State Religious Policy Research Articles

The Soviet model of state religious policy in Southern Kazakhstan

The Soviet model of state religious policy in Southern Kazakhstan

From Spatial Domination to Virtual Space Solidarity Tactics: Perjuangan Bersama Untuk Mengatasi Ketidakadilan Terhadap Penghayat Agama Lokal Minahasa

Many studies have explored indigenous religious believers struggle against world religions domination. However, studies on the employment of virtual space to heighten indigenous believers' tactical solidarity from the Global South remain understudy. This paper explores indigenous religious followers' struggles through access to virtual space as a tactic of everyday solidarity against world religions spatial domination and the state politics of religion in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. It focuses on the efforts of Minahasa indigenous religious believers to advocate for their existence through virtual media collectively. Indigenous religious believers have experienced various forms of spatial domination, such as destroying ancestral sites and ritual places that they consider sacred to realize their beliefs. The single truth perspective has produced the domination of the world religions monotheistic paradigm and the state politics of religion. The single truth has resulted in hate speech, stigmatization, and physical destruction of indigenous religious sacred sites. Through click activism, indigenous religious believers employ virtual media to advocate Minahasa indigenous religions/beliefs. The concept of tactical media is used in this study to analyze how the tactics of indigenous religious believers collectively produce a discourse of resistance critique and discourse on the importance of their places of belief to the public. This study uses qualitative research: observation, in-depth interviews, and literature review to argue that indigenous religious believers have tactically used virtual media as a critical discourse of resistance to the spatial domination constructed by world religious relations and state religious policies.

Western Religious Propaganda in the Holy Land in the Correspondence of V.N. Khitrovo and K.P. Pobedonostsev in the 1880s

The author has examined the correspondence of socio-religious figure and founder of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (IOPS) V.N. Khitrovo with Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod K.P. Pobedonostsev in the 1880s; the problem of propaganda of the Catholic and Protestant churches in the Holy Land is explored. It is shown that in his detailed reports, historical essays and letters V.N. Khitrovo informed K.P. Pobedonostsev about threats to Orthodoxy in the Holy Land. V.N. Khitrovo rightly supposed that the success of Western propaganda was due to the Western powers’ implementation of their national interests. The religious policy of France and the Protestant powers (England and Germany) was a “tool” for promoting their national interests. “Propaganda” and religious penetration of Western faiths manifested themselves in religious and political forms, which was embodied in the creation of educational institutions, hospitals, the spread of semi-secular women’s orders, and the education of the local population. V.N. Khitrovo associated the success of Catholicism with the activities of Latin Patriarch I. Valerga. A special way of penetration into the Holy Land was biblical research, one example of which was the activities of Victorian General Gordon. V.N. Khitrovo considered that the weakening of Orthodoxy in the Holy Land was due to not only modest funding, but also insufficient coordination of secular and church institutions of the Russian Empire in the implementation of state religious policy. The author comes to the conclusion that the correspondents had trust-based relations and similar views on major religious and political issues.

Situation of Religious Communities in the USSR National Autonomies in 1985-1991: The Case of the Khakass Autonomous Region

The authors consider the situation of religious communities in the Khakass Autonomous Region in the context of the state-religious policy of the USSR during the period of perestroika in 1985-1991. The study was carried out on the basis of the records of state Soviet, party institutions and religious associations stored in the National Archive of the Republic of Khakassia and the State Archive of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, as well as regulatory documents. In the course of the research it was established that in Khakassia, as well as throughout the country, from 1985 religious life was intensified. At the same time, the Commissioners of the Council for Religious Affairs under the Council of Ministers of the USSR for the Krasnoyarsk Territory characterized the religious situation in Khakassia as turbulent from the 1960s and asked for a dedicated post for this national autonomy. It was found that the largest part of the religious communities in the region belonged to different trends of Protestantism, although there were also followers of Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and Islam. In Protestant communities there was an increase in missionary work, and in some cases they wanted to avoid contacts with authorities. The liberalization of the state policy was not always adequately reflected in the actions of the authorities of the Khakass Autonomous Region. There was found relationship between ethnic and religious processes. It was noted that Khakassians tended towards Pentecostalism and Jehovah's Witnesses; representatives of German and Polish nationalities tended towards the communities of Catholics, Lutherans, and Seventh-day Adventists. In addition, in the region there was recorded an increase in the preaching activities of religious leaders from Sweden and the United States.

