Amendments of the Ministry of Justice to the law on freedom of conscience

On October 12, 2009, it became known that the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation was preparing a draft law "On Amendments to the Federal Law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations" and to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation."

Among other things, the draft law stipulates that "the founders, members and participants of a religious organization cannot be convicted of inciting interethnic and interreligious hatred or other crimes of an extremist nature" .

In our opinion, this norm contains a great potential for illegal application and is not feasible in practice: a large religious organization is not able not only to control all its members, but also to know their names. So, for example, all visitors to church services are considered members of a religious organization, and from a canonical point of view, all baptized people are members of the Church.

For more information about the bill, see section . the Religion in a Secular Society

Sources

• Extremists banned from membership in religious organizations // Pravo.ru. 2009. October 12.