Caesar about God

The advisory council of the heads of the Protestant churches of Russia appealed to Vladimir Putin with a request to prevent the bill from the "anti -terrorist" package that impedes missionary activity. An appeal signed by four co -chairs of the Council is the commanding bishop of the Russian United Union of Christians of the Vera of the Gospel (Pentecostal) Sergey Ryakhovsky, the first deputy chairman of the Euro -Asian branch of the General Conference of the Church of the Seventh Day by Pastor Oleg Goncharov, the head Grabovenko and chairman of the Council of the All -Russian Commonwealth of Evangelical Christians by Bishop Pavel Kolesnikov - published on the website of the Church of Pentecostals.

The bill as amended by the second reading, notes the heads of churches, contradicts Article 28 of the Constitution that guarantees freedom of religion, the law on freedom of conscience and religious associations, as well as international norms. "The bill imposes a wide range of restrictions on the distribution of any religious beliefs, calling them the general concept of" missionary activity, "the authors of the appeal say." The actually proposed amendments limit the religious private life of a believer. "

It is emphasized that the authors of the bill did not discuss their initiatives on the regulation of missionary activity with either believers, and the expert community, or with the relevant State Duma Committee on Religious Organizations, and with the Public Chamber.

The “requirement to“ have with you ”to each believer special permits that give the right to disseminate faith and religious beliefs, as well as the dissemination of religious literature, printed, audio and video materials, other objects of cult and religious purposes outside of religious buildings and structures not only absurdly and insulting, but also creates the basis for mass persecution of believers for violations of such provisions law, ”the heads of churches say.

The norms of the bill, the appeal says, violate Article 30 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to freedom of associations, since it establishes for a believer, striving to extend his beliefs, the obligation to enter into religious associations to receive a document that gives the right to preach.

Commenting on the appeal, Bishop of Ryakhovsky said that the novels of the "anti -terrorist" package themselves are extremist. Even the Bolshevik anti -religious legislation of 1929 did not establish such prohibitions, noted the head of the Church of Pentecostals.

Earlier it became known that the second bill of the "anti -terrorist" package includes a chapter that significantly limits the possibilities of missionary activity . In particular, it is forbidden to "carry out missionary activities in residential premises." Foreigners and stateless persons are allowed to preach only on behalf of the religious organization and only in the territories of those subjects of the Federation that are in the document on the registration of the organization.

In addition, missionary activities aimed at "violation of public safety and public order, extremist activity, coercion to destroy the family, encroachment on the personality, rights and freedoms of citizens, and the infliction of moral damage and health of citizens".

Two bills of the “anti -terrorist” package, each of which is also called the “Yarovaya Law” - by the name of one of the main authors, the deputy of the State Duma of Unicorn Irina Yarova, has already caused a number of sharp criticisms . On Thursday morning, a number of odious norms were ruled out of this package in a hurry.

As expected, on Friday the package will be adopted by the State Duma simultaneously in the second (main) and third (final) readings.