In St. Petersburg, Professor Panchenko, who refused to see signs of extremism in the texts of the HVE, was fired from the university

St Petersburg University professor Alexander Panchenko was fired from the university “without explanation” after he wrote the religious studies part of an examination in a court case of Evangelical Christians.

On December 2, 2018, it became known that Professor Alexander Panchenko, an anthropologist, religious scholar, head of the Sociology and Anthropology program at the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences of St. wrote the religious studies part of the expertise in the court case of Evangelical Christians.

“ The prosecutor's office demanded that the texts of books and sermons of an American preacher who died back in the mid-1960s be recognized as extremist ,” A. Panchenko wrote in his Facebook block. - The case, as usual, was initiated by the Center for Combating Extremism of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to the texts, an examination was already written, made at the Center for Expertise of St. Petersburg State University, and it was stated there that the preacher had extremism. <...> Since I am one of the few Russian researchers who have been specifically involved in the study of Pentecostalism, and not so long ago I led a large international project dedicated to Pentecostals in modern Russia, I agreed to participate in expert work and, together with a linguist, wrote a “response” conclusion, which significantly undermined the position of the prosecution. Signing the examination, I did not hide the fact that I work at St. Petersburg State University. On the contrary, I thought that this should be a kind of wake-up call, indicating the low level and bias of expert opinions, which should supposedly support the academic authority of the university. However, bureaucrats from St Petersburg University have a different opinion: in August of this year, the rector's office struck me off the list of teachers without explaining the reasons. ".

This is probably about the case of the possible recognition of books and pamphlets by the American preacher William Branham (Branham) as extremist, initiated by the prosecutor's office.

Apparently, Branham's texts do not contain calls for violence, and statements about the truth of one creed and the fallacy of all others are characteristic of any such doctrine. Therefore, we tend to consider the demands of the prosecutor's office unlawful.

Sources

• St Petersburg University fired a professor without explanation. Before that, he conducted an examination in the case of extremism // Meduza. 2018. December 3.
• Blog of Alexander Panchenko. 2018. December 2. //