THE TRANSCARPATHIAN REFORMED CHURCH IN THE CONDITIONS OF CRISIS AND THE CALL OF THE SOVIET SYSTEM (LATE 1960S – EARLY 1990S)

This article examines several issues of religious life in the 1960s – 1990s. The religious policy of the Soviet authorities regarding the Transcarpathian Reformed Church is highlighted. In the late 1960s, in connection with the improvement of state-church relations, the Soviet authorities eased the pressure on the church. In 1965, the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults and the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church were reorganized into a single body - the Council for the Affairs of Religions, which existed until 1991. However, the course on atheist education remained unchanged. The removal from the leadership of M. Khrushchev led to the liberalization of politics in the field of religion. The authorities have abandoned pronounced actions against the church and believers and are trying to cover up anti-religious actions by law. The authorities gradually moved from a crude and direct struggle with the church to more sophisticated methods - reducing the number of believers through anti-religious propaganda and anti-religious education. The reconstruction initiated by M. Gorbachev marked the beginning of the state's religious policy. The last third of the 1980s can be considered a turning point in relations between the state and church institutions. In fact, in a few years, the state went from implementing an anti-religious policy to promoting the development of church institutions. The general political situation in the country on the eve and in the year of independence had a positive effect on the life of the Reformed people of Transcarpathia. Contacts with Protestant, in particular, Reformed (Calvinist) religious and secular organizations in Europe were revived. The religious education of the youth was resumed, and the training of new priests became possible again. The churches confiscated by the state were returned to the communities, and the construction of new churches began on the site of damaged or destroyed ones. There were changes in the management system, from single leadership to synodal-presbyterial management.

Burkhanist communities in Altai in 1904–1916: formation and development in the context of state religious policy

Burkhanist communities in Altai in 1904–1916: formation and development in the context of state religious policy

Church and State and the Marital Rights of Old Believers in Latvia: From Illegality to Secularization

The paper analyses state religious policy in different historical periods and its impact on the development of religious doctrines about marriage within the Old Believer community of Latvia. Based on published and unpublished historical sources, legislative acts, periodicals, and data from existing Old Believer parishes, it is clear that state policy concerning religious minorities greatly influenced the development of the Old Believer community. Old Believer marriages were not recognized by the Russian Orthodox Church until 1874 when the first possibility of obtaining legal marital status was introduced as registering families in police register books. The Old Believers of Latvia, who originally belonged to the Fedoseevcy denomination and denied any family life as such, registered their families quite rarely. However, during the first decades of the 20th century, the Fedoseevcy of Latvia adopted the teaching and marriage ceremonies of the Pomorians. By the interwar period, Old Believer marriages were legalized by both the community and the state. Soviet secularization further facilitated the development of secular marriage unions with followers of other confessions. In the present day, Old Believer religious marriages are legalized in Latvia, though the number of them has decreased as Old Believers are most likely to choose civil marriage registrations.

RELIGIOUS POLICY OF JAPAN IN THE XV-XVII CENTURIES IN THE CONTEXT OF CENTRALIZATION OF AUTHORITY AND THE EMERGENCE OF REALISTIC AUTHORITARIANISM

