Russia's Fear of Non-Mainstream Religions

Mark Absher

10-13-10

1:00PM

Russia continues to be scared of religions not in the mainstream of its ideology. In a letter sent from the Deputy Director of the Department of Labour and Social Security said that some “destructive sects and groups whose activities are causing irreparable damage to society.” One of the goals of these people is to have hospitals and doctors to record when some people refuse medical treatment. This is specifically aimed at Jehovah’s Witnesses and their well known stance on refusing blood transfusions and some other religions that refuse certain medical services. The country seems resolute to target religions who refuse military service, blood transfusions, and who are not totally devoted to the community or country. Some of the some 265 groups that are on the list are the aforementioned Jehovah’s Witnesses, for their so-called “unfriendly attitude towards other churches”, the Mormon’s, the Church of Scientology, and Seventh Day Adventist’s.
The scary part of this is that it seems to be a regression back to the communist days of Russia’s not so distant past. Back then most religious groups were outright banned. Now, instead of banning them, they keep pressure on the groups to limit growth, literature distribution and the like. This is a social problem because it impacts are significant portion of the population and is being noticed by more and more people. The question is whether the Russian people will stand up against intolerance and push for a real democracy that supports freedom of religion, which is a principle tenet to a free society. Solution? Keep educating the people. As we learned in Chapter 4, education leads to a more aware and tolerant society. That is, education that is not propaganda nonsense, but true education, liberal education, that liberates the mind.









http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Moscow’s-measures-against-extremist-sects-19451.html