they are scattered and in some cases not coordinated."
“Of course, the proposed changes must have legal certainty, clearly define prohibited acts and penalties,” he argues.

Good wishes, however, we see how in our courts legal certainty time after time gives in to the certainty of the political situation, and citizens who have extremely vague ideas about the law, accustomed to living in a world of prohibitions and a clearly defined “bright future” for everyone, joyfully return to habitable pen.

A VTsIOM poll showed that 82% of Russians support tougher punishment for insulting the feelings of believers.

First of all, these are, of course, supporters of United Russia (87%), respondents over 45 years of age (85%) and followers of Orthodoxy (85%). This idea is assessed negatively by 12% of respondents - mostly 25-34 year olds (16%), adherents of non-parliamentary parties (19%), non-believers (18%) and respondents professing religions other than Orthodoxy (20%).

At the same time, 86% of Russians do not notice that their right to freedom of religion has been limited in any way recently. 73% told sociologists that they had not heard anything about cases of insulting the feelings of believers - but why not make it tougher when you can toughen it up?

In this, citizens are completely in solidarity with the deputies of the State Duma, which “considers it necessary to give a tough rebuff to destructive forces that praise anti-religious extremism, vandalism and hooliganism, inciting hatred in society towards the Russian Orthodox Church and other religious organizations.”