This publication attempts to study the religious policy of Japan from the time of the unification of the country through the efforts of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi to the consolidation of the Tokugawa shogunate in close connection with the ongoing political processes - the centralization of authority and the formation of the Tokugawa military oligarchy based on realistic authoritarianism. The significance of the ideological postulates of the religions common in pre-Edo and Edo Japan is established in the context of overcoming feudal fragmentation and the consistent construction of the Tokugawa shogunate. The main directions of the state religious policy of the period under review are singled out and the nature and political reasons for the positive or negative attitude towards common religions on the part of the ruling class are revealed. The understanding of realistic authoritarianism as a set of methods for retaining Tokugawa power by harsh, manipulative, but excluding direct violence methods is being consolidated. The thesis is substantiated that the Confucian doctrine became the ideological basis for the centralization of authority and the emergence of realistic authoritarianism of the first Tokugawa shoguns, the implementation of which made it possible to establish the regime of the Tokugawa military oligarchy through the policy of “soft power”, blocking the emergence of centrifugal and separatist tendencies among influential daimyo. It is proved that the state during the period under review pursued a conservative religious policy which was expressed in the patronage of traditional beliefs (Shintoism, Buddhism and Zen Buddhism) and the prohibition of Christianity, which was perceived, on the one hand, as a belief alien to the Japanese and, on the other hand, as a worldview that encroaches on the foundations of Japanese statehood. In the context of the study of religious policy towards Christians, it is concluded that the Confucian idea of achieving state order by unifying social life and consistently getting rid of political and axiological factors that could bring disorganization into normal and habitual functioning of social matter played a significant role in the prohibition of Christianity and Catholic missionary work.

Discussion on the Political Status of Hinduism in Modern Nepal

Until 2006, Nepal was the only Hindu state in the world. During the abolition of the monarchy, the country was proclaimed secular, but this step was opposed by certain segments of the country's population. The article analyses the relationship between Hinduism and state in Nepal, examines the arguments of supporters and opponents of the proclamation of a secular state. The author comes to the conclusion that for centuries Nepalese kings had used Hinduism for the legitimization of their rule and the creation of national identity. As a result, the process of eliminating the institution of the monarchy necessitated the proclamation of a secular state. At the same time, the discussion about the status of Hinduism itself began long before 2006 and was caused by dissatisfaction with the state religious policy on the part of the representatives of lower castes and non-Hindus. Now, however, the opponents of Nepal's status as a secular state begin to set the tone in the discussion. They are trying to understand the consequences of this step. On the one hand, the functions of the king, including religious ones, were taken over by the president of the country, interpretation of a secular state in the Constitution is rather favorable for Hindus. On the other hand, the popularity of other religions, especially Christianity, increases in Nepal. There is still an ongoing debate, and lack of closure in the discussion on the subject is also evidenced by the fact that not only individual activists, but also representatives of the largest political forces of the country bring up the topic of Hinduism in Nepal in their speeches.

A Croatian and Catholic State the Ustasha regime and religious communities in the Independent State of Croatia

This paper will analyze the status that various religious communities enjoyed in the Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna Drzava Hrvatska; hereafter NDH), focusing on the legal status and relations, both practical and financial, these communities enjoyed with the Ustasha movement and state authorities. The religious question was a key political problem in the NDH: the treatment of different religious communities serves as a paradigm of the character of the NDH as a state. Numerous studies have been written on the participation of Catholic clergy in the atrocities of the Ustasha movement and the NDH with the earliest being published immediately after the end of the war in 1945. The persecution of the Serbian Orthodox Church has been well documented in a number of important studies. Instead, this article will focus on legal and administrative issues and financial exchange between various religious communities and the NDH authorities as well as the state?s program of mass religious conversion since these illustrate the authentic intentions of the Ustasha regime and the Roman Catholic Church in Croatia, as the dominant social and political forces in the state, regarding state religious policy. The article is largely based on primary archival sources drawn from the Croatian and Serbian state archives.

The Creation of Jiansi: Study on the Buddhist Monastic Supervision System during the Sui and Tang Dynasties

Besides the internal monastic supervision system of the “Three Principal Monks” already prevalent in the Sui and Tang dynasties, an additional lay-involved supervision system of jiansi was further added to the state religious policy to strengthen the control over the autonomy of the Buddhist community. This jiansi system can be seen once in the period of Gaochang Kingdom (449–640) in the Turpan region, and is traceable to the role of the Lay Rectifier of Monks created by Emperor Wu of Liang (r. 502–549) in the Southern dynasty. It is then officially created by Emperor Yang of Sui (r. 604–618) but failed quickly in the Tang dynasty. In the late Tang dynasty, it re-emerged in response to the state’s need to strengthen the control over Buddhist affairs and extended to new grassroots monastic officials such as Monastic Minister and Saṃgha Regulator in the Dunhuang area during the Tibetan occupation period and the Guiyi Army period. Thus, the development and evolution of the jiansi system in this period was both a reflection of the state-religion tension and a sinicization process of Buddhism.

