Duma May Call For Stronger Liability For Insulting Religious Feelings on Sept 25

Russian Orthodox Cathedral Moscow file photo

MOSCOW. Sept 19 (Interfax) – Members of all four State Duma factions have submitted a draft resolution in defense of the religious feelings of members of all creeds which the lower house may mull next Tuesday.

“We will make the decision on behalf of the committee and submit the issue to the Duma Council so that it (the draft resolution) would de discussed next Tuesday,” head of the Duma Committee for Public Associations and Religious Organizations Yaroslav Nilov said to Interfax.

He said that the draft resolution was signed by the heads of three factions – United Russia, Liberal Democratic and Communist – and a member of A Just Russia Yelena Mizulina.

“For some reason the head of A Just Russia faction Sergei Mironov refused to sign it but we are grateful to the Just Russia deputy and head of the Committee for Family, Women and Children’s Affairs who understands the importance of the subject and signed the statement,” Nilov said.

In his opinion, the adoption of the resolution by the State Duma is a very important step because the document gives a negative assessment of all “high profile events aimed at fanning religious discord, at trampling on the feelings of believers.”

“Lately insults of the religious feelings of citizens, including those involving violence, have become more frequent,” the draft resolution says.

Lawmakers are especially concerned about acts of terrorism “staged on religious grounds and aimed at eliminating spiritual leaders and undermining general stability”.

“The murders of spiritual leaders, violence against believers, the sawing of crosses, the destruction of places of worship, blasphemous hooliganism, vandalism at cemeteries, writing of insulting signs – all these actions are aimed at destroying the centuries’ old spiritual and moral foundation of Russia, discrediting traditional values. They actually serve to provoke civil discord and undermine the country’s sovereignty,” the document says.

Lawmakers believe that for this reason the State Duma must denounce such criminal actions and speak of the need “to strongly rebuff destructive forces glorifying antireligious extremism, vandalism and hooliganism, fanning public hatred for the Russian Orthodox Church and other religious organizations.”

“The State Duma believes in the need to tighten liability for insulting the religious feelings of citizens, in particular, for desecrating revered sacred places, and stresses the importance of the unavoidability of punishment for such actions,” the document says.

All political forces in the country must pool their efforts to strengthen national unity, civil peace and harmony, it says.

“The further religious education of society, including corresponding educational work among young people, could promote this,” the draft resolution says.

Deputies urge the mass media “to demonstrate special responsibility and delicacy in the publication of materials covering religious events, to refrain from provoking religious enmity or insulting the religious feelings of citizens.”

“State Duma deputies are urging government bodies, local self-governments, political parties, other public associations, religious organizations, the mass media to pay special attention to the further development of civil society institutions in this country, the modernization of the

Russian political system with reliance on preserving the traditions of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism and other religions constituting an inseparable part of the historical legacy of the peoples of Russia,” the draft resolution says.

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