Banning insults to religion in Russia: cui bono?

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Natalia Antonova, Acting Editor-in-Chief – July 1, 2013) New laws are being adopted at a breakneck pace in Russia – almost as if some sort of legal Apocalypse will soon be upon us, and lawmakers are afraid that they are running out of time. One of the newest bills just signed into law by President Vladimir Putin aims to protect religious communities’ feelings by making an insult to religion be punishable by up to three years in jail.

As a religious person with feelings, I ought to be pleased, right? Alas, I happen to be one of those silly people who think that new laws should require more than political will in order to pass, but much deliberation, debate and revision instead. Not to mention the fact that this legislation in fact presents a legal nightmare for any secular nation – and Russia is a secular nation.

Populism and emotionally charged public discourse seem to have played a key role in the adaption of the law. Following the scandal surrounding the “punk prayer” staged in church by punk rockers Pussy Riot – two of whom are still jailed, by the way – many groups demanded for the government to act. And so the government acted.

In the West, the emotions behind all of this were frequently misunderstood. Considering the carnage that Russia went through in the 20th century – carnage that included the destruction of churches and the executions of clergy – the question of how to treat religion weighs heavily on modern society. Most Russians aren’t extremely observant, but neither is there much emotional distance between them and the horrific events of the past. Too little time has gone by.

It’s also obvious that the Kremlin has searched very hard for a unifying ideology for modern Russia. At first glance, the law does appear to support the creation of more social cohesion – by specifically reaching out to groups that already have a strong sense of identity and bringing them into the fold.

Yet ultra-religious groups in particular – as opposed to moderate people of the faith – have a reputation for eventually biting the hand that feeds them. And it is ultra-religious groups, the ones who see insults and blasphemy everywhere they look, who stand to benefit most from this new legislation.

You don’t have to believe in hell per se to know that there is something to the old adage about what the road to hell is paved with.