Al-Farabi’s creative heritage and his scientific-pedagogical ideas

Introduction. The study of Al-Farabi’s pedagogical heritage is relevant, since it allows forming a scientific idea of the level of progressive experience in teaching and upbringing in the conditions of the early Middle Ages, in the era of the flourishing and rise of culture in the East. Research purpose is to consider Al-Farabi’s creative heritage and give an overview of his scientific-pedagogical ideas. Materials and methods. The authors used Al-Farabi’s treatises, reflecting his pedagogical ideas, as well as the works of modern teachers, historians and philosophers. Research methods: analysis, synthesis and historical-pedagogical interpretation of the data contained in the sources; systematization and generalization of materials obtained as a result of studying open Internet sources and modern scientific literature. Research results. Despite the fact that Al-Farabi’s ideas were based on the works by Plato and Aristotle on the cognizability of the world, the scholar has developed original applications of this theory in relation to the needs of that time, taking into account the state religious policy. According to the thinker, the ideal of upbringing and education includes the mastery of scientific knowledge, moral and aesthetic perfection of both the student and the teacher. The rules proposed by Al-Farabi asserted the social significance of teaching and upbringing based on mutual respect of teachers and students. The educational system and teaching methods proposed by Al-Farabi made it possible to activate the students’ creative and cognitive activity, contributed to the development of logical thinking and comprehension of the information they receive. Discussion and conclusion. The study and analysis of Al-Farabi’s treatises show that the thinker considered all aspects of the educational process: educational goal, learning content, teaching methods and tools, the duties of the student and the teacher. The thinker’s entire creative heritage is imbued with the ideas of humanizing and democratizing society through its improvement by upbringing and educational tools.

Caesaropapism and Secularism in the Byzantine and Russian Tradition

Introduction. The role of Orthodox confessional heritage and the analysis of social traditions of the Balkan and Russian peoples are considered in the generalizing characteristic of the spiritual creations of the thinkers of Rus and Russia. The multidirectional tendencies of anti-clerical forces on the one hand, and of the Church community on the other, indicate that the topic of secularization of Russian society has not received an actual resolution. The purpose of the article is to examine the understanding of the processes of caesaropapism and secularism in Russian society, as well as the historiosophical and methodological consequences of this understanding. Materials and Methods. An integrative approach combined with historical-methodological and philosophical-historical analysis is considered as a theoretical and methodological research strategy. The solution of research problems was provided by a complex of complementary theoretical (analysis of scientific, historical literature, journalistic research on the problem under study, comparative analysis of texts, comparison, generalization) and empirical (study and generalization of normative and legal documents of the concepts of caesaropapism and secularism) methods. Results. The considered model of understanding secularization and secularism in the realities of Russian history indicates the secondary, borrowed nature of these concepts. According to the authors, the Decrees of the Byzantine emperors, acts of the Council of people’s Commissars “On the separation of Church from state and Church from school” did not meet the expectations of the participants of the local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, who expressed their aspirations in the document “on the legal status of the Russian Orthodox Church”. Discussion and Conclusion. The expected effect of the actual understanding of the processes can be a well-built model of state-Church relations, which can only appear if the diverse interests of the actors of modern state-religious policy in Russia are balanced. The proposed provisions and conclusions create prerequisites for further study of the phenomena of secularism and secularization in the design of the state-religious landscape of the near future.

