The situation of religious minorities in Russia has been a cause of serious concerns for several years. While Russia hosts high-level academic institutes and tolerant intellectuals, it is also home to radicals who believe that the Russian Orthodox tradition should be defended by cracking down on minority religions.

Notorious in this respect has been, again for years, one Alexander Dvorkin, who heads an “anti-cult” center in Moscow and co-operates with international anti-cultists under the aegis of an organization known as FECRIS. Although rarely taken seriously abroad, Mr. Dvorkin has shown that he can be a real danger for religious minorities in Russia, unleashing against them friends in the media and in otherwise respectable institutions.

One of the obsessions of Mr. Dvorkin is Hinduism. He never really recovered from the international ridicule that targeted him in 2012 after he supported a ban against the ISKCON edition of theBhagavad Gitaas an “extremist book.” He believes that, through meditation and ritual, Hindu masters can “hypnotize” or “brainwash” unsuspecting Christian followers and turn them into Hindus overnight. Scholars of religion and Western courts of law have dismissed brainwashing theories as pseudoscience long ago.

A main target of Mr Dvorkin is the Hindu master Sri Prakash Ji, who has been living in Russia since 1990 and has a sizable Russian following, as well as disciples in several other countries. What particularly upsets Mr. Dvorkin is that Sri Prakash dared challenging his anti-cult center in a Russian court, obtaining on December 10, 2018 a declaration that some statements were indeed defamatory. Even more unacceptable in Mr. Dvorkin’s eyes are Sri Prakash’s projects for building a Hindu temple in Moscow.

Mr. Dvorkin has now started again a media campaign against Sri Prakash and his alleged “hypnotic” practices, calling from his deportation from Russia, a country where he and his family have been peacefully living for 29 years.

We fully understand that Mr. Dvorkin’s activities do not represent or express the voice of the majority of the Russian people and of the faithful members of the Russian Orthodox Church. They know that their tradition and identity are not well served by bigoted anti-minorities, anti-Hindu and anti-Indian attitudes. It is for this reason that the most respected Russian institutions should urgently clarify that they are not on the same side of Mr. Dvorkin on the Sri Prakash issue.

July 23, 2019

Asociación por la Defensa de la Tolerancia y los Derechos Humanos
CAP-LC Coordination des Associations et des Particuliers pour la Liberté de Conscience
CESNUR – Center for Studies on New Religions
EIFRF European Inter-Religious Forum for Religious Freedom
Fedinsieme
FOB – European Federation for Freedom of Belief
FOREF – Forum for Religious Freedom Europe
HRWF – Human Rights Without Frontiers
LIREC – Center for Studies on Freedom of Belief, Religion and Conscience
ORLIR – International Observatory of Religious Liberty of Refugees
Osservatorio sul Pluralismo Religioso
Soteria International
 
 

Speakers:

Jan Figel, EU Special Envoy for the Promotion of Freedom of Religion or Belief outside the EU

Leonid Sevastianov, Executive Director of the Orthodox St. Gregory the Theologian Charity Foundation, Moscow

Massimo Introvigne, Professor of Sociology of Religion, Former Representative of the OSCE for Combatting Racism, Xenophobia and Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians

Panel moderator, Eric Roux, Chairman EIFRF

Mr. Roux opened the event by introducing the panellists and making the point that the conference was not political, was not about ‘finding fault’ with any of the parties involved and was directed to building bridges between all parties and religions, increasing friendship and understanding.

In this spirit Mr Figel opened the discussion by making the point that whilst one cannot necessarily prioritise human rights, religious freedom was a very important one, not just for religions themselves but also for society broadly, as this was a right that tended to be a monitor of and relate to the health of any particular society. He made the remark that applying the law on extremism to peaceful minority religions, as it has been the case recently in Russia, is not only unfair and harmful to concerned individuals and religious groups, but also very counterproductive as regards real extremism and terrorism and would certainly not help in preventing terrorism. He also made it clear that, from his position as EU Special Envoy, he was very willing to engage with Russian government and religious groups in order to bring about religious understanding and tolerance and wanted to be part of the direction forward.

Mr. Sevastianov told the attendees that he himself not only had a family history in bringing about religious freedom reforms but that as an Old Believer of the Russian Orthodox Church he was well aware of how discrimination could affect the lives of individuals. He also made the point that the Russian Orthodox Church supported religious freedom and whilst perhaps overall, taking a conservative approach to the subject and there being different approaches within the Church, were certainly for freedom of religion. He also said that he felt it very important for religious groups to be pro-active in responding to criticisms and making it very clear what their beliefs and activities consisted of. In short, the public relations aspect of a minority religion was a key responsibility for a “new” group entering into Russian society to enable themselves to be understood. He also said that he felt the predominant view within the Russian Orthodox Church was that it was not concerned, from the perspective of competition or danger, with religious minorities in Russia. He made it clear that the fears from the government regarding new religious minorities in Russia stemmed from the political context, and that government and society needed reassurance on the motives of religious groups.

