Tag Archives: Country: Russia

Religion Clause Blog: CNN reports that in the Russian city of Tomsk, a court has  postponed until Dec. 28 its decision on an attempt by the prosecutor to ban the Bhagavad Gita as an extremist book that sows social discord.

We, being the representatives of the civil society and non-governmental organizations of the Russian Federation and Ukraine, taking part in the second hearing conducted in Saint-Petersburg on November 24th, 2011, addressing the influence of international political organizations on the condition and welfare of the family in our countries, have examined the current trends concerning family problems in the United Nations, and in particular some activities of the UN treaty monitoring bodies, including the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Yahoo! News: Russian authorities should annul the parliamentary vote results and hold a new election, ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev urged Wednesday as popular indignation grew over widespread reports of alleged election fraud.

Montreal Gazette: Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak on Friday backed a controversial regional bill proposed by the ruling United Russia party to issue fines for “propaganda of homosexuality.”

News from The Associated Press: Russia’s top gay rights activist on Thursday condemned a bill passed in the country’s second largest city that prohibits “propaganda of homosexuality” to minors, warning it could be used to ban gay protest rallies.

Yahoo! News: Its abortion rate — 1.3 million, or 73 per 100 births in 2009 — is the world’s highest. Backed by the Russian Orthodox Church, an influential anti-abortion lobby is driving a moral crusade to tighten legislation and shift public attitudes that are largely a legacy of the Soviet era.

News from The Associated Press: Russia’s parliament adopted a law Friday limiting abortions but rejected even tougher restrictions backed by the country’s conservative Orthodox Church.

Interfax-Religion: Special Envoy of the Russian President for Interaction with NATO Dmitry Rogozin believes mass visits to Cathedral Mosque in Moscow on chief Islam feasts have political background.

VOA Breaking News: Tens of thousands of Muslims gathered in Moscow and Saint Petersburg for worship Tuesday on Eid al-Fitr, the three-day festival marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

LifeSiteNews.com: Amid the crumbling ruins of an empire that had condemned the traditional family as a bourgeois institution, the Russian people are now witnessing a population free-fall as the youngest population is being eliminated at the staggering rate of seven abortions per woman. In the last 20 years, an estimated 80 million unborn Russian children are believed to have been aborted.

Religion Clause: The ruling means that the painting will be banned from exhibitions, newspapers, magazines and television under the provisions Art. 13 of of Russia’s Federal Law No. 114 FZ on Counteraction of Extremist Activities (2002).

Spero News: The authorities abandon plans for a new place of worship for Muslims in the capital, which had led to protests and tension. The prefect: the area “not suitable”.

CSMonitor.com: Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev chose a painful anniversary – that of the 1991 August Coup, which tried to reverse his democratic reforms – to criticize Prime Minister Vladimir Putin

WBEZ (includes audio): This week, to gain insights into this country’s incredibly polarizing debate over abortion, we’re looking at how reproductive issues play out around the world. It’s part of our occasional series Here, There, where we compare U.S. policy on tough issues to those of other countries.

Allan Carlson Front Porch Republic:
Paper prepared for “The Moscow Demographic Summit: Family and the Future of Humankind, ”29-30 June 2011, Russian State Social University, Moscow, Russia.

Bloomberg: China, the largest foreign investor in U.S. government securities, joined Russia in criticizing American policy makers for failing to ensure borrowing is reined in after a stopgap deal to raise the nation’s debt limit.

AP: On a visit to Kiev on Thursday, the head of the Georgian Orthodox Church Catholicos Ilya II asked Russian Patriarch Kirill to “restore friendship and brotherhood between our people.”

Interfax: “We do not want the (Church) to become part of the state apparatus, state machinery, to assume secular functions,” Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations, said.

The Christian Institute: Health warnings are set to be placed on abortion adverts in Russia – where over a million abortions were carried out in 2008.

AP: The United States and Russia ended an ugly dispute over the abuse of adopted Russian children on Wednesday, with Washington signing an agreement that will increase oversight of adopting families to curtail possible maltreatment.

The Washington Post: Two founders of a new Russian opposition party have been barred from leaving the country for six months, after court officials ruled that a correction they were ordered to publish did not have a large-enough headline and was missing a key word.