Religious diversity as a factor in public security

The article deals with topical issues of religious diversity in the framework of the religious situation in modern Russia.
 The article analyzes important indicators of the religious situation. They include public sentiments created by the subjective perception of the country's population of their religiosity and non-religiousness, in the context of the realization of the freedom of conscience right.
 Additional indicators of the religious situation are the following: inter-religious, inter-denominational relations and relations between believers and non-believers; the state and nature of public opinion in relation to religion.
 The criteria for the "complexity" of a religious situation have been determined through delineating of 1) internal and 2) external circumstances that create the conditions for the tension of the religious situation. The first group (1) includes: the degree of satisfaction / dissatisfaction of believers and groups of believers with the implementation, provision and protection of their rights and interests; instability and unsettledness of inter-religious and ethno-religious relations; the presence of contradictions and conflicts within religious associations. The second group (2) includes: the condition of state-religious relations associated with the implementation of legislatively enshrined principles and norms in the sphere of freedom of conscience by state and local authorities; the degree of mutual trust, loyalty, law-abidingness of religious associations; the state of public opinion in relation to religion, its adequate / inadequate expression by the media; the presence of conflicts between believers and non-believers, as well as the nature and intensity of missionary activities of religious organizations.
 The study of the religious situation, its comprehensive and objective analysis, serve as the basis for information support of state-religious relations and as help in the implementation of the principles of the state's religious policy in the practical activities of the authorities and administration.
 Using the example of a number of religious organizations, it will be shown that their persecution, especially of religious minorities, does not strengthen the security of the country, but, on the contrary, creates a number of quite serious risks for the stable functioning of society both “inside” the state and internationally. Considered through the prism of various models of state-religious relations, the religious situation in the country seems to be most favorable (both for the state and for religious organizations of various types) when there is religious freedom and the corresponding state-religious relations.

РАДЯНСЬКА РЕЛІГІЙНА ПОЛІТИКА ТА ЇЇ НАСЛІДКИ В НЕЗАЛЕЖНІЙ УКРАЇНІ

The purpose of the article is to analyze the Soviet religious policy and the problem of overcoming its consequences in the independent Ukrainian state. The research methodology is based on the comprehensive application of general scientific and specific historical methods, which allowed tracing the evolution of the state religious policy in the USSR at various stages of its existence. The scientific novelty of the article consists in identifying the essence and trends in the development of the Soviet religious policy and determining the ways of overcoming its consequences in the independent Ukrainian state. The Conclusions. Being part of the USSR, Ukraine could not form and implement its own religious policy. It was either guided by the documents adopted by the Union-wide party and state bodies or developed similar ones. The Communist Party documents outlined the uncompromising struggle against religion. This anti-religious struggle was waged using various means, forms and methods. The principles of freedom of conscience and the separation of church and state declared in the Soviet regulations were never implemented fully. The state pressure on the church intensified and weakened, but never completely disappeared. The Soviet totalitarian system caused enormous damage to the church, religious organizations, clergy, and believers. The consequence of the Soviet religious policy was the restriction of freedom of conscience, the expropriation of church property, repression of the clergy and believers, the closure of religious buildings and the destruction of the religious network. However, the Soviet authorities did not succeed in overcoming religion, which was revived at the slightest opportunity. After gaining independence, Ukraine began to develop its own model of state-church relations, and to form and implement its own state religious policy. Having received a heavy Soviet legacy in the religious and ecclesiastical sphere, the country is overcoming its negative consequences gradually. Their final elimination will contribute to further development of partner state-church relations and promote full support of freedom of conscience and religion. Key words: religion, church, state-church relations, the Soviet religious policy, the Soviet legislation on religious cults.

СТАНОВИЩЕ РУСЬКОЇ ПРАВОСЛАВНОЇ ЦЕРКВИ В УКРАЇНІ В СЕРЕДИНІ 1940-х РОКІВ

The article analyzes the change in the position of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) in Ukraine in the mid-1940s. The influence of the World War II on the change of religious policy in the USSR and the international activity of the ROC was clarified. The meeting of the Soviet leaders with the church hierarchs on September 4, 1943, the activities of the Council of Bishops on September 8, 1943 and the degree of implementation of their previous agreements and decisions were analyzed. The main directions of the state religious policy in the USSR and the achievements of the ROC in the mid-1940s were determined. The study traces the change in the position of the Orthodox clergy in the state and the factors contributing to develoing the position of coexistence with the Soviet authorities in the church environment. Considerable attention was paid to the Local Council of the ROC in 1945 and the adoption of the “Regulations on managing the ROC”. The change of the internal life of the Church was analyzed in accordance with the document. It determined the increasing role of the clergy in managing parishes and the episcopate in managing the Church. The article emphasizes the ambiguity of the religious situation in Ukraine, in particular in the newly joined Ukrainian regions. Emphasis was placed on the problem of lack of educated clergy, which the ROC faced immediately after its legalization. In this context, attempts to solve the problem by restoring the activities of religious schools and expanding their network in Ukraine were studied. The conditions of study and requirements for future seminarians were highlighted. The evolution of the state’s attitude to religious education was investigated. Special attention was paid by the author to involving the ROC to the international and interreligious arena. In this context, the emergence of the confrontation between the Moscow Patriarchate and Vatican authorities was highlighted. The main tasks and directions of such confrontationweare determined, an attempt was made to analyze the main measures implemented by the ROC on the way to transforming Moscow into a new world religious centre.

