Appeal from human rights activists to Alexy II in connection with the preparation of the trial of the organizers of the exhibition “Beware of Religion!”

February 20 news agency "REGNUM" published the text of the appeal of Russian human rights activists to Alexy II in connection with the impending trial of the organizers of the exhibition in the Sakharov Center. The authors of the appeal express "deep concern" about the current situation and call on the Patriarch "to state his position on the criminal prosecution of museum employees and artists." The document was signed by nine representatives of federal and regional human rights organizations. Including: member of the Commission on Human Rights under the President of the Russian Federation Svetlana Gannushkina (Committee "Civic Assistance"), Lev Ponomarev (All-Russian Movement "For Human Rights"), Alexander Tkachenko (Russian PEN Center), Ernst Cherny (Coalition "Ecology and right") and others.

The authors of the appeal declare: “We are convinced that the trial in this case will inevitably be scandalous and will damage the prestige and authority of the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as the Russian state.<...>

For us, of course, any insult to the feelings of believers is completely unacceptable. We remember the persecution waged against believers by the communist system for decades. But today the Church has received a long-awaited opportunity for free action, religion is surrounded by public respect. Therefore, it is obvious that a small indoor exhibition could not harm the Church and believers. Of course, not all of the exhibits of that exhibition are close to our ethical and aesthetic ideas, but we are deeply convinced that it is very important to protect the principle of freedom of culture, freedom of art from persecution.

<...> It is obvious... that the exhibits of the exhibition were not a desecration of real cult objects. Maybe they were a parody of them. But, no matter how one treats such parodies, this can in no way be considered a criminal offense! For centuries, art has played up, depicted in an exaggerated, reduced form, or even parodied, what in the eyes of the majority was "taboo", including national, state, ideological and religious symbols and rituals. And that's okay. It is hardly in the interests of the Church to create sterile (i.e., lifeless) conditions for herself. In addition, it is absurd for the justice of a rule of law state to apply norms originally created to protect the rights and dignity of minorities, to protect ethnic and religious groups that make up the vast majority in society and are protected by the state.

If the prosecutor's office now regains the right to judge art, then a very important principle, approved with great difficulty over the past 15 years in our country, will be destroyed - the principle of spiritual and intellectual pluralism. After all, the precedent of turning law enforcement agencies into an arbiter of ideological disputes is dangerous for the Church itself. For centuries, art has played up, depicted in an exaggerated, reduced form, or even parodied, what in the eyes of the majority was "taboo", including national, state, ideological and religious symbols and rituals. And that's okay. It is hardly in the interests of the Church to create sterile (i.e., lifeless) conditions for herself. In addition, it is absurd for the justice of a rule of law state to apply norms originally created to protect the rights and dignity of minorities, to protect ethnic and religious groups that make up the vast majority in society and are protected by the state.

If the prosecutor's office now regains the right to judge art, then a very important principle, approved with great difficulty over the past 15 years in our country, will be destroyed - the principle of spiritual and intellectual pluralism. After all, the precedent of turning law enforcement agencies into an arbiter of ideological disputes is dangerous for the Church itself. Who knows how the policy towards the Church will turn in our state? Will the possibility of ideological persecution turn against believers, against church culture?

Who knows how the policy towards the Church will turn in our state? Will the possibility of ideological persecution turn against believers, against church culture?

According to human rights activists, "there is reason to fear that thanks to the speculations of radical pseudo-religious organizations, as well as the zeal of certain forces in law enforcement agencies who are striving for "high-profile cases", there will be a real threat of exponential condemnation for purely political reasons of a well-known Russian public figure, as well as an art critic and artists.

In any case, this case will turn out to be connected for Russian and international public opinion with the Russian Orthodox Church, which will actually become a hostage to this political intrigue, this game of ambition and attempts to impose on the Church a path of violence unusual for it.

Sources

• Human rights activists call on the Patriarch to express his attitude to the scandalous process // IA "REGNUM". 2004. February 20.