K. Kanevsky - on social partnership between the state and religious associations

Candidate of legal sciences K.Kanevsky in the article "Social partnership of the state and religious associations: problems of legal regulation" considers various mechanisms of cooperation between the state and religious organizations.

The author briefly formulates the main features of such cooperation as follows:

"1. At present, cooperation between the state and religious associations often goes beyond the legal framework of a secular state, and when it does not contradict the secular nature of the state, the legislation does not establish guarantees for the rights of religious associations and believers. This violates one of the key requirements of a secular state - legal form of state-confessional relations.

1. Proposed by some jurists, religious scholars and religious figures, the ways of resolving

This problem - the introduction into the legal field of the concepts of a traditional confession or a traditional religious association and the development of a system of agreements between state bodies and religious associations - will not completely eliminate the problem - the return of state-confessional relations to the legal framework of a secular state.

K. Kanevsky proposes mechanisms for improving the interaction between officials and religious organizations:

• "Ensuring at the level of laws and at the sub-legal level the establishment of guarantees for the realization of the freedom of conscience of everyone and the creation of favorable conditions for the charitable activities of religious associations";

• "A clear establishment of guarantees for the exercise of freedom of conscience in all spheres and the implementation of the social service of religious organizations presupposes the establishment of a mechanism for the implementation of guarantees. Officials obliged to ensure the observance of this freedom, the terms and procedure for their decision-making, the grounds for making a decision (applications, appeals and etc.), responsibility for non-fulfillment of duties. And in this case, representatives of religious associations and believers will know that if certain conditions are met within the established time frame, they will be able to exercise their rights, organize work to support the poor. If the established procedure is violated, then it will be possible to apply to the court for the protection of one’s right, to challenge the actions of officials with references to articles of regulatory legal acts.

The author also argues with the co-chairs of the Institute for Freedom of Conscience S. Mozgov and S. Buryanov, who "repeatedly expressed the position of the Institute for Freedom of Conscience, which consists in

that it is necessary to abandon the special regulation of the legal status

religious associations, as there is no legal definition of religion, and

regulate the legal status of religious associations on a common basis with

public associations[61]. A similar perspective

development of state-confessional relations has a very serious

advantage - when establishing a special status of religious associations

inevitably arises the possibility of providing all or some of the

religious associations of advantages or, on the contrary, additional

mechanisms to control their activities. That is why

the position of the Institute of Freedom of Conscience is not supported by religious

associations and the majority of experts, and real chances for its implementation in

not in Russia in the near future.

However, it should be noted that the equalization of religious associations with all

public associations will not allow to take into account such features

activities of religious associations arising from the sacredness of the dogma,

as the presence of shrines, religious rites, the influence of dogma on believers, in

including in a destructive way. For example, an unjustified attitude towards

temples, objects of religious worship (icons, liturgical books, etc.)

as to an ordinary commodity and the admissibility of their sale for the debts of a religious

associations. The activities of some religious groups are indeed connected

with a destructive effect on the person, and exclude in emergency cases

the possibility of conducting a religious examination is incorrect. Due to this

it seems that the specifics of the legal status of religious associations according to

a number of issues need to be retained."

Considering possible models of state-confessional relations, K. Kanevsky notes: "We believe that in a democratic state the policy

purposeful curtailment of all forms of cooperation between the state and

religious associations, if there is a positive experience of joint

resolution of social problems. As W. Kol Durem rightly notes,

<the desire for a mechanical separation (church from state - K.K.) any

price can imperceptibly push the system first to ignore religion, and

then to its open denial>[69]. This could result in an increase

protest and fundamentalist sentiments among believers".

Sources

• Kanevsky K. Social partnership of the state and religious associations: problems of legal regulation // Law and life. 2005. No. 5.