Development of relations between the state and religion in Uzbekistan

This article discusses the development of the relationship between the state and religion in Uzbekistan. In recent years, Uzbekistan has implemented large-scale reforms in the field of religion, which embody new approaches and principles of state religious policy in the country and in this regard, the role of state policy in ensuring interreligious and interethnic peace and harmony in society is shown, as well as the conditions created by the state for conducting interfaith dialogue and observing the rights and freedoms of religion of citizens.

Советское государство и религиозные организации в 70-е годы ХХ века (на материалах Рязанской области)

The author of the publication analyzes the religious policy of the Soviet state in the 70s of the twentieth century. The main stages of the evolution of the religious policy of the state in the field of lawmaking, as well as the features of its implementation in relation to religious organizations, are analyzed. Particular attention is paid to the process of relations between the Council for Religious Affairs under the Government of the USSR and the Ryazan authorized Council with specific communities of believers of different faiths. Particular attention is paid to the complaints of believers in the center on the actions of local authorities. The author comes to the conclusion that the state religious policy is inconsistent.

K istorii Andizhanskogo musul'manskogo dvizheniya 1898 g.

In 1898, an uprising of the Muslim population took place in the city of Andijan of the Fergana region of the Turkestan governor-general, accompanied by an attack on the line battalion of the Russian army. The casualties from the military and civilian Russian population led to a reaction from the imperial authorities. On the basis of archival and published sources, some of which are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, the article analyzes a set of measures that were implemented by the regional administration to stabilize the situation in the region. It is emphasized that the consequence of the Andijan movement for the Muslims of Turkestan was a change in the vector of the state's religious policy towards tightening control over the life of Muslim communities and introducing additional legal restrictions for them.

State Policy Concerning Russian Orthodox Church Between 1958 and 1964 (Based on Krasnodar Krai)

Introduction. The article is devoted to the problem of revealing the consequences of state religious policy in the region under study in the period between 1958 and 1964. The initial date is associated with the end of the post-Stalin struggle for leadership in the Communist party and the state and the formation of a new Church policy aimed at the destruction of religious organizations in the USSR. The end of the period is associated with the change of the top leadership of the USSR and the attendant changes in religious policy. In order to identify the consequences of state religious policy, the author analyzes the nature and content of this policy, as well as the attitude of believers to the anti-church actions of local authorities. The territory of the Krasnodar and Kuban dioceses in the period under study corresponded to the administrative borders of Krasnodar Krai. This diocese was headed by Metropolitan Viktor (Svyatin). Methods and materials. The use of the statistical method allowed the author to reveal the dynamics of personnel changes among the Orthodox clergy, the number of closed temples in the Krasnodar and Kuban dioceses and the number of religious ceremonies performed by the clergy. As a result of applying the system method the author reveals that not only local Soviet and party authorities took part in implementing religious policy, but also the public was actively involved that gave large-scale anti-Church actions. Analysis. The aspiration of authorities to the full replacement of the Orthodox church from life of citizens in the region under study led to the loss of more than a half of personnel structure of priests and to closing more than 50 % of temples. To fight against religious traditions the government used both administrative measures expressed in changing the rules of the baptism ceremony, and distribution of experience of Soviet non-religious rites. These measures led to the fact that in the period between 1958 and 1964 the number of baptisms decreased by 38.2 %, weddings – by 87 %, funerals – by 66 %. However, residents of the region continued to visit churches and participate in religious ceremonies. Results. It was found that in Krasnodar Krai the rite of baptism amounted to the largest percentage compared to other rites, which indicates the greater demand for thisrite among the parishioners. As a result of the state religious policy, the Orthodox Church as an institution was dealta serious blow, but it was not possible to eliminate the religiosity of the population.