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Concern Expressed by the Kavkazsky Union of the Seventh Day Adventists Over the Inclusion of “Sectologists” Who are Known for Their Struggle Against Non-orthodox Members in the Membership of the Council under the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation
3 June 2009
The Kavkazsky Union of the Seventh Day Adventists
has expressed concern over the inclusion of
“sectologists” who are known for fighting against
non-orthodox members in the membership of the
Council over the Conducting of State Theological
Expert Studies under the Ministry of Justice of the
Russian Federation, reports the Press Service of the
Slavic Center for Law and Justice.
A petition
within the framework of the All-Russia Perpetual
Action “No to Inquisitors!,” in which Seventh Day
Adventists from various regions of Russia have
already become participants, was sent to the
institute of Religion and Justice from P. I.
Liberansky, president of the Religious Organization
“Kavkazsky Union” Church of the Seventh Day
Adventists:
“Eurasian Section
Religious
Organization “Kavkazsky Union”
Church of the
Seventh Day Adventists
Russia
Rostov on the
Don
To Aleksandr Vladimirovich Konovalov
Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation
Dear Aleksandr Vladimirovich,
The Church of the
Christians of the Seventh Day Adventists hereby
express their concern relative to the membership of
the Council over the Conducting of State Theological
Expert Studies under the Ministry of Justice of the
Russian Federation which was formed by order of the
Ministry of Justice of Russia on March 3, 2009.
Firstly, the Expert Council has been given
unprecedented authority for that of a state organ to
monitor religious organizations, as well as their
forms and methods of religious activity, which could
be viewed as an infringement of the principle of
separation between church and state and as blatant
interference into the internal business of religious
organizations.
Secondly, a large group of the
members of the Expert Council are not only
representatives of definite religious organizations,
but they are also people who that are known for
their struggle against non-orthodox organizations
and movements in our country from the position of
orthodox sectology. Such examples are A. L.
Dvorkin, A. V. Kuz’min, Y. V. Mukhtarov, A. V.
Vasil’chenko, and Lev Semenov. Meanwhile,
these kinds of radically biased sectologists have
been included in the Expert Council, having received
the right to make recommendations in the name of the
government, which will unavoidably lead to conflicts
and law suits in the area of infringements upon the
rights of religious persons in the future.
Thirdly, the rating of religious organizations aimed
at public encouragement of one or another world
views on non-normative and unjust grounds through
the government granting or not granting status of a
religious organization on the basis of a decision by
the Expert Council infringes upon Article 14, Pg.
28, P. 2, Article 29 and Article 13.1 of the
Constitution of the Russian Federation. It breaches
the provision that the state “will not interfere in
the activity of any religious associations if it
does not contradict the federal law “concerning
freedom of conscience and religious associations (P
2. A. 4 F3 № 125).
We ask you to remove the
persons listed in this letter from the Expert
Council.
We appeal to you, dear Aleksandr
Vladimirovich, to display principality and state
wisdom for the good of the interdenominational world
and harmony in our country.
With respect,
President of the Religious Organization
“Kavkazcky Union” Church of the Seventh Day
Adventists, P. I. Liberansky” On April 22, 2009,
a Russia-wide Perpetual Action – “No to
Inquisitors!” – was started in protest against the
presence of radical “sectologists” in the new
membership of the Council of Conduction of
Government Theological Expertise under the Ministry
of Justice of the Russian Federation. The
Action is being conducted under the initiative of
the Institute of Religion and Justice. The
foundation of the Action has been the collection of
signatures for an Open Petition to Aleksandr
Konovalov, Minister of Justice of the Russian
Federation. Copies will also be sent to the
President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry
Medvedyev, and to Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin.
We invite both scholarly and religious societies
from all countries as well as public figures,
lawyers and activists to contribute to and
participate in this Action. Your voices and
opinions will be published on our web site. An
open petition to Aleksandr Konovalov, Minister of
Justice of the Russian Federation, is necessary and
can be directly sent from both religious
organizations and scholarly centers, as well as
ordinary citizens of Russia who do not agree with
their activities being judged by “inquisitors” such
as Dvorkin and his colleagues. Furthermore,
the membership of the Council under the Ministry of
Justice of the Russian Federation has already been
used and will continue to be used by “sectologists”
to influence officials and law-enforcement agencies
and to spread propaganda of their own “anti-sect”
demands – on unjust grounds to limit the activity of
“non-traditional” religious organizations in Russia.
The Action “No to Inquisitors!” is an opportunity to
openly and clearly declare your own protest against
the “inquisitors’” efforts to forcefully save our
souls, without regard for our wishes and against the
discredit of secular science, even theological
expert evaluations, and also to protest against the
clericalization of society and the destruction of
the foundations of a just and secular government in
Russia.
By order of the Ministry if Justice of
Russia on March 3, 2009, No. 61, a Council of
Conduction of Government Theological Expertise under
the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation
was to be created; and that Council would have
authority to counsel concerning religious affairs.
Included in the council membership along with
recognized scholars and experts were the following:
Aleksandr Dvorkin, leader of the Sectological Center
of Saint Iriney Lionsky; Aleksandr Kuz’min, leader
of the Saratov Department of Dvorkin’s Sectological
Center, author of material on which is based
anti-sect which has been admitted as extremist by a
court; Evgeny Mukhtarov, a Yaroslavl’
journalist-sectologist; Lev Semyonov, a priest of
the Russian Orthodox Church, collaborator with
Dvorkin’s Center, and also Andrey Vasil’chenko, a
Yaroslavl’ sectologist and specialist on
German fascism, author of an entire series of
popular books on the history of the Third Reich and
one of the founders of an organization of
nationalistic doctrine, “The League of Patriotic
Youth,” along with Evgeny Mukhatorov in the 1990’s.
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