Religion not influential

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The Orthodox Christian News Service

Published by Stetson University Russia Religion News, December 18, 2003

Religion not influential political factor

POLITICAL TRIUMPH OF ORTHODOXY

State Duma of the new convocation will be unprecedentedly loyal with regard to the church .

by Oleg Nedumov

NG-religii, 17 December 2003 -The composition of the State Duma of the new convocation allows one to state with certainty that never in the postsoviet period has the arrangement of political forces in parliament been so favorable for the Russian Orthodox church. The general statist nationalist and patriotic alignment of the greater part of the deputy corps is just what the leadership of the Moscow patriarchate and a substantial portion of its flock has dreamed of. In addition, the new duma will have right off two fractions ("Motherland" and the united deputies from single-member districts of the People's party) that have openly positioned themselves as lobbyists for the interests of RPTs. There is also occasion for optimism on the part of representatives of the other traditional Russian religions, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism.

"During the election campaign many politicians discussed very seriously questions connected with religiosity and with the spiritual and moral condition of the nation. At the same time, there was less of the abuse of religious symbols and superficial appeals to religion that had occurred previously. It is also pleasing that many Orthodox politicians have joined the duma, who are really concerned for the regeneration of the church," the vice chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, stated in an interview with NG-religii.

A representative of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Farid Asadullin, sees in the last elections "some hopeful tendency in the public political life of the country, such as the strengthening of presidential authority." In his opinion, "the present duma contains professionals, many of whom have become deputies for the second and even third time." Asadullin thinks that this could "provide good service for a regeneration of Russia as a powerful multinational state."

According to the chief rabbi of Russia, Berl Lazar, for the Jewish community of the country it is especially important that "Russians gave their electoral mandate for a continuation of the national policies of President Putin, a policy of rejection of xenophobia and of active opposition to the inducement of national and religious strife."

A representative of the Buddhist Traditional Sangkha of Russia, Sanjai-lama informed NGR that of the parties participating in the election, Buddhists are closest to "United Russia."

As regards religious minorities, on one hand the strengthening of the political positions of RPTs is beneficial even for them, since the majority of privileges that it attains (for example, partial exemption from taxes) have been extended to all of the other officially registered religious organizations. On the other hand, taking into account the favorable inclination of the majority of deputies, RPTs can initiate a review in the duma of the question of granting it (and most likely also to the other traditional religions) a privileged juridical status.

In the event of the success of this initiative, the Russian church can receive additional privileges that will not be extended to religious organizations that do not have "traditional" status. The situation is complicated by the fact that many protestant movements, that have quantitatively surpassed Jews, Buddhists, and even Muslims, in the opinion of some experts, are considered to be religious minorities, if not practically sectarians.

"The results of the elections bring on sad thoughts. If only out of decency it was necessary to show a genuinely democratic fraction to the world," a famous Baptist publicist, Igor Podberezsky, stated in an interview with NGR. At the same time, a professor at the Russian-American Christian University, Alexander Zaichenko, suggests that the results of the elections are objective and they fully disclose the expectations and illusions of society with regard to the state. In his opinion, "the thinking portion of protestants voted for 'Yabloko,' which has defended most consistently democratic values and, in contrast to the Union of Right Forces, guards the interests of small business, which is close to the spirit of protestantism.

However the head of the Russian Associated Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith, Sergei Riakhovsky, thinks that "the closeness of protestants to the parties of the right is not obvious." In his words, meetings of leaders of the Union of Right Forces and Yabloko disappointed protestants. Riakhovsky stated that protestants today intend to "establish relations with the government that exists today and with the parties that won, since it is sinful to oppose the choice of the people."

The recent elections also showed clearly that parties that used a religious component in their political campaigns too obsessively cannot achieve popularity among the population thereby. A clear example in this regard is the National party, which did not manage even to approach the five-percent barrier. It was able to bring through a sufficient number of its representatives in single-member districts, although one of the prominent figures in its leadership, a counsellor to the patriarch, Nikolai Derzhavin, did not get into the new duma.

It seems that none of the parties rested on the support of the diverse (sometimes rather scandalous) initiatives coming from the Orthodox-patriotic movement. Not long before the elections the National party hastily rejected its image as a kind of spokesperson for "informal" Orthodoxy, inviting Nikolai Derzhavin into its ranks. Apparently the intention of the party political strategists was that the participation of a patriarchal advisor in the election campaign should gain it the status of the "party of the church." It seems that representatives of the Moscow patriarch stressed in every way that Derzhavin joined the party as an exclusively personal matter and not as an official representative of RPTs. However it was quite obvious that Derzhavin's participation in the electoral contest would have been impossible without approval on the part of Patriarch Alexis II.

Nevertheless this did not save the National party from a complete disaster in the elections for the federal lists. A similar fate befell the "For Holy Rus" party and the "True Patriots of Russia" party, which was oriented to the Muslim electorate and which appeared as a result of the reorganization of the Islamic party of Russia.

Why were the confessionally oriented parties doomed to defeat in a country where the overwhelming majority of the population, according to data of sociological surveys, call themselves believing people?

"I do not think that small, newly created political formations, irrespective of their confessional identification, had a real chance to get into the duma. Of course, it was amazing that the National party garnered such a small percentage. However, one should not forget that it was formed as an association of deputies from single-member districts, and that remains its representation in the new duma. There will be a shortage of liberals--Union of Right Forces and Yabloko--in the lower house, who expressed many of the interests of economic enterprises. Although we should not forget that throughout the world the right is represented by traditionalists and conservatives and the left represents the revolutionaries and liberals. It is possible that in our country the right and left also will acquire their natural places. But this could require a new generation of leaders," Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin thinks.

In the opinion of Farid Asadullin, the creation of parties in accordance with a confessional principle had demonstrated its weakness back in the election for the duma of the first convocation. He is confident that religious parties have become an anachronism for Russia.

However, during the last electoral campaign there were examples of the rather effective use of the religious factor. For example, one of the leaders of the "Motherland" bloc, Sergei Glaziev, strengthened his already substantial image as an Orthodox politician who defends the interests of the Russian church. At the same time, in distinction from the representatives of the National party, he never participated in any blatant and sensational activities organized by Orthodox ultra patriots. In other words, Glaziev added a religious element to his political campaign just enough to be noticed by the interested portion of the electorate, while at the same time not shaking up those who are offended by a show of "spirituality."

The question arises of how the religious factor plays out in the parliaments of "Christian" Europe. According to the Italian journalist Giovanni Bensi, to whom NGR turned for comment, pro-Catholic parties are represented in parliaments of many European countries. Often they call themselves "national parties," as, for example, in Spain and Austria. Sometimes the word "Christian" figures in their title, as in Germany and Italy. In Great Britain and France there are no parties with a clearly expressed religious direction.

In November 2002 Pope John Paul II addressed the Italian parliament. Aside from Poland, Italy is the only country to whose deputies the pontiff has spoken. Although several Italian journalists criticized this event as violating the confessional neutrality of the state, almost none of the deputies ignored it. The pope's speech was attended even by the leader of the "Party of Restored Communism," Fausto Bertinotti.

Nevertheless, the opinion of the church is more often ignored. It is sufficient to recall the dispute over the "Christian roots," the mention of which Italy, Spain, Ireland, and Poland, with the support of the Moscow patriarchate, wanted to introduce into the draft of the European constitution. In the course of the corresponding discussion it became evident how strong secular attitudes are in western Europe, despite the noisy assurances of respect and love for the pope and the Catholic church. (tr. by PDS)