While nearly half of the active American electorate voted for a Mormon for president earlier this week, the Church of Latter Day Saints has not enjoyed such a warm reception in Russia as of late. Activists from the ruling party’s youth group held a protest on November 1 accusing Mormons of pursuing “anti-Russian interests” and told them to fly back “home” to Washington. In this column for Gazeta.ru, religious historian Boris Falikov talks about how this sudden burst of ire has far more to do with the Russian Orthodox Church’s own political problems than any actual threat.

Surrounded by Mormons
By Boris Falikov
November 6, 2012
Gazeta.ru

Not long ago, Vladimir Putin dropped a few words about the need to perfect control over totalitarian sects. This happened at a meeting with representatives from the Samarskaya region. One of those present complained to the president that these sects have broken loose entirely and that something needed to be done about them. Putin agreed that it was a problem and promised to deal with it on the federal level – stipulating, incidentally, that it was a subtle matter, since it dealt with freedom of religion.

The Public Chamber took up the president’s remarks. A list had to be drawn up immediately of the ringleaders of these sects and turned over to the security services. At the same time, dubious religious organizations needed to be checked for signs of totalitarianism.

And Young Guard, which brings together all of United Russia’s young supporters, decided not to waste any time and went straight to work. And now in Moscow and other Russian cities we already have pickets against Mormons, telling them to go back to their historical homeland in the US. Especially since they’re not only a totalitarian sect, but also CIA agents. What is it that’s behind this surge in the war on the “sectarian threat?”

This war didn’t start yesterday. After the demise of the atheistic regime in Russia, missionaries and evangelicals of every imaginable persuasion poured in from all over the world. The Russian Orthodox Church, which has always insisted on its special position in the country, did not like this. Neither did this boundless pluralism suit the state, which wanted to bring order to the religious sphere in one fell swoop. As a result, Orthodox Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Judaism were officially declared to be traditional religions, and the rest were asked to stand aside.

That might’ve been all, but the Russian Orthodox Church thought that was too little. To try and win over people’s souls by strictly religious means is a long, laborious process. It’s much easier just to declare your competitors to be enemies of society and call on the government for help. So now we have this concept of “totalitarian sects.” This has turned out to be quite a boon. For believers, a sect is a mob of heretics; for secularists, it’s a group of intolerable fanatics. It’s true that the word also has a scientific meaning used by religious sociologists. But this meaning is entirely destroyed with the added epithet of “totalitarian.” As a result, it has become a label that can be thrown at competitors to accuse them of antisocial behavior.

This label is used widely by the anti-sect battle squads formed in the depths of the Russian Orthodox Church. It’s easy to slap onto practically any religion or confession, since it was never scientifically specific.

As far as I can recall, the only things have been declared totalitarian sects are new religious movements and Protestant denominations that had success with their missionary efforts and formed competition for the Russian Orthodox Church.

Of all non-titular faiths, Catholics have managed to avoid this fate. But who knows – it if wasn’t for the warm relationship between the Russian patriarch and the Vatican, maybe the Pope would also turn out to be the leader of a totalitarian sect.

This state of affairs suits the security agencies quite well. They don’t need to break their skulls over who’s a threat to society and who’s not. They’ll always have the list of “usual suspects” drawn up by the Orthodox anti-sect fighters. Among all those distinguished is also the well-staffed expert council on the Judicial Ministry. But what good does all this do for society?

We all know well that religion is not always a blessing. Sometimes it’s a risky entity, and not only because religious radicalism is on the rise all over the world, Russia no exception. What are totalitarian sects most commonly accused of? That their charismatic leaders subjugate their disciples and twist them into knots. That is to say, they don’t so much help them find God as draw them into a blind faith in the leaders themselves. But there’s no reason to believe that misuse of spiritual authority and turning it into cruel authoritarianism is a problem that only comes from new religions. It’s a common misfortune that not even the most respectable religions can guarantee against.

But when eloquent preachers pontificate about the coming end of the world and frighten the public, then it’s not remotely important which religion is spreading the panic. The damage is the same.

Or take child-rearing. Sectarians, as a rule, are accused of crippling children, robbing them of joys of youth. But if we remember the orphanages of several certain Orthodox monasteries, such as Bogolyubsky, then it becomes clear that these foster children don’t exactly have it any better. The children of devout believers run into identical problems, and they have nothing to do with what exactly their parents believe in. Neither are there confessional boundaries when it comes to the abuse of property. Those victims can be from any religion. What needs to be determined is whether they gave their property to a religious organization voluntarily or were forced into it by dishonest tricksters.

Law enforcement agencies should address these problems by relying on our civil and criminal codes. Making lists of leaders of nontraditional religious organizations and checking them for secret signs of totalitarianism isn’t going to help. More likely, it’s going to be a hindrance, since it replaces a concrete war against violations of the law with a war on ideologies. Aside from the fact that they’d be undercutting the principle of citizen equality before the law, regardless of religious conviction. However, this is the path that the authorities prefer to take. Sure, there isn’t much benefit to society from any of this, but there is to the government, and it’s not insignificant.

The fact of the matter is that a timely witch hunt is a tried and true method of drawing public attention away from urgent political and economic problems that the Kremlin doesn’t have the strength to fix. A few words tossed around by the president at a meeting in Novo-Ogaryovo elicited an immediate response from the Public Chamber. And the loyal Young Guards are already striking against a totalitarian sect whose roots extend across the ocean. The fact that a Mormon has a decent chance of becoming president of the United States underlines the significance of the threat. The enemy is great and terrible – it’s obvious why nothing in this country works out.

Translation by theotherrussia.org.

According to VTsIOM sociologists, 44 percent of citizens feel that the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church could seep over into the spiritual and moral life of the public. Another third believe that the church’s activities should be limited exclusively to religious and faith-based issues.

The number of people who saw the active participation of religious institutions in all spheres of public life, including politics, as acceptable ranked at only 16-17 percent.

“Those in favor of limiting the influence of the church to issues of faith were mostly young people, highly-educated people, and those who don’t trust church ministers,” said the report. “Conversely, proponents of political subjectivity on the part of the church included those who trust church ministers, respondents above pension age, those without higher education, and residents of rural areas.”

VTsIOM pointed out that the level of trust in church ministers has fallen 15 percent over the past two years.

The question of the church’s participation in Russian political life became widely discussed following the arrests of three members of the punk band Pussy Riot in March. Two weeks earlier, the group performed a protest song in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior criticizing Patriarch Kirill’s calls to vote for Vladimir Putin for president. If convicted, the women face up to seven years in prison; prosecutors are asking for three. The verdict in their case is set to be delivered on Friday.

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.