Zdravomyslie, an organization that works to protest violations of the principal of the separation of church and state, filed an application with the Moscow Advertisement, Information and City Appearance Committee in September to put up ten billboards showing the quote: “Religious associations are separate from the state and equal before the law. – Constitution of Russia” against a plain white backdrop. But on October 5, the committee sent back a letter saying the request had been denied.

While no official explanation for the rejection was given in the letter, a press release from Zdravomyslie said that a member of the committee had told the foundation during unofficial talks that civil servants had found the text to be “provocational.”

In their press release, Zdravomyslie goes on to accuse the Moscow city authorities of lobbying in favor of the interests of religious organizations, and links this with the committee’s refusal to allow the foundation to erect the billboards. In particular, they pointed to mayoral deputy Sergei Baydakov, who has been awarded for his service to the Russian Orthodox Church. According to Zdravomyslie, Baydakov has proposed spending millions of rubles from the city budget on “state-church events.”

“In this way, the current Moscow leaders are continuing the old policy of merging state government with religious institutions, setting the abstract “feelings of believers” against the letter and spirit of the nation’s founding law,” says the foundation. “Even innocent quotations from the text of the constitution evoke wild irritation among civil servants and are, in fact, becoming victims of state censorship.”

The billboard campaign was undertaken as part of a worldwide campaign to speak out against the merging of church and state. It originated in Great Britain in 2008 when the British Humanist Association funded an advertisement on public buses that read “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” The campaign now includes countries from around the world, including the United States, Finland, Canada, Spain, and Germany.

“We aren’t prepared to look on upon civil servants’ gross violations of the principals of the secular state, insofar as we are certain that these principals are one of the basic guarantees of freedom of conscience and ideological diversity in our country,” Zdravomyslie concluded.

Vitaly Zubkov of the Cathedral of St. Thomas the Apostle says he was approached by three unknown men on Saturday around 4 pm. The men then began to beat him, not saying a word, and as a result Zubkov received a broken femur and nearly lost consciousness.

Despite being barely able to walk, Father Vitaly held his service that evening.

No reaction from law enforcement agencies is currently known. Zubkov currently intends to inform the police of the incident.

Zubkov was close friends with Father Daniil Sysoev, who was attacked on November 19 in Moscow and later died in the hospital.

Both he and the head of the Moscow Union of Russian Orthodox Citizens believe that the two incidents are connected. Both priests, Zubkov told RIA Novosti, participated in missionary work.

Investigators believe that Sysoev was shot by members of Rodnoverie, a religious sect that follows Slavic Neopaganism, according to Interfax.

A preliminary investigation concluded that the explosive device was a home-made concoction comprised of a glass jar filled with a chemical mixture. The motive for the attack was unclear, but officials suspected a random act of hooliganism.

“Two young people, aged 16-17 and of Slavic appearance, walked into the church, left a bag and fled,” a law enforcement source told the ITAR-TASS news agency. “The bag started smoking, and the church officials tried to carry it out of the church when the explosion went off.”

The ensuing explosion was equivalent to around 50 grams of TNT. The two victims, aged 50 and 62, received treatment for burns and splintered glass, and their condition was listed as fair. Around 50 people attending the church services were unharmed.

Officials of Russia’s Orthodox Church were shocked by what had happened. “There have been church burnings, attacks on the clergy, but explosions—this was a first,” said Vladimir Vigilyansky, the director of the Moscow Patriarchate’s press-service.

“Our society’s [morality] is in a very deplorable state,” the priest said.

Lev Ponomarev, the leader of the For Human Rights movement, told Interfax on May 6th that a number of other museum-workers were also summoned for questioning.

The exhibit was created by Andrei Yerofeyev, an art expert who sought out works that were banned by Moscow art galleries and museums in 2006. Part of the exhibit’s intention, according to Samodurov, was “to discuss the problem as to what should and what should not be banned.”

In fact, much of the artwork on display was decidedly mild by international standards. One piece depicted Mickey Mouse and Lenin. Another showed scrawled obscenities with a background of a crucifix and other religious imagery. Others featured pornographic images. To see the art, viewers had to peek through a bed sheet with holes cut out of it.

A criminal case on grounds of “inciting hatred or enmity” was first launched against organizers of the event last year, after complaints from a movement called the “People’s Convocation.” The group, comprised of over 200 various organizations, believes the exhibit offends the sensibilities of religious believers.

The Russian Orthodox Church and Orthodox organizations have also been staunch critics of religious-themed modern art. A 2003 exhibit titled “Caution: Religion!” was damaged by six members of a religious group, who threw black paint on featured artwork. Organizers of that exhibit (including Samodurov), which was also held at the Sakharov Center, were convicted of inciting hatred.

Samodurov is being indicted and criminally charged under the Russian Code of Administrative Offenses, which covers the insult of religious feelings and the desecration of religious objects.

Other non-religious artwork has also been banned by authorities. Several works were pulled by the Culture ministry from an exhibit of political satire as it moved out of Russia on an international tour.

Still, Samodurov and the Russian art world were unapologetic for what they see as their right to free expression. Responding to criticism from religious groups, Samodurov spoke his mind:

“I personally like only a few of the works displayed. There are some that I in fact strongly dislike. But what strikes me is that, if people do not like something, they immediately say that this fuels various kinds of discord, such as ethnic, religious, and so on. If you do not like this, do not come here.”

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Read more about controversial art in Russia, with images, from Russia! magazine.

Representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church believe that the move will undermine the fundamentals of spiritual education in Russia and threaten Russia’s institution of priesthood.

“Even though the Ministry of Defense assured us that the conscription of clergymen will raise morality in the armed forces, these are absolutely empty words. The truth is that a priest dressed in a soldier’s uniform can, like any ordinary person, exert a share of their moral resources, and by no means enrich the army with morality or guidance,” said Ksenia Chernega, the legal counsel of Moscow’s patriarchate, in a statement published online.

The motivation for the change remained unexplained, and the Ministry of Defense declined to comment on the introduction of conscription for the country’s future spiritual leaders.

The new rules are problematic for the faithful, since the Canon law of the Orthodox Church forbids clergymen from entering the military service as soldiers. Furthermore, members of the Church must technically be defrocked for participating in the military. Aside from that, priests are also barred from taking up arms or harming any living creature.

The letter, which included the signatures of Nobel Laureates Vitaly Ginzburg and Zhores Alferov, received moderate coverage in the Russian press. But the nearly hysterical reaction to it in some quarters is notable and reveals how the Kremlin is playing the religion card. A website of the Kremlin’s United Russia party put up a revolting doctored photo of Ginzburg behind bars, wearing a yarmulke, and with the number “666″ on a prison uniform. They now claim that Other Russia, which has issued a statement supporting the scientists, “are joining in the persecution of Orthodox Christianity.”

We spoke out to defend Russia’s rich heritage as a multi-ethnic state, a state that must provide equal treatment to all religions and their followers. Forced indoctrination of our citizens in a religion is as horrific as the abolishment of religion by the Soviets. This sudden embrace of the Church by careerist and corrupt politicians is beyond cynical. They are also heading full speed toward conflict with the Muslim populations in North Caucasus, which serves the Kremlin’s purpose of manufacturing threats to the nation as the election season approaches. They call our support of the scientists strange, but it is only a continuation of our belief in democratic values and the words of our constitution. We sincerely wonder if the members of United Russia have ever read that document.