Professor Introvigne gave a PowerPoint presentation which focused on two minority religions which are having a difficult time in Russia – the Jehovah Witnesses and the Church of Scientology. He said that both he and other academics, including Russian academics, had analysed the way many minority groups have been dealt with through legislation concerning extremism, though Professor Introvigne said that it was a pity that the expertise of Russian academics was not recognised or taken advantage of in the same way as it is in Western Europe. He pointed out that using the criteria in the Russian law, every religion, including the Russian Orthodox Church, could be classified as extremist as, amongst other things, the definition did not even have a requirement of causing or intending violence as part of its definition. He also pointed out that there was a small minority of people in the Russian Orthodox Church, naming a Mr. Dvorkin as a key amongst them, who as part of a so-called ‘anti-sect’ movement were making discriminatory remarks about religious minorities including Hindus and that there had even been demonstrations in India in outrage at some of his actions and comments.

During the broad discussion that followed with the audience the point was made that the accusation against minority religions was often that they were front groups for CIA or other foreign powers with the intention of causing destabilisation or ‘infiltration’ of Russian society.

Several contributors made the point that not only was the modern ‘anti-sect’ movement started in the USA but that Mr. Dvorkin (who is also currently the D/President of a European anti-sect movement) had spent many years living in that country during the movements forming years and had now imported this kind of discriminatory behaviour into Russia. The other aspect to this was the illogic of any government attempting to infiltrate minority religions when it would be far more effective for any foreign intelligence power to infiltrate the Russian Orthodox Church itself.

The discussion went back and forth exploring different aspects of the points covered above and the panellists answered the questions of the attendees extensively. At the end Mr. Weightman, Director of the All Faiths Network, congratulated the panel for having summed up different perspectives and vectors at play within Russia and asked them how they saw a way forward. All speakers were very positive about the discussion that had taken place and saw it as a foundation for future events along the same theme in different locations, including Russia. It was agreed to move the whole process forward along academic, political and religious lines in order to generate greater dialogue and understanding. Further events are now envisioned in the coming months and contacts will be developed to make this possible.

All Faiths Network   and European Interreligious Forum for Religious Freedom

Speakers
 
Jan Figel
EU Special Envoy for the promotion of the freedom of religion or belief outside the EU
Senior Advisor on Freedom of Religion and Belief, Human Rights Department, OSCE/ODIHR
Leonid Sevastianov
Executive Director of the Orthodox St. Gregory the Theologian Charity Foundation - Moscow
 
Massimo Introvigne
Professor of Sociology of Religion
Former Representative of the OSCE for combating racism, xenophobia, and intolerance and discrimination against Christians
 
 
Tuesday December 19, 2017 from 14h30 to 17h30
Renaissance Hotel - Rue du Parnasse 19, 1050 Brussels


The conference, organized by EIFRF and the All Faiths Network (member of the Inter Faith Network for UK - https://www.interfaith.org.uk ) will be held Tuesday December 19, 2017 at 14h30, Renaissance Hotel (Mariott) - Rue du Parnasse 19, 1050 Brussels, at 2mn walk from the European Parliament. To reserve your place please contact eiforumrf@gmail.com .
 
Russia is a vast country with a rich religious and cultural history along with a wide range of faiths. It has been subject to many changes, both turbulent and invigorating, over the last century which have coalesced to bring about today’s modern state.
 
Religion should be able to stand above all this. It is, after all, about the spiritual in Man – about greater aspirations than just worldly gain and religion has a moral role to play in enhancing the culture for the greatest good of all.
 
There is, understandably, a certain concern when small, new or old versions of different religions enter the cultural landscape that were not present before. However, what we have also advanced over the last century are human rights standards which have developed considerably in order to protect the rights of individuals and to respect their choices.
 
Whilst there has also been some international criticism of certain decisions made within Russia concerning religious status it is clear that the vast majority of Russian people simply wish to live in peace and comfort whilst being able to follow their own religious choices.
 
This conference has the purpose of developing dialogue between all religions great and small, to develop, educate about and respect human rights standards and to drive forward a responsible approach to interfaith and religion-government relations. The conference will be followed by live debate.