Catholic Culture: he lower house of Russia’ parliament, the Duma, has approved legislation that will require all abortion advertisements to include warnings about the risks to the mother’s health.

AP: A court in a Moscow suburb has banned works by the founder of the Church of Scientology, officials said Thursday.

Spero News: They also maintain that the closure of the Centre for Islamic culture is linked to the Kremlin’s desire to bring the large Muslim community in the country under the control of a single organisation loyal to the state.

LifeSiteNews.com: Conservative parliamentarians, with the backing of Russia’s Orthodox Church, are drafting legislation aimed at reducing the more than 1 million abortions performed in Russia each year.

LifeNews.com: When Dale Mcalpine was arrested and charged for saying that homosexual activity is sinful in April last year, the charges were eventually dropped, but the Christian street preacher called for changes to the law that would make it possible to express religious opinion out loud in Britain without fear of arrest and prosecution.

: Some 85% of them are young people, that is, activists under 30 years old.

Interfax: . . . head of the Council of Trustees of the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation and JSC Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin believes tolerance to homosexuality is harmful . . .

LifeSiteNews: Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk told an ecumenical meeting in Moscow that stopping the demographic crisis in Russia must be a priority for all Christians, as well as the state.

MonstersandCritics.com: Officials in the Russian capital Moscow will defy threatened penalties by the European Court of Human Rights and ban a public demonstration by gays and lesbians, human rights officials said Tuesday.

Washington Post: Russia’s most prominent gay rights activist says Moscow City Hall has banned a gay rights rally on the basis it might provoke civil unrest.

John Couretas at the Acton Institute Blog: The miraculous post-Soviet revival of the Russian Orthodox Church, all but destroyed by the end of the Stalinist purges in the 1930s, is one of the great stories of 21st Century Christianity. This revival is now focused on the restoration of church life that saw its great institutions and spiritual treasures — churches, monasteries, seminaries, libraries — more or less obliterated by an aggressively atheist regime. Many of the Church’s best and brightest monks, clergy and theologians were martyred, imprisoned or forced into exile. Yet, plans are now underway to build 200 churches in the Moscow area alone . . . Christianity Today deputy managing editor Timothy C. Morgan interviewed Hilarion on the bishop’s recent trip to Washington. Here’s an excerpt . . .

AP on Yahoo: The Church of Scientology says Russian authorities have lifted a ban on some of its publications.

LifeNews: Abortion has become such a pervasive form of birth control that the nation is seeing worker and population shortages that are already beginning to take an economic toll. The nation’s Duma is considering legislation to address the problem.

Christian Newswire: Against this backdrop, the World Congress of Families will hold the world’s first demographic summit – “Moscow Demographic Summit: Family and the Future of Humankind” – at the Russian State Social University (RSSU), June 29-30.

Telegraph: Vladimir Putin has promised to spend £33 billion to boost the country’s flagging population by up to a third over the next four years, during a two-and-a-half hour speech that appeared to gear him up for a 2012 presidential run

RiaNovosti: A Muslim crescent should be part of Russia’s national emblem along with Orthodox crosses, Chief Mufti of Russia Talgat Tadzhuddin said on Friday in an interview with Moskovskiye Novosti daily.

Catholic Culture: The new head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church has said that he would like to meet with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, in a bid to resolve tensions between the Moscow patriarchate and the Byzantine Catholics of Ukraine.

AsiaNews.it: Fresh controversy has broken out in Russia between the Orthodox Church and human rights organizations. The head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for Relations between the Church and society, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, has appealed to the community of believers to be more courageous in showing their faith.

Telegraph: A group advising the Kremlin on human rights has urged President Dmitry Medvedev to decide whether Vladimir Lenin’s body should be removed from its Red Square mausoleum.

NY Times: A day after an unusual air attack on what officials here said was a militant base in Russia’s North Caucasus region, President Dmitri A. Medvedev warned separatist fighters in the mostly Muslim region to surrender or “be destroyed.”

BBC: When an amateur video of a screaming, naked boy being plunged by a priest into an ice hole in Siberia appeared on the web, it caused a massive outcry in the Russian media and blogosphere.

Reuters: “China, with Russia, India, Brazil and other developing countries have condemned the U.S.-led air strikes on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi as risky and unwarranted overreaching by the West.”

Moscow Times: “After twin attacks by female suicide bombers killed 40 people in the Moscow metro last March, media reports warned that women sporting a Muslim headdress in public may face verbal or even physical attacks.’

Paul Kokoski writes at Pravda: “Russia should be militant in opposing the acceptance of homosexual acts . . . The Western media often portrays the homosexual lifestyle and relationships as happy, healthy, and stable. On the contrary there are very high rates of sexual promiscuity among the homosexual population with short duration of even “committed” relationships. Homosexuals also have very high rates of sexually transmitted infections such as HIV. Further, many studies show much higher rates of psychiatric illness, such as depression, suicide attempts and drug abuse among homosexuals than among the general population. And statistics – which compare homosexuals with ethnic minorities exposed to racism – indicate this is not due to homophobia. The homosexual lifestyle is also associated with a shortened life expectancy of up to 20 years.”

AlertNet: “A prison where Soviet-era writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn was jailed and a third of inmates are Muslims from the North Caucasus and Central Asia, has become the first in Moscow to open a Muslim.”

Reuters: “A suicide bomber killed at least 31 people at Russia’s biggest airport, Moscow-Domodedovo, on Monday in an attack that bore the hallmarks of militants fighting for an Islamist state in the north Caucasus region.”

LifeSiteNews: “The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church has offered Russian authorities suggestions on how to reduce the nation’s staggeringly high abortion rate.”

Associated Press: “The Senate on Wednesday ratified an arms control treaty with Russia that reins in the nuclear weapons that could plunge the world into doomsday, giving President Barack Obama a major foreign policy win in Congress’ waning hours.” Vote Roll Call

The Hill: “Senate Democrats appear to have the nine Republican votes they need to ratify the New START nuclear treaty this week and give President Obama his third major victory of the lame-duck session.”

Heritage Foundation: “The White House is still confident that, despite losing Graham and possibly McCain, they can still muster the nine Republican votes needed for ratification. Yesterday, President Barack Obama issued a letter pledging to fully develop missile defense in Europe. In the letter, the President claims that New START ‘places no limitations on the development or deployment of our missile defense programs’ and promises that he ‘will take every action available to me to support the deployment of all four phases’ of a missile defense system in Europe. Senator Bob Corker (R–TN) took to the floor welcoming the President’s letter: ‘A number of people on our side of the aisle have asked for it.’”

Reuters: “The local leader of a congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Siberia now faces up to two years in prison if found guilty this week of inciting religious hatred for distributing literature about his beliefs.”

The Hill: “The upper chamber is expected to vote on final passage of the tax package shortly after noon Wednesday, which will clear the way for debate to begin on the nuclear arms treaty and the 1,924-page spending bill.”

Heritage Foundation: Release the START Negotiating Record

Wall Street Journal / Washington Wire: “In what looks like a decisive blow, at least eight Republican senators – including some the White House was counting on – will announce this afternoon they cannot vote to ratify President Barack Obama’s New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia this year.”

Forum 18: “Seeking the return of the century-old Holy Family Catholic Church in Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad in vain over nearly two decades has been the local parish of the same name, which still worships in a temporary structure. However, the church – as well as former Lutheran churches and several castles – was suddenly handed to the Russian Orthodox, who have never owned them, under two local Laws.”

Interfax: “The organization is called the Russian Association of Islamic Accord (All-Russian Muslim Board). This organization will be the fourth centralized Muslim organizations, the three others being the Central Spiritual Muslim Board, the Council of Muftis of Russia, and the Coordination Center of the North Caucasus Muslims.”

AP: “The religious group Jehovah’s Witness said Monday one of their local leaders in Russia was being persecuted under a vague anti-extremism law.”

Slate: “Wandering spouses have become a common trope for the women of Moscow. ‘Men’s environment here pushes them towards cheating,’ Tanya told me, adding that, these days, a boys’ night out in Russia often involves prostitutes . . . Infidelity in Moscow has become ‘a way of life,’ as another friend of mine put it—accepted and even expected.”

Ria Novosti: “Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said during an interview with U.S. talk show host Larry King that gays are not banned from serving in the Russian armed forces but that the government does not support same-sex marriages.”

Spero News: “Now there is also the signature of Russian President Dmitri Medvedev on the law for the restitution of religious property nationalized by the state. A text that brings joy to the Patriarchate of Moscow, which now declares that ‘all outstanding issues between the state and the Russian Orthodox Church are now resolved,’ despite the discontent of religious minority communities.”

Interfax: “According to the data cited by the head of the State Duma Committee for Family, Women and Children Yelena Mizulina from 5 to 8 million babies in Russia are born out of wedlock . . . The deputy suggested to ‘give legal force to the marriage conducted on religious rites in modern performance.’”

Kyiv Post: “In the latest version of the NIMBY principle, Muscovites are demonstrating against the construction of more than 100 of the 200 new Russian Orthodox churches the Moscow Patriarchate plans to build with the assistance of the capital’s government because such buildings would deprive residents in many cases of public parks.”

China Daily: “China and Russia have decided to renounce the US dollar and resort to using their own currencies for bilateral trade, Premier Wen Jiabao and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin announced late on Tuesday.”

Reuters: “Russia’s top judge said it may no longer honor judgments handed down by Europe’s influential Court of Human Rights, but a Kremlin official played down the idea, calling it a ‘backwards’ step.”

France 24: “A small group of Russian homosexuals held what was billed as the first authorised demonstration of its type in the country Saturday, despite provocations from counter-protesters who threw eggs.”

Kyiv Post (Reuters): “Russia on Wednesday adopted a draft bill allowing the Russian Orthodox Church to reclaim up to 17,000 buildings and churches nationalised after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. The bill, which sailed through its second and main reading in Russia’s lower house of parliament, provides for the hand-over to the increasingly powerful orthodox church of property confiscated by Soviet authorities.” Via Religion Clause.

United States Commission on International Religious Freedom: “Russia faces legitimate, serious threats from groups which advocate or perpetrate violence in the name of religion. This is a major security concern, not just in Russia, but in other nations. There is a problem, however, with Russia’s approach to the challenge.” | Via Religion Clause.

Interfax: “The Moscow Patriarchate urges Catholics to give an unbiased opinion of transferring the former Catholic Church to the Russian Orthodox Church . . . ‘It should be remembered that the legal owners of Holy Family Church have left the city for good when it was included within the USSR. The postwar migrants, therefore, have no direct interest in this building,’ Fr. Dimitry stated.’

Interfax: “The organizers of the European Parliament hearings on religious freedom in Russia have not allowed President of the Russian Association of Centers for Religious and Sectarian Studies and prominent Orthodox authority in present-day religious sects Alexander Dvorkin to attend the hearings on Monday, the Russian specialist told Interfax.”

New York Times / The Caucus: “Mr. Obama had declared ratification of the New Start treaty his ‘top priority’ in foreign affairs for the lame-duck session of Congress that opened this week. But the chances of winning the two-thirds vote required for passage of the treaty appeared to collapse with the announcement by Jon Kyl of Arizona, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate and the party’s point man on the issue, that the Senate should not vote on it this year.”

Bay Windows: “The regional court in Arkhangelsk, Russia, ordered local authorities to register the LGBT organization Rakurs (Perspective) on Nov. 1.”

Pravda: “It is an open secret that the Church recognizes only one form of close relationship between a man and a woman – legal marriage. A growing number of people believes nowadays that tying the knot is not a necessity at all, because two people can love each other and live together without paper formalities. Will marriage become a prerogative of religious couples only some time in the future?”

Interfax: “Hegumen Filaret, a representative of the Russian Church in Strasbourg, believes the decision made by the European Court, which ordered the authorities to pay compensation for refusing to authorize several gay pride parades, insults the feelings of the majority of Russians.”

Forum 18: “Muslims in the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk are challenging the designation as extremist of yet another work by the late Turkish theologian Said Nursi, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. An appeal brought by Krasnoyarsk Muftiate is due to be heard by Krasnoyarsk Regional Court on 29 November, Muftiate lawyer Akhmad Kolobayev told Forum 18 from Krasnoyarsk on 28 October.”

The Voice of Russia: “Representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate are against the wording which defines childbirth as ‘the separation of the product of conception from the mother’s body’. The deputy head of the Orthodox Church’s department for relations between the church and society, Father Georgy Roshchin, shared his views in an interview with the Voice